And I'm Barbara Klein with Explorations in VOA Special English. Today we tell about a large National Park established to protect the culture of ancient Native Americans. It is called Mesa Verde.我是美国之音自然探索栏目的Barbara Klein ，今天我们讲讲为保护古代美国土著文化而建立的国家公园。
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VOICE ONE:
It was cold that day in eighteen eighty-eight in southwestern Colorado. Richard Wetherill and his brother-in-law were trying to find some missing cattle. They were up on Mesa Verde. Spanish explorers had named the area. The high, flat mountaintop is covered with many green juniper and pinon pine trees. It looks like a huge green table, which is "mesa verde" in Spanish.在1888年科罗拉多州的寒冷的一天。理查和他的妹夫在寻找一些走失的牲畜。他们爬上了梅沙而第，由西班牙探险者为这个地方命名。在高高的山顶有一块被杜松和矮松覆盖的平地。看起来像是巨大的绿色桌面，这就是梅沙而第在西班牙语里的意思。
The two men came to the edge of a deep canyon. Through the falling snow, they saw what looked like a small city across the canyon. It was suspended in the middle of the rock wall. There were many connected rooms built into a natural opening in the rock.两个人来到峡谷边缘，透过雪雾，他们看到峡谷对面看起来像是小城市的东西。被悬置在一面石墙的中间。有很多相连的房间建在岩石上的自然形成的洞里。
They named the ruins Cliff Palace. In the next few days, they found two more large ruins. They named one Spruce Tree House. They named the other Square Tower House.他们称这处遗址为绝壁宫殿。在接下来的几天他们又发现了两个大型遗址。他们把其中一个称作云杉屋，另一个称作四方堡。
VOICE TWO:
A number of other people had seen and taken pictures of some of the cliff dwellings earlier. But the Wetherill family was the first group to study them. Soon after his discovery, Richard Wetherill returned to Mesa Verde, to the ruins that had remained silent and untouched for centuries.早就有人看过和拍过一些悬崖窑洞。但理查一家是第一个研究它的团体。很快，他们又回到梅沙而第，来到数世纪来保持安静未被触碰过的的遗址。
Richard Wetherill collected many objects. It was an easy task. It looked as if the people who had lived there had just walked away, leaving everything they owned. Cooking pots by the fireplaces. Food bowls on the floors. Shoes in the corners. Sticks for digging by the doors.理查收集了很多东西，那很容易。看起来就像那里的人刚刚离开，把他们的所有东西都留下了。壁炉旁的锅。地板上的饭碗。角落里的鞋子。门旁边用来挖掘的棍子。
The ruins in Colorado had been home to the ancestors of the present day members of the Pueblo tribes. They were named Anasazi, or ancient ones, by the Navajo Indians. They moved to Mesa Verde about one thousand five hundred years ago and left seven hundred years ago. They built the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde toward the end of the eight hundred years they lived there.科罗拉多州的遗址是今天印第安部落成员的祖先的家。他们被称作阿纳萨奇，或古那瓦霍人。他们在约1500年前来到这里，700年前离开。他们在梅沙而第建造悬崖窑洞并在那里一直住了800年。
VOICE ONE:
Richard Wetherill showed his collection of objects in nearby towns. People were not interested. Just some more old Indian things, they said. Finally, he sold his collection to the Colorado Historical Society. But the Wetherill family continued exploring Mesa Verde. Their finds became known in the eastern United States and in Europe. Hundreds of people went to Mesa Verde to see for themselves.理查在附近的城镇展出他的收藏。人们不感兴趣。他们说那只是一些古老的印第安物品罢了。最后他把收藏品卖给了科罗拉多州历史协会。但理查一家继续探索梅沙而第。他们的发现在美国东部和欧洲闻名。数百人到梅沙而第寻找东西。
VOICE TWO:
One of the earliest visitors was a young man from Sweden, Gustaf Nordenskiold. Mister Nordenskiold spent months exploring the area. He traveled on foot and on horseback. He took pictures that were published in a book, "The Cliff Dwellers of the Mesa Verde."其中一个最早的游客是个瑞典的年轻人古斯塔夫。他用了几个月时间探索这块地方。他步行和骑马。他拍了照片发表在《梅沙而第的悬崖窑洞》中。
