劍橋雅思10Test3閱讀Passage3原文翻譯 Beyond the blue horizon

劍橋雅思10Test3閱讀Passage3原文翻譯 Beyond the blue horizon

劍橋雅思10 Test3 Passage3閱讀原文翻譯

第1段

An important archaeological discovery on the island of Efate in the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu has revealed traces of an ancient seafaring people, the distant ancestors of today’s Polynesians. The site came to light only by chance. An agricultural worker, digging in the grounds of a derelict plantation, scraped open a grave—the first of dozens in a burial ground some 3,000 years old. It is the oldest cemetery ever found in the Pacific islands, and it harbors the remains of an ancient people archaeologists call the Lapita.

在太平洋瓦努阿圖群島埃法特島上的一項重要考古發(fā)現(xiàn)，揭示了古代航海者的蹤跡。他們是當今波利尼西亞人的遠古祖先。該遺址是偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)的。一名農(nóng)業(yè)工人在一個廢棄的種植園中挖地，刨開了一個墳墓。這是一處擁有3000多年歷史的墓園里數(shù)十個墳墓中出土的第一個。它是有史以來在太平洋島嶼上發(fā)現(xiàn)的最古老的墓地，埋葬著考古學家稱為Lapita的遠古人類遺骸。

第2段

They were daring blue-water adventurers who used basic canoes to rove across the ocean. But they were not just explorers. They were also pioneers who carried with them everything they would need to build new lives—their livestock, taro seedlings and stone tools. Within the span of several centuries, the Lapita stretched the boundaries of their world from the jungle-clad volcanoes of Papua New Guinea to the loneliest coral outliers of Tonga.

他們是勇敢的海洋冒險家，使用原始的獨木舟在海洋上漂泊。但他們不僅僅是探索者，還是帶著開啟新生活所需一切物品（牲畜，芋頭幼苗和石器）的開拓者。在幾個世紀的時間里，Lapita將他們世界的邊界從巴布亞新幾內(nèi)亞森林遍布的Papua火山，擴展到湯加半島最偏遠的珊瑚礁。

第3段

The Lapita left precious few dues about themselves, but Efate expands the volume of data available to researchers dramatically. The remains of 62 individuals have been uncovered so far, and archaeologists were also thrilled to find six complete Lapita pots. Other items included a Lapita burial urn with modeled birds arranged on the rim as though peering down at the human remains sealed inside. ‘It’s an important discovery’, says Matthew Spriggs, professor of archaeology at the Australian National University and head of the international team digging up the site, for it conclusively identifies the remains as Lapita.’

Lapita只留下有關自己的少許珍貴印記，但Efate極大地擴展了研究人員可獲得的數(shù)據(jù)量。到目前為止，已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了62個人的遺體。而且考古學家還驚喜的找到了6個完整的Lapita罐子。其他物品還包括一個Lapita骨灰盒。其邊緣裝飾著鳥類模型，仿佛正在低頭凝視著里面的人類遺體。澳大利亞國立大學考古學教授，挖掘該遺址的國際團隊負責人馬修·斯普里格斯（Matthew Spriggs）說：“這是一個重要發(fā)現(xiàn)。因為它徹底確認這些遺骸是Lapita人的”。

第4段

DNA teased from these human remains may help answer one of the most puzzling questions in Pacific anthropology: did all Pacific islanders spring from one source or many? Was there only one outward migration from a single point in Asia, or several from different points? ‘This represents the best opportunity we’ve had yet,’ says Spriggs, ‘to find out who the Lapita actually were, where they came from, and who their closest descendants are today.’

從這些人類遺骸中提取的DNA可能有助于回答太平洋人類學中最令人困擾的問題之一：所有的太平洋島民究竟是來自同一個地方，還是許多地方？是只有一次從亞洲某個地點向外的遷徙呢，還是有從不同地點出發(fā)的許多次？斯普利格斯說，“這是我們迄今為止得到的最好機會，可以找出Lapita人究竟是誰，他們來自哪里，以及現(xiàn)在與他們血緣關系最近的后代又是誰”。

第5段

There is one stubborn question for which archaeology has yet to provide any answers: how did the Lapita accomplish the ancient equivalent of a moon landing, many times over? No-one has found one of their canoes or any rigging, which could reveal how the canoes were sailed. Nor do the oral histories and traditions of later Polynesians offer any insights, for they turn into myths long before they reach as far back in time as the Lapita.

有這樣一個問題一直等待著考古學的回答：Lapita人究竟是如何在他們那個年代多次完成宛如登月一樣的壯舉。沒有人找到過任何一艘他們使用的獨木舟或繩索。這些東西可以揭示獨木舟是如何航行的。后來的波利尼西亞人的口述歷史和傳統(tǒng)也沒有提供任何線索，因為他們早在追溯到Lapita之前就已經(jīng)成為神話傳說。

第6段

‘All we can say for certain is that the Lapita had canoes that were capable of ocean voyages, and they had the ability to sail them,’ says Geoff Irwin, a professor of archaeology at the University of Auckland. Those sailing skills, he says, were developed and passed down over thousands of years by earlier mariners who worked their way through the archipelagoes of the western Pacific, making short crossings to nearby islands. The real adventure didn’t begin, however, until their Lapita descendants sailed out of sight of land, with empty horizons on every side. This must have been as difficult for them as landing on the moon is for us today. Certainly it distinguished them from their ancestors, but what gave them the courage to launch out on such risky voyages?

