国家地理 玛雅神庙之谜

Deep in the jungles of Guatemala lie the ruins of a lost Maya civilization. The culture thought of as the classic Maya flourished across Central America between 250-900 AD. But archeologists are now discovering a Maya society that existed a full thousand years before that, in a time they call the Preclassic. Many of its remains¹ lie buried at the lost city of El Mirador. Archeologist Richard Hansen has worked for more than 20 years to solve the enigma² of the early Maya.

在危地马拉的丛林深处，埋藏着失落的玛雅文明遗迹。经典的玛雅文化在公元250-900年间在中美洲盛行。但考古学家现在发现了一个玛雅社会，它在那之前已经存在了整整一千年，他们称之为前古典时期。许多遗迹被埋在失落的米拉多尔市。考古学家理查德·汉森为解开早期玛雅人的谜题已经研究了20多年。

You lost the history, as right now we've never known who these individuals were, and never known what other than seeing the physical evidence of their prowess. We've never had a chance to know them personally, and the work that we're doing now is gonna give us the chance to know these guys personally.

失去了历史，因为现在我们还不知道这些人是谁，除了看到他们的超凡技术之外，谁也不知道还有什么。我们从来没有机会亲自认识他们，我们现在所做的工作将使我们有机会认识这些人。

One of the smaller pyramids of this lost city has captured Richard's imagination.

这座失落之城的一个小金字塔激发了理查德的想象力。

This is a, a, a large jaguar³ paw with an earspool in the middle, you see the earspool here? And it has three realistic jaguar claws emanating⁴ from a, from a realistic cuticle⁵. Here is another jaguar claw here and another one at the very bottom. The fact that we found this Preclassic jaguar paw connotes very well with a king who we believe governed from 152 BC to 145 BC. His name was Chak-Tok-Ich'aak or Great Fiery⁶ Jaguar Paw. And this may be a symbol of this. That's why this building is so interesting to us because it's possible that this king could be buried here.

这是一个巨大的美洲虎爪子中间有一个耳轴，看到耳轴了吗？它有三个真实的美洲虎爪子，是从一个角质层中发现的。这是另一只美洲虎爪，在最下面的是另一只。我们发现这只前美洲虎爪子，我们认为这和公元前152年到公元前145年统治着这个国家的国王有着某种联系。他的名字叫查克·托克·艾哈克一世或美洲虎之爪一世。这可能是一个象征。这就是为什么我们对这座建筑感兴趣的原因，因为这个国王有可能被葬在这里。

To test his theory, Richard has brought in the latest ground-penetrating imaging system.

为了验证他的理论，理查德引进了最新的穿透地面成像系统。

It's on this side.

在这一边。

It's on this side.

在这一边。

Yeah.

是的。

11 meters down on this side.

在这边往下11米。

Yeah. 10, about 10, 11 meters down. Yeah.

10米。大概10-11米。是的。

Good news. So.

好消息。所以。

It's definitely there.

它肯定在这。

Yeah.

是的。

The system has revealed a cavity, perhaps 8×2 meters, just the right size for a magnificent tomb. This was construction on an epic⁷ scale. The results were awe-inspiring: a vast metropolis⁸ gleaming red and white in the jungle sun, El Mirador. Perhaps 100,000 people, hundreds of great buildings, and at the eastern end of the city, the massive Pyramid of Danta, possibly the largest pyramid ever built. At El Mirador, Richard and his team have tunneled deep into the jaguar temple, finally arriving at the place where the imaging system showed the cavity.

系统显示这是一个洞，也许8×2米大小，正好是一个宏伟坟墓的大小。这是宏伟的建筑。结果是令人惊叹的：在丛林阳光的照耀下，一个巨大的米拉多尔市闪耀着红白光芒。大约有10万人，数以百计的宏伟建筑，在城市的东端，巨大的丹塔金字塔，可能是有史以来最大的金字塔。在米拉多尔市，理查德和他的团队已经挖掘到美洲虎神庙深处，最后到达成像系统显示洞的地方。

We broke through here. We found more fill and rubble⁹. It should've been a, a chamber¹⁰ or something on the other side of this, of this wall. Em, this has, em, is a setback¹¹. There should've been something in there. Oh, the fact is that it's not there, tells us that, the, the elusive¹² Kan kings are still elusive.

我们在这里有所收获。我们发现了更多的填土和碎石。它应该是一个房间或者什么，位于墙的另一边。这是一次挫折。里面应该有东西的。哦，事实是，里面什么也没有，这也就是说，让人琢磨不透的国王仍然难以捉摸。

He is not going to give up that easily. At another temple, he prepares to excavate¹³ next season. Maybe then, he'll find the remains of an early Maya king.

他不会轻易放弃的。在另一座寺庙，他准备下个季节挖掘。也许到那时，他会发现早期玛雅国王的遗骸。

1 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

2 enigma   

n.谜，谜一样的人或事

参考例句：

• I've known him for many years,but he remains something of an enigma to me.我与他相识多年，他仍然难以捉摸。
• Even after all the testimonies,the murder remained a enigma.即使听完了所有的证词，这件谋杀案仍然是一个谜。

3 jaguar   

n.美洲虎

参考例句：

• He was green with envy when he saw my new Jaguar car.看见我那辆美洲虎牌新车，他非常妒忌。
• Should you meet a jaguar in the jungle,just turn slowly,walk away.But slowly,never look back.你在丛林中若碰上美洲虎，就慢慢转身走开，可一定要慢，切莫回头看。

4 emanating   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• Even so, there is a slight odour of potpourri emanating from Longfellow. 纵然如此，也还是可以闻到来自朗费罗的一种轻微的杂烩的味道。 来自辞典例句
• Many surface waters, particularly those emanating from swampy areas, are often colored to the extent. 许多地表水，特别是由沼泽地区流出的地表水常常染上一定程度的颜色。 来自辞典例句

5 cuticle   

n.表皮

参考例句：

• You'd never puncture the cuticle.你无法刺穿表皮。
• The reform has hardly made a scratch upon the cuticle of affairs.改革几乎还没有触到事物的表皮。

6 fiery   

adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的

参考例句：

• She has fiery red hair.她有一头火红的头发。
• His fiery speech agitated the crowd.他热情洋溢的讲话激动了群众。

7 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

8 metropolis   

n.首府；大城市

参考例句：

• Shanghai is a metropolis in China.上海是中国的大都市。
• He was dazzled by the gaiety and splendour of the metropolis.大都市的花花世界使他感到眼花缭乱。

9 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

10 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

11 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

12 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

13 excavate   

vt.挖掘，挖出

参考例句：

• They plan to excavate a large hole.他们计划挖个大洞。
• A new Danish expedition is again excavating the site in annual summer digs.一支新的丹麦探险队又在那个遗址上进行一年一度的夏季挖掘。