夏朝
Xia Dynasty
概况
General
第一个史前朝代应该是夏朝，从公元前21世纪至公元前16世纪。
The first prehistoric dynasty is said to be Xia, from about the twenty-first to the sixteenth century B.C.
在1928年对河南省安阳的青铜时代早期遗址进行系统挖掘以前，
Until scientific excavations were made at early bronze-age sites at Anyang, Henan Province, in 1928,
将关于夏朝的传说同现实区分开是困难的。
it was difficult to separate myth from reality in regard to the Xia.
但是从那时起，尤其是在20世纪60年代和70年代，
But since then, and especially in the 1960s and 1970s,
考古学家们开掘出了位于与古代中国历史文章中提到的相同位置的城区、青铜器以及墓穴，而这些都表明了夏王朝的存在。
archaeologists have uncovered urban sites, bronze implements, and tombs that point to the existence of Xia civilization in the same locations cited in ancient Chinese historical texts.
至少，夏朝标志着新石器文化末期与商朝典型的中国城市文明之间进化的阶段。
At minimum, the Xia period marked an evolutionary stage between the late Neolithic cultures and the typical Chinese urban civilization of the Shang dynasty.