| The classical Greeks valued the power of spoken word, and it was their main method of communication and storytelling. |
古希腊无比崇尚演讲的力量。口口相传是古希腊人主要的艺术交流和传承方式。 |
| Bahn and Bahn write, "To Greeks the spoken word was a living thing and infinitely preferable to the dead symbols of a written language." |
巴恩写道：“对希腊人来说，口述演讲的生命力远胜过没有呼吸的笔录文字。” |
| Socrates himself believed that once something has been written down, it lost its ability for change and growth. |
苏格拉底(Socrates)曾坚信一旦文字被记录下来，就丧失了升华的潜能。 |
| For these reasons, among many others, oral storytelling flourished in Greece. |
因此及其他因素的影响下，口述在希腊极为盛行。 |
| Greek tragedy as we know it was created in Athens around the time of 532 BC, when Thespis was the earliest recorded actor. |
希腊悲剧在公元前532年左右诞生于雅典，泰斯庇斯(Thespis)是第一个被当时记载的西方戏剧演员。 |
| Being a winner of the first theatrical contest held in Athens, he was the exarchon, or leader,[4] of the dithyrambs performed in and around Attica, especially at the rural Dionysia. |
作为雅典第一届戏剧艺术大赛的冠军，他曾在阿提卡(Attica)地区，特别是郊外的酒神节(Dionysia)祭奠活动上，作为颂歌的领唱。 |
| By Thespis' time, the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots. |
在泰斯庇斯时代，酒神节颂歌已离它的起源形式相差甚远了。 |
| Under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and the innovations of the poet Arion, it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. |
在当时英雄史诗题材、多立克赞美诗词和阿里昂创新诗的影响下，颂歌题材也演变得更加叙事化。 |
| Because of these, Thespis is often called the "Father of Tragedy"; however, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as 16th in the chronological order of Greek tragedians; the statesman Solon, for example, is credited with creating poems in which characters speak with their own voice, and spoken performances of Homer's epics by rhapsodes were popular in festivals prior to 534 BC. |
因此，泰斯庇斯经常被称为“悲剧之父”。然而他的地位时有争议，有时甚至被排到第16位历史上出现的悲剧演员。按此排名，比他出现更早的悲剧作家包括政治家索伦，他开创了分角色叙述诗（每个角色拥有其独特的表述方式）的先河；还包括，公元前534年就已流行的在庆典上讲述荷马史诗的诵诗人。 |
| [5] Thus, Thespis's true contribution to drama is unclear at best, but his name has been given a longer life, in English, as a common term for performer — i.e., a "thespian." |
虽然泰斯特斯对戏剧真正的贡献并不清晰，但他的名字却被沿用至今。英文术语“泰斯庇斯的 （音译）” 经常被用于称呼戏剧表演者。 |
| The dramatic performances were important to the Athenians – this is made clear by the creation of a tragedy competition and festival in the City Dionysia. |
从古希腊人在城市酒神节上创建的悲剧竞赛和庆祝活动，不难看出戏剧表演曾在他们生活中的重要地位。 |
| This was organized possibly to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica (recently created by Cleisthenes). |
当时组织庆典有可能是为了提升由克里斯提尼(Cleisthenes)新建的阿提卡部落的忠诚度。 |
| The festival was created roughly around 508 BC. |
此节日约诞生于公元前508年。 |
| While no drama texts exist from the sixth century BC, we do know the names of three competitors besides Thespis: Choerilus, Pratinas, and Phrynichus. |
公元前六世纪还没有关于剧本的纪录，但据我们所知，除泰斯庇斯之外的参赛者还有的：乔里拉斯(Choerilus)、帕拉提那斯(Prantinas)和普律尼科司(Phrynichus)。 |
| Each is credited with different innovations in the field. |
均在其不同创新领域有所成就。 |
