汉译英试题训练

请将下面这段话翻译成英文：

中国最早的文字主要是商朝时期刻在龟壳或兽骨上的甲骨文(Jiaguwen)。1899年，商朝的甲骨文碑文(inscriptions)在商朝晚期的都城河南安阳被发现。迄今为止，安阳共出土了10万多个龟壳和兽骨；龟壳和兽骨上发现的汉字约有4500个，其中1700个已得到确认。这为我们研究汉字起源提供了重要素材。过去，人们普遍认为商朝的甲骨文是最早的汉字。但是，20世纪80年代在西安郊区发现了一些刻有文字的龟壳和兽骨。考古学家证实这些汉字约产生于4000多年以前，比甲骨文还早。

翻译及详解

参考翻译

The earliest characters once existed in China are Jiaguwen carved on tortoise shells or animal bones, mainly during the Shang Dynasty. In 1899，the inscriptions of the Shang Dynasty's Jiaguwen were detected in Anyang of Henan Province which was the capital in the late Shang Dynasty. So far, altogether more than 100,000 pieces of tortoise shells and animal bones have been unearthed from Anyang;about 4,500 Chinese characters have been found on the tortoise shells and animal bones, among which 1,700 have been confirmed.These are very important materials for us to research into the origin of Chinese characters. In the past, people generally considered Jiaguwen of the Shang Dynasty as the earliest Chinese characters. But in 1980s, some other tortoise shells and animal bones carved with characters were found in the suburb of Xi'an. Archaeologists made sure that these characters were about 4,000 years ago, even earlier than Jiaguwen.

翻译讲解

1.主要是商朝时期:可译为mainly during the Shang Dynasty。
2.发现:可译为discover或detect。
3.迄今为止:可译为so far,或up till now、up to now。
4.出土:考古用词，译为unearth。
5.汉字起源:可译为the origin of Chinese characters。
6.认为:可译为consider…as或regard…as。
7.比甲骨文还早:可译为even earlier than Jiaguwen。