纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 005克洛维斯石矛头（3）

'There's some scattered¹ evidence that people were in North America maybe before these Clovis points were made (which would be before 13,000 years ago), but most of that evidence is arguable.

“有些零散的证据表明，也许是在克洛维斯矛头被制造出来前，即在一万三千年前，已经有远古人类的北美洲定居；但是绝大部分证据还是值得商榷的。

The fact is that Clovis look like the first people. If you dig an archaeological site almost anywhere, the bottom levels are going to be about 13,000 years old, and if there are any artefacts, it will be Clovis or Clovis-related.

随便在北美洲一处地方挖掘出一处考古遗址，最底层的地质层总是约在一万三千年前；如果有任何文物出土的话，肯定是克洛维斯或者与克洛维斯相关的。

So it looks like maybe these are the very first dispersers who filled up the continent and became the ancestors of modern Native Americans. The area that was populated by Clovis was just about all of North America, and they came from somewhere up north, because the studies of genetics seem to prove conclusively² that the ancestry³ of Native Americans is north-east Asian.'

因此看上去这些人类似乎就是最早期的传播者、开拓者，在这片大陆上开枝散叶、繁衍生息，成为现代印第安人的祖先。这些克洛维斯人几乎遍布了北美各地，而且他们来自于更加北部的某个地方；因为遗传学研究给出了相当定性的证据，说明土著美洲人的祖先就是东北亚人种。”

So archaeology⁴, DNA⁵, and the bulk of academic opinion, are telling us effectively that everybody in America arrived from north-east Asia less than 15,000 years ago. When history gets re-written like this, it can lead to head-on collision with deeply-held beliefs.

因此，考古学、DNA及大量的学术见解都极明确地告诉大家，最早不过一万五千年前，人类从东北亚抵达了北美洲。当历史即将被重新编写时，它就不可避免地要与根深蒂古的信息迎头相撞。

'This is an affront⁶ to their very specific beliefs ...

“这对于他们相当特定的信仰而言肯定是一种冒犯……

Historian Gabrielle Tayac is a Piscataway Indian. She works for the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, and she studies how Native Americans are reacting to this new narrative⁷ that science is giving them:

历史学家加布里埃尔·塔亚克是一位皮斯卡塔韦印第安人，在史密森安那的美国印第安人国家博物馆工作；她专门研究了土著美洲人对于此项科学新发现的说法反应是如何的：

If you look at creation stories, there are certainly people who have very strong beliefs that either they emerged from the earth, or fell from the sky or developed out of the back of a water beetle⁸, depending on where they were ... Native American religions were repressed for a very long time and so people have become very protective.

假如你立刻一下他们的创世故事，部分人们有很强的信念，取决于他们来自哪里，他们要么觉得他们要么是从地心出现的，要么是从天空掉下来的，要么就是从一种水甲虫的背部进化而来的……美洲土著的信仰曾经长年被压抑过，所以现在人们变得防备性相当强。

For some Native people, though not all, the insertion of scientific findings that Native people did not get created from the very site that they emerged from, or that there are findings that might be counter to a specific oral recitation, can be seen as a way of invalidating Native traditions.'

对于某些，尽管不是全部的土著人，这种科学发现的介入，硬生生地说明土著居民根本就是不是从当地进化而来的，或者有些科学发现可能对某种口口相传的民族传说相碰撞，这会被他们看成是一种挑战土著传统权威的方式。”

1 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

2 conclusively   

adv.令人信服地，确凿地

参考例句：

• All this proves conclusively that she couldn't have known the truth. 这一切无可置疑地证明她不可能知道真相。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• From the facts,he was able to determine conclusively that the death was not a suicide. 根据这些事实他断定这起死亡事件并非自杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

4 archaeology   

n.考古学

参考例句：

• She teaches archaeology at the university.她在大学里教考古学。
• He displayed interest in archaeology.他对考古学有兴趣。

5 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

6 affront   

n./v.侮辱，触怒

参考例句：

• Your behaviour is an affront to public decency.你的行为有伤风化。
• This remark caused affront to many people.这句话得罪了不少人。

7 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

8 beetle   

n.甲虫，近视眼的人

参考例句：

• A firefly is a type of beetle.萤火虫是一种甲虫。
• He saw a shiny green beetle on a leaf.我看见树叶上有一只闪闪发光的绿色甲虫。