Gustaf Nordenskiold collected hundreds of objects he found in the ruins. He loaded them on teams of mules and sent them to the nearby town of Durango, Colorado. Local officials tried to prevent him from removing so many objects. But there were no laws to stop him. Mister Nordenskiold shipped the objects to Sweden. Later, they were given to the national museum in Helsinki, Finland, where they remain today.古斯塔夫收集了数百件在遗址中发现的物品。他把它们用骡队运到附近的城镇，科罗拉多州的杜兰戈。当地官员试图阻止他运送这么多物品。但没有法律可以阻止他。古斯塔夫把他们装船运到了瑞典，后来被交给芬兰赫尔辛基国家博物馆并保存至今。
VOICE ONE:
Many people were shocked by the continuing removal of objects from the ruins at Mesa Verde. One was a woman named Virginia McClurg. She had visited the area and had explored a few small ruins. From eighteen eighty-seven to eighteen ninety-six, she campaigned throughout the country to get laws to save the cliff dwellings. She gave speeches describing the destruction of the dwellings by people seeking treasures. She worked for years with members of the United States Congress to get such laws passed.很多人被从梅沙而第转移的大量物品所震惊。其中之一是一个叫Virginia McClurg的女士。她曾去过那个地方探索过几个遗址。从1887年到1896年，她在全国四处活动，希望可以立法保护悬崖窑洞。她用演讲描述那些寻宝的人对遗址造成的破坏。为了争取法案通过，她和国会议员们努力了很多年。
Finally, on June twenty-ninth, nineteen-oh-six, President Theodore Roosevelt signed a bill creating Mesa Verde National Park. It was the first National Park designed to protect the works of humans. Then Congress approved the Federal Antiquities Act of nineteen-oh-six. The act helps protect ancient ruins on federal lands.最后，在1906年6月29日，罗斯福总统签署了法案把梅沙而第列为国家公园。这是第一个为保护人类作品而建立的国家公园。然后国会通过了1906联邦文物法案.。法案保护联邦土地上的遗址。
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VOICE TWO:
Today, from a distance, Mesa Verde appears as it did centuries ago. It rises more than five hundred forty meters above the floor of the valley. Visitors can drive up to the top of Mesa Verde on a winding mountain road. When you reach the top, you are two thousand four hundred meters above sea level. In the distance are the flat lands and mountains of the Four Corners area. That is where the western states of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Arizona meet. This area has one of the largest numbers of archeological sites in the United States. 今天，从远处看，梅沙而第像数世纪以前一样。它高出峡谷底部约540米。游客可以通过弯曲的山路驾车到达梅沙而第顶部。当你到达山顶时，就到达了海拔2400米的高度。远处是四面环山的平地，那里是西部州科罗拉多，新墨西哥，犹他和亚利桑那州交接的地方。这个地方拥有美国考古地点最多的地方之一。（最集中？）
VOICE ONE:
Within the national park are more than five thousand ruins from the time of the Ancestral Puebloan people. Six hundred are cliff dwellings. Most of the ruins remain unexplored. Some have been uncovered and supported to make them safe to visit. These ruins are open to the public during most of the year. During the winter, activities are limited. The visitors' center at the park is open during the summer. The museum is open all year. 在国家公园里是从古人类时代开始的五千多处遗址。六百处是悬崖窑洞。多数遗址没被探索过。一些被开发可以安全的游览。一年里多数时间遗址向公众开放。冬天，活动被限制。公园的游客中心只在夏天开放。博物馆全年开放。
The visitors' center and the museum provide information about the history of the culture of the ancient Pueblo people and about present-day Indians. National Park Service guides lead visitors to the ruins. They give talks about the cultural history of the area. And they talk about the geology and wildlife.游客中心和博物馆提供有关古印第安人和现代印第安人的文化的历史的信息。公园管理局的导游带游客到遗址。他们介绍这块地方的文化历史。也介绍地质和野生动物。
VOICE TWO:
Some of the ruins in the Four Corners area are from the earliest people who lived there. They were hunters and gatherers, now known as Basket Makers. The Basket Makers lived in simple caves. Their civilization existed two thousand years ago. The first evidence that ancient people had moved to Mesa Verde is from about the year five hundred. Those people lived in pit houses. Pit houses were large holes in the ground with roofs of wood and mud.
