来自《耶鲁大学开放课程：古希腊历史简介 第2集 第2集》

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  but it is clearly different and later,
  但还是有明显不同并更接近于现代
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  and one reason we know that
  我们之所以得知这个结论
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  comes mostly from stratigraphy,
  是通过了地质学的检测
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  but we can also tell because it's a much simpler script,
  不过也可以从它简洁的笔触上来判断
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  but by no means simple. These are not alphabets;
  简洁不意味着简单 它们不是字母
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  these are syllabaries, every symbol represents a syllable;
  他们都是字音 每个符号代表一个字音
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  in other words, typically two letters rather than one.
  换言之 一般是两个字符 而不是一个
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  That's a nice step over having loads, and loads,
  相比用无穷多的符号来表示各种东西
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  and loads of symbols representing lots of things
  这是一个很大的进步 相对于A类线形文字
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  which is true more of Linear A than Linear B,
  B类线形文字更是如此
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  but it's still--we're talking about something approaching sixty symbols
  不过仍然...仍有有六十个符号表示字音
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  in a syllabary and when you think about how hard it is to learn to read
  想象一下当你只用二十六个符号时