They inscribed these signs into tablets of soft clay, which they then baked hard in ovens.

人们将全部记号写在软的泥土上，然后将它放在炉里烤干，于是就产生了坚硬的碑。

Now let us mould our lump of soft clay into the form of a cup, and fill it with water.

咱们再把这个软软的粘土大块，塑成一只杯子的形状，盛满水。

A kiln is an extremely hot oven that bakes soft clay into hard tile.

窑炉是一种非常热的烤箱，可以将软粘土烘烤成硬瓷砖。

But these sun-dried bricks will not stand much rain: the water soaks into them, and they once more become lumps of soft clay.

但是用太阳晒干的砖经不住水，水会渗进砖里，砖就又变回了软软的粘土块儿。

The ground under this city is actually soft clay, which caused some early buildings here to sink in the mud.

这座城市下面的地面实际上是软粘土，导致这里的一些早期建筑沉没在泥泞中。

Acidic gases and heat escaping from magma can corrode rock through a process called hydrothermal alteration, gradually turning hard stone into soft clay.

从岩浆中逸出的酸性气体和热量可以通过称为热液蚀变的过程腐蚀岩石，逐渐将坚硬的石头变成软粘土。

You can see very clearly how a reed stylus has pressed the marks into the soft clay, which has then been baked hard so that it is now a handsome orange.

你能清晰地看到芦苇笔是如何在柔软的黏土上画出痕迹，之后经过重度烘烤，使黏土呈现出一种漂亮的橘色的。

The problem here is that the land beneath Mexico City is an ancient soft clay lake bed and as Mexico City drills for more and more water, the clay weakens and crumbles.

这里的问题是，墨西哥城下面的土地是古老的软粘土湖床，随着墨西哥城钻探越来越多的水，粘土变弱并破碎。