甲骨文：商代占问留下的记录

Oracle-bone inscriptions are more than ancient signs; they are records of questions asked in the late Shang Dynasty.

甲骨文不只是古老的符号，也是商代晚期人们提出问题时留下的记录。

Found at the Yin Ruins in Anyang, many were connected with divination and prayer.

许多甲骨文出土于安阳殷墟，与占卜和祈祷有关。

The writing appears mainly on cattle shoulder bones and tortoise shells.

这些文字主要见于牛肩胛骨和龟甲。

To make a divination record, a shell or bone was prepared, drilled or cut, and then heated until cracks appeared.

为了形成一次占卜记录，人们会先整治甲骨，经过钻凿，再灼烤出裂纹。

People read these cracks as signs and sometimes added words about the process and its result.

人们把这些裂纹视为兆象，有时还会写下占卜过程及其结果。

What matters is that the cracks and the words could preserve a sequence of events together.

重要的是，裂纹与文字能够共同保存一连串事件。

A complete divination record may have four parts, although many surviving texts contain only the first two.

一条完整的卜辞可以包含四部分，不过许多留存下来的卜辞只有前两部分。

The opening part gives the time, the diviner, and sometimes the place.

开头的叙辞记录时间、贞人，有时也记录地点。

Next comes the charge, which states the matter at the heart of the question.

接着是命辞，也就是占问的核心事项。

After that, the prediction records the judgment made from the cracks.

随后，占辞记录根据兆纹作出的吉凶判断。

Finally, a verification may state what actually happened later.

最后，验辞可能会写下后来实际发生的事情。

By putting these parts together, scholars can follow a question from the moment it was asked to its later outcome.

把这些部分连起来，研究者就能追踪一个问题从提出到后来结果的过程。

One bone in the National Museum of China offers a rare example with all four parts.

中国国家博物馆的一件卜骨提供了一个四部分俱全的罕见例子。

It asks whether trouble would come within ten days, records the king's judgment, and then notes attacks several days later.

它先占问十日内是否有灾祸，再记录商王的判断，最后记下数日后发生的来犯事件。

This record does more than tell a dramatic story; it offers evidence about Shang geography, neighboring groups, and military affairs.

这条记录不只是讲述一个紧张的故事，还为研究商代地理、方国与军事事务提供证据。

Other inscriptions ask about sacrifices, weather, harvests, journeys, illness, births, and royal affairs.

其他卜辞还涉及祭祀、天气、收成、出行、疾病、生育和王室事务。

Because these questions concern both state affairs and daily concerns, they open a window onto the Shang ruling world.

这些问题既涉及国家事务，也涉及日常关切，因此为我们打开了一扇观察商代统治世界的窗口。

Researchers can also compare names and records to reconstruct the Shang royal genealogy and study important events.

研究者还可以比较人名与记录，重建商王世系并研究重要事件。

Even small numbers beside some inscriptions can match drill marks and show that the same matter was tested more than once.

甚至有些卜辞旁的小数字也能与钻凿痕迹对应，说明同一件事曾被多次占问。

Yet reading these records is not simple, because many texts are incomplete and even known signs can be hard to understand in context.

不过，读懂这些记录并不简单，因为许多文本并不完整，即使字形可识，也可能难以结合语境理解。

Rather than treating an oracle bone as a mysterious object, we should ask what question, judgment, and event it preserves.

与其只把甲骨看成神秘文物，不如追问它保存了什么问题、判断和事件。

Seen this way, each readable inscription becomes not only a trace from the past but also a surviving record of Shang history.

这样看来，每一条可读的卜辞不只是来自过去的痕迹，也是一份留存至今的商代历史记录。