As soon as the exam was mentioned, the four graduate students became excited. Since they were not the ones being tested, they were happy to watch. He He even urged, "Teacher Luo, don't go easy on him!"
Wei Kang was worried that Teacher Luo would make the questions too difficult and embarrass Zhang Zian. At the same time, he also hoped that Zhang Zian could answer them correctly. This would be like adding wings to a tiger for this trip to Egypt.
Teacher Luo smiled but did not speak. He flipped through the book he had brought, and finally stopped at one of the pages. He pushed it in front of Zhang Zian and said, "What does this picture mean?"
Not only Zhang Zian, but everyone else, including Wei Kang, also gathered around, stretching their necks to look.
Wei Kang gasped and exclaimed, "This … this is Egyptian hieroglyphics!"
Yes, this page of the book was a series of pictures, and each picture was filled with Egyptian hieroglyphics. Teacher Luo was pointing at the picture in the upper right corner.
Teacher Luo nodded. "When talking about ancient Egypt, we have to talk about ancient Egypt's writing and language. Writing and language are the foundation of all civilizations. If you can understand ancient Egypt's language, even if it's just a little, you don't have to say much else. "
"This … Isn't this a bit too difficult …" Wei Kang looked at Zhang Zian uneasily.
Teacher Luo also looked at Zhang Zian. "What do you think? If you think it's a bit difficult, I can change to another question. "
Zhang Zian stared at the picture, entranced.
First of all, the hieroglyphics in the picture were all enclosed in an oval frame, with a symmetrical base at the bottom. It looked like an elongated dressing mirror.
Inside the frame, there was a right-angled triangle at the top. The hypotenuse of the triangle was like a winding staircase.
Below the triangle was an animal lying on its stomach. It had a head, a tail, and four limbs. It looked like a lioness.
Below the lioness was an inverted U shape. The opening was connected to a circle, like a fish hook.
Other symbols included two birds, feathers shaped like daggers, squares, semicircles, and a few other symbols that were hard to describe.
The four students made wild guesses, guessing all kinds of things, and He He's every guess was complimented by Gao Ke and Xiao Tianyu.
"How is it? Do you know the meaning of this picture? "
After a while, Teacher Luo asked with a smile.
"If I'm not mistaken …" Zhang Zian replied confidently, "This picture is from the Rosetta Stone. It means Cleopatra."
"Cleopatra?" He He repeated. "Why do I hear this name … Ah! Is it Cleopatra? "
"No, the one on the stone tablet is Cleopatra the First, and Cleopatra the Seventh. The difference is quite big," Zhang Zian corrected her again.
Wei Kang saw that Zhang Zian's answer was so certain, and he couldn't help but feel both happy and nervous. He looked at Teacher Luo for his opinion.
Mr. Luo was also surprised. "Have you seen the Rosetta Stone, or have you learned ancient Egyptian writing?"
"Well … I have a friend who is very interested in Egyptian writing, and I learned some from him," Zhang Zian answered vaguely.
"Oh, then what else do you know about ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics?" Mr. Luo asked. He really couldn't believe that an ordinary person could actually understand obscure hieroglyphics.
Zhang Zian thought for a while, then pointed at the picture and said, "Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics are a combination of sound and meaning. The front represents the sound, and the back represents the meaning. When writing, it can be from left to right, from right to left, or from top to bottom, or even from the middle to the left and right. It's usually decided by which side the face of the person or animal in the text is facing. A sentence is usually a predicate-subject-object structure, which is the opposite of the Japanese subject-object-predicate structure.
Don't ask him how he learned Japanese. Ask him if it's for fun.
Wei Kang and his four students were confused. They couldn't tell if it was right or wrong, but seeing Zhang Zian's calm expression, they guessed that he wasn't making a wild guess.
Mr. Luo closed his book and smiled. "Okay, I can end class early. I wish you all a smooth trip! Also, remember to bring back local specialties! "
Saying that, he didn't care about Wei Kang's urging. He waved goodbye and left Wei Kang's office easily.
His actions said it all.
"Xiao Zhang, when did you learn ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics?" Wei Kang couldn't suppress the excitement in his heart. He pulled Zhang Zian's arm and asked.
Zhang Zian quietly freed his arm and said casually, "It's not like I've learned it. I really only know a thing or two. Ever since I knew that I was going to Egypt with the expedition team, I thought that since I had nothing to do, and you know that my shop doesn't have much business, I used my free time to read some books about ancient Egypt … "
"Look at him. He's already out of school, but he doesn't forget to use all his free time to study. This is what it means to be alive and learn! You guys should learn more from him! Sigh! "
While Wei Kang was happy, he didn't forget to take the opportunity to teach his four students a lesson, especially Gao Ke, who didn't study hard at all.
Gao Ke helplessly smiled at Zhang Zian, hiding behind Xiao Tianyu's broad body to avoid the mentor's piercing gaze.
In fact, Zhang Zian's understanding of hieroglyphics was only at the beginner level. In the eyes of experts, it wasn't even at the beginner level. He did use his free time to learn ancient Egyptian words and language, because there was a teacher in the shop. However, this teacher's temper wasn't very good. If he mispronounced or recognized something wrong, he would attract a lot of eye rolls and disdain.
The first thing Fina taught him was the name Cleopatra, including the pronunciation and writing. Thus, he recognized at a glance that it was this name on Teacher Luo's picture, and he showed off a little.
No matter how he explained that he only knew a little, Wei Kang was sure that he was just being humble.
The four graduate students also looked at him in a different light. Other than Du Xuetao, who really liked to learn, the other three just wanted to get a graduate degree so that they could find a job. Although they didn't say anything, they all had more confidence in this trip to Egypt.
Even He He was the same. She had hit a few snags in a row, and she felt that continuing to look for trouble wouldn't do her any good. Instead, it would damage her image.
Respect earned through strength was the only way to convince others.
It was a good thing that they had confidence. Seeing this, Zhang Zian simply acquiesced and didn't say anything more. Anyway, after arriving in Egypt, if he really encountered problems related to ancient Egyptian words, language, customs, and knowledge, he could naturally ask Fina. It could be considered a walking dictionary and encyclopedia of ancient Egypt, and no one in the world could compare.
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