It may be that all those who invented writing independently relied on the rebus (though Mayan shows scant clear evidence of it).

可能所有独立发明文字的人都依赖于字谜（尽管玛雅人没有提供明确的证据）。

But a few souls stumbled on the rebus principle, sketching either a pit in the ground or a stick-man with an arrow pointing to his armpit.

但是一些灵魂偶然发现了画谜原则，在地上画了一个坑或者画了一个箭头指向腋窝的火柴人。

But the rebus remains the core of the story, bootstrapping societies from complete ignorance of the very idea of writing to lives that cannot be imagined without it.

但画谜仍然是故事的核心，引导社会从对写作理念的完全无知走向没有它就无法想象的生活。

The doorsteps were worn into curves, and the ancient tiles which lined the porch were marked with the rebus of a cheese and a man after the original builder.

门阶被磨损成曲线， 门廊两旁的古老瓷砖上标有奶酪和一个人的图案， 以纪念最初的建造者。

But at some point—the Sumerians of the third millennium bc are usually awarded first prize, though Ms Ferrara makes a case for Egypt—people stumbled on the " rebus principle" .

但在某个时候——公元前三千年的苏美尔人通常会获得一等奖，尽管费拉拉女士为埃及做了个例子——人们无意中发现了“字谜原则” 。