奧克蘭大學考古學教授杰夫·歐文說：“我們可以肯定地說，Lapita擁有能夠進行遠洋航行的獨木舟，而且他們具有航海能力?！?他說，這些航海技巧是由早期航海者開發(fā)并在幾千年里傳承下來的。這些航海者經(jīng)過西太平洋群島，抄近路穿過附近的島嶼。然而，直到他們的Lapita后裔駛出可見陸地的范圍，四周空無一物，真正的冒險才開始。對于他們來說，這一定很困難，就像對今天的我們來說登陸月球一樣。當然，這也將他們與他們的祖先區(qū)分開來。但究竟是什么給了他們勇氣開啟如此危險的航程呢？

第7段

The Lapita’s thrust into the Pacific was eastward, against the prevailing trade winds, Irwin notes. Those nagging headwinds, he argues, may have been the key to their success. ‘They could sail out for days into the unknown and assess the area, secure in the knowledge that if they didn’t find anything, they could turn about and catch a swift ride back on the trade winds. This is what would have made the whole thing work.’ Once out there, skilled seafarers would have detected abundant leads to follow to land: seabirds, coconuts and twigs carried out to sea by the tides, and the afternoon pile-up of clouds on the horizon which often indicates an island in the distance.

歐文注意到，Lapita對太平洋的探索是向東進行的，與盛行的季風方向想法。

他認為，那些持續(xù)不斷的逆風可能是其成功的關鍵?！八麄兛梢栽谖粗牡胤胶叫袛?shù)日，并評估該區(qū)域，因為他們知道如果找不到任何東西，他們可以調(diào)頭，利用信風快速返回。這就是整個事情得以成功的原因?！?一旦身處外海，熟練的海員就會發(fā)現(xiàn)有大量的線索可供追蹤陸地：海鳥，被潮汐帶到了大海的葉子和嫩枝，下午在地平線上堆積的云層，這通常表示遠處存在島嶼。

第8段

For returning explorers successful or not, the geography of their own archipelagoes would have provided a safety net. Without this to go by, overshooting their home pores, getting lost and sailing off into eternity would have been all too easy. Vanuatu, for example, stretches more than 500 miles in a northwest-southeast trend, its scores of intervisible islands forming a backstop for mariners riding the trade winds home.

無論成功與否，對于返回的探索者來說，他們自身群島的地理條件都提供了一張安全網(wǎng)。如果沒有它的話，非常容易出現(xiàn)超過家鄉(xiāng)港灣的范圍，迷失航向并終生在外漂泊的情況。例如，瓦努阿圖在西北偏南方向上延伸了500多英里，其數(shù)十個可互通的島嶼構(gòu)成了乘風回返的水手的后盾。

第9段

All this presupposes one essential detail, says Atholl Anderson, professor of prehistory at the Australian National University: the Lapita had mastered the advanced art of sailing against the wind. ‘And there’s no proof they could do any such thing,’ Anderson says. ‘There has been this assumption they did, and people have built canoes to re-create those early voyages based on that assumption. But nobody has any idea what their canoes looked like or how they were rigged.’

澳大利亞國立大學史前學教授阿索爾·安德森（Atholl Anderson）說，所有這些都以一個關鍵細節(jié)為前提：Lapita掌握了逆風航行的先進技術?！皼]有證據(jù)表明他們可以做到這樣的事情，”一直存在這樣的假設，認為他們確實有此能力。還有人以此假設為基礎制造獨木舟來重現(xiàn)那些早期的航行。但沒有人人道他們的獨木舟長什么樣子，以及如何操作“。

第10段

Rather than give all the credit to human skill, Anderson invokes the winds of chance. El Nino, the same climate disruption that affects the Pacific today, may have helped scatter the Lapita, Anderson suggests. He points out that climate data obtained from slow-growing corals around the Pacific indicate a series of unusually frequent El Ninos around the time of the Lapita expansion. By reversing the regular east-to-west flow of the trade winds for weeks at a time, these ‘super El Ninos’ might have taken the Lapita on long unplanned voyages.

與其將這些壯舉都歸功于人類的技能，安德森提出風的偶然因素。厄爾尼諾這種在今天仍然影響太平洋地區(qū)的氣候擾動也許幫助了Lapita人的擴散。他指出，從緩慢生長的珊瑚中獲得的有關太平洋氣候的數(shù)據(jù)表明，在Lapita人擴張的時候，正好有一系列不同尋常的、頻繁的厄爾尼諾現(xiàn)象。通過一次顛倒數(shù)周常規(guī)的從東向西方向的信風。這些超級厄爾尼諾想象可能將Lapita人帶上事先并未計劃的長期旅行。

第11段

However they did it, the Lapita spread themselves a third of the way across the Pacific, then called it quits for reasons known only to them. Ahead lay the vast emptiness of the central Pacific and perhaps they were too thinly stretched to venture farther. They probably never numbered more than a few thousand in total, and in their rapid migration eastward they encountered hundreds of islands – more than 300 in Fiji alone.

無論他們是怎么做到的，Lapita人都將自己的生活范圍擴展到橫跨太平洋的三分之一，然后又出于只有他們自己知道的原因而停了下來。在他們面前是巨大的、空曠的中太平洋?；蛟S他們延伸的過于狹長，無力進一步冒險。他們的總?cè)丝诳赡芤恢倍紱]有超過幾千人。在他們迅速向東遷徙的過程中，他們遇到了上百座島嶼。單單在斐濟一地就超過300個。

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