(单词翻译:单击)
I'm Richard Sears.
我是理查德·西尔斯
In China, they call me uncle Hanzi or in Chinese Hanzi Shushu.
在中国,他们叫我“汉字叔叔”,中文是“汉字叔叔”
I first became interested in Chinese at age of 22.
我第一次对中文感兴趣是在22岁的时候
And I've been involved with Chinese for the past 50 years.
在过去的50年里,我一直在学习汉语
I'm always thinking what was it like to live in China 5000 years ago
我总是在想5000年前生活在中国是什么样子,
so that I can understand the evolution of Chinese characters.
这样我才能了解汉字的演变
Every part of every Chinese character is derived from a pictograph.
每个汉字的每一部分都来源于象形文字
And if you know the ancient pictograph and the original meaning,
如果你知道古代的象形文字和原意,
every Chinese character is logical.
每一个汉字都是合乎逻辑的
In Chinese, we have a saying, “Shan You Shan Bao, E You E Bao.”.
在中国,我们有一个谚语,“善有善报,恶有恶报”
It basically means as you so, so shall you reap.
它的本意是:你做了什么,就会收获什么
It literally means if you do good things, you'll get good results;
它的字面意思是如果你做了好事,就会得到好结果;
if you do bad things, you'll get bad results.
如果你做了坏事,就会得到坏结果
So this character originally meant a sentence—
所以这个“报”字本意是一个句子——
the bad guy gets sentenced to prison, the good guy gets released.
坏人被判入狱,好人被释放
And originally it was a death sentence on paper.
起初,它是纸上的死刑宣判
Then it became a government document.
后来它成为了政府文件
And now it became a newspaper.
现在它成了报纸
So this is the logic behind the character for newspaper.
这就是“报”这个字背后的逻辑
I spent the past 30 years making a website.
我花了30年的时间做一个网站
I made a database of a hundred thousand ancient Chinese characters
为了解释一万五千个现代汉字,
in order to explain fifteen thousand modern characters.
我建立了一个十万个古代汉字的数据库
To put in any modern character, it will show you the evolution of that character for the past 3 500 years.
输入任何一个现代文字,它会向你展示这个文字在过去3500年里的演变
And it will also tell you the logic of each part and why that character is written the way it is today.
它还会告诉你每个部分的逻辑,以及为什么那个字今天是这样写的
I now live in China permanently.
我现在永久居住在中国
When I first came to China mainland 30 years ago, there was barely enough to eat.
30年前,当我第一次来到中国时,几乎没有足够的食物
Things have changed, now we have lots of good stuff to eat, interesting stuff to eat.
时过境迁,现在我们有很多好东西吃,有趣的东西吃
Some days I cook for myself.
有时候我自己做饭
Today I'm going to make Gongbao chicken.
今天我要做宫保鸡丁
Okay, this is Gongbao Jiding.
好的,这是宫保鸡丁
Hello, big kitty.
你好,大猫咪
I've traveled around China, I've been to 21 provinces and Tibet and Xinjiang and Inner Mongolian.
我走遍了中国,我去过21个省,包括西藏、新疆和内蒙古
And I like to talk to people and find out about their lives.
我喜欢和人们交谈,了解他们的生活
Everybody, rich people, poor people, farmers, workers, coal miners, students.
每个人,包括富人,穷人,农民,工人,矿工,学生
So I've seen a lot of changes.
所以我看到了很多变化
Now I'm making videos explaining Chinese characters.
现在我在制作解释汉字的视频
But I continue to update my database to study the origins of Chinese characters.
但我会继续更新数据库来研究汉字的起源
And what it was like to live in China 5000 years ago.
以及5000年前中国的生活是什么样子的
I have a philosophy: Huo Dao Lao, Xue Dao Lao.
我有一套哲学:活到老,学到老
It means you keep getting older but you keep learning more .
这意味着你在不断变老,但你在不断地学习
And that's my basic philosophy: Huo Dao Lao, Xue Dao Lao.
这就是我的基本理念:活到老,学到老