国家地理:Mayan Temple Mystery 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.

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.

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

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.

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

It's on this side.
It's on this side.
Yeah.
11 meters down on this side.
Yeah. 10, about 10, 11 meters down. Yeah.
What's this?
This is good news. So.
It's definitely there.
Ya.

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.

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.

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.

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。