一些四面的遗址是属于最早居住在那里的人们的。他们是猎手和收集者，现在所知的制篮子者。（？）他们居住在简单的洞穴中。他们的文明存在于2000年以前。古人移居到梅沙而第的第一个证据来自公元五百年。那些人居住在地窖中（？）地窖是一种地上的洞，上面有用木头和泥灰作的屋顶。
In about the year seven hundred fifty, the early Pueblo people began building square structures of large connected rooms, or pueblos, above ground. Finally, in about eleven hundred, they climbed down the canyon walls and began building cliff dwellings. Today, visitors to Mesa Verde can see some of the remains of all four kinds of settlements.大约公元750年，早期的印第安人开始建造在地面以上的有很多房间组成的街区建筑或村落。最后在大约1100年，他们爬下岩墙建造了悬崖窑洞。现在，来梅沙而第的游客可以看到这四种住宅的遗址。
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VOICE ONE:
Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde and also in North America. It has one hundred fifty rooms. It is difficult to get to it. Visitors must climb down into the canyon on a narrow path with many steps. They must also climb down several ladders. But the trip is well worth the effort. Visitors can examine a huge and beautiful structure made of stone and clay.绝壁宫殿是梅沙而第和北美最大的悬崖窑洞。它有150个房间。很难到达那里。游客要通过有很多台阶的狭窄的小路下到峡谷中。还要爬下很多梯子。但这样做很值得。游客可以细看那些由石头和粘土造成的美丽建筑。
Spruce Tree House is the third largest cliff dwelling in Mesa Verde National Park. It has one hundred fourteen rooms. It also has eight underground rooms called kivas. The Indian men gathered in the kivas for special ceremonies. About one hundred people lived in this cliff dwelling during the thirteenth century.云杉树屋是梅沙而第国家公园的第三大悬崖窑洞。它有114个房间。它还有八个地下室，叫做大地穴。印第安男人在地穴里聚会，举行特殊仪式。在13世纪大约100人生活在这个悬崖窑洞。
Spruce Tree House is the easiest cliff dwelling to visit. The path curves down into the valley and then up to the ruin. Signs along the path point to trees and plants used by the Ancestral Puebloan people. Also along the path are the juniper and pinon pine trees that make Mesa Verde green.云杉树屋是最早的有人游览的悬崖窑洞。小路曲折向下通向峡谷然后向上到达遗址。沿着小路，有标志指向那些古印第安人使用过的树和植物。沿路都是杜松和矮松，这些树让梅沙而第绿意盎然。
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VOICE TWO:
About five hundred thousand people visit Mesa Verde National Park each year. The park's archeologists have recovered many objects that the ancient Pueblo people used, including pots, tools and jewelry. Many of the objects are shown in the visitors' center. However, human remains or any object from a grave may not be touched or shown. This is to honor the wishes of the modern Puebloan people who live in the area today.每年有约50000人游览梅沙而第国家公园。公园的考古学家已经发现了很多古印第安人用过的东西，包括锅，工具和首饰。很多东西在游客中心展出。然而人体残骸和来自坟墓的东西可能不许触摸或展出。这是对今天居住在这里的现代印第安人的尊重。
Mesa Verde National Park occupies twenty-one thousand hectares of land. However, only about ten percent of the area has been explored.梅沙而第国家公园占地21000公顷。但只有大约百分之十的地方被探索过。
VOICE ONE:
Mesa Verde is recognized as a special place. The United Nations named it one of the first World Heritage sites in nineteen seventy-eight. Special events were held at Mesa Verde during its one hundredth anniversary in two thousand six. They included tours of areas never before open to the public. 梅沙而第被公认为是一个特别的地方。1978年联合国命名它为世界遗产。2006年在梅沙而第举办了它的一百周年纪念的特别活动。包括游览从未对公众开放过的地方。
Today's Pueblo Indians whose ancestors lived in Mesa Verde consider it a sacred place. And for visitors from around the world, it remains a place of mystery and beauty.现在那些曾居住在这里的印第安人的后代把这里当做神圣的地方，对于来自全世界的游客，它保留了一些神秘和美丽。
[此贴被系统于2009-1-18 15:48:16编辑过]
[此贴被系统于2009-1-18 17:24:53编辑过]
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