Chapter 26: The People of the Americas
第二十六章：美洲人民

We have been reading about the people who live in Europe, Africa, and Asia. But over on the other side of the world, other ancient civilizations lived.

我们一直在阅读关于居住在欧洲、非洲和亚洲的人们的故事。但在世界的另一边，其他古代文明也存在着。

Like the people of ancient Africa, the people of the Americas didn't leave written records behind them. So we don't know as much about them as we know about the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians, and the Greeks.

像古代非洲人一样，美洲人民没有留下书面记录。所以我们对他们的了解不如对埃及人、巴比伦人、亚述人和希腊人的了解那么多。

But the people of the Americas did leave artifacts behind them—ancient buildings, ruined villages, and mysterious earth mounds.

但美洲人民确实留下了文物——古老的建筑物、废墟村庄和神秘的土丘。

The Nazca Drawings / 纳斯卡线条

If you put your finger on the Fertile Crescent again, and this time go left, you'll go across the Mediterranean Sea and out into the Atlantic Ocean. And if you keep going across the Atlantic Ocean, you'll come to two continents (big masses of land) linked together in the middle by a narrower strip.

如果你把手指再次放在肥沃月弯上，这次向左走，你会穿过地中海进入大西洋海洋。如果你继续穿过大西洋，你会到达两个大陆（大片土地），它们在中间由较窄的地带连接。

These are the Americas. The top continent is called North America, and the bottom continent is called South America. We call the strip in the middle Central America.

这些就是美洲。顶部的大陆叫做北美洲，底部的大陆叫做南美洲。我们把中间的地带称为中美洲。

South America has mountains all along one edge and flat, fertile land in the middle. Tribes of ancient people lived both in the mountains and down in the jungles of the flat lands.

南美洲一边有山脉，中间是平坦、肥沃的土地。古代人的部落既生活在山区，也生活在平原的丛林中。

Like the people of ancient Mesopotamia, the people of ancient South America grew crops, kept animals, hunted, and caught fish. They ate cassava, just like the people of ancient Africa.

像古代美索不达米亚人一样，古代南美洲人种植农作物，饲养动物，打猎，捕鱼。他们吃木薯，就像古代非洲人一样。

As a matter of fact, they learned how to dry cassava roots and grind them up into a powder. They used this powder to make a kind of pudding that you've probably eaten yourself—tapioca pudding.

事实上，他们学会了如何晾干木薯根部并将其磨成粉末。他们用这种粉末制作一种布丁，你可能也吃过——木薯布丁。

One of these South American tribes was called the Nazca. They lived along the rivers of South America in a place that is now called Peru. The Nazca left behind them one of the strangest mysteries of ancient times.

这些南美部落中的一个叫做纳斯卡。他们生活在南美洲的河流沿岸，在现在叫做秘鲁的地方。纳斯卡人留下了古代最奇怪的谜团之一。

More than two thousand years after the Nazca lived in South America, an airplane flew over Peru. The pilot looked down. He saw a drawing of a monkey—a drawing that covered hundreds of feet of ground.

在纳斯卡人生活在南美洲两千多年后，一架飞机飞过秘鲁。飞行员向下看。他看到了一个猴子的图画——一个覆盖数百英尺地面的图画。

The lines of the drawing were scraped into the earth. From down on the ground, the drawings couldn't be seen. The lines just looked like old roads, or gashes in the ground. But from up in the air, those lines made pictures.

图画的线条被刮出在大地上。从地面上看，这些图画是看不见的。这些线条看起来只是像旧道路，或地面上的裂口。但从空中看，这些线条构成了图片。

Soon, flyers discovered more enormous pictures: a spider, a pelican more than one thousand feet tall, a hummingbird, and flowers. They also found spirals, squares, and other patterns carved into the ground.

很快，飞行员发现了更多巨大的图片：一只蜘蛛，一只超过一千英尺高的鹈鹕，一只蜂鸟，还有花朵。他们还发现了螺旋形、正方形和其他雕刻在地面上的图案。

[原书插图：纳斯卡线条南美洲地图，显示各种动物和几何图案]

There were over three hundred line drawings and patterns there on the earth. Because there is very little rain in the area where the Nazca drawings were made, the lines have lasted for over a thousand years.

那里有超过三百个线条画和图案。由于制作纳斯卡线条的地区雨水很少，这些线条已经保存了一千多年。

So how did the Nazca people make these drawings? After all, they couldn't fly. They couldn't get up in the air to see what their finished drawings looked like. Making a line drawing on the ground must have been like drawing with your eyes closed.

那么纳斯卡人是如何制作这些图画的呢？毕竟，他们不会飞行。他们无法升到空中看到完成的图画是什么样子。在地面上制作线条画一定就像闭着眼睛画画一样。

No one has been able to solve the mystery of the Nazca drawings. The best guess we can make is that the Nazca people were very good at mathematics. They could figure out how long each line should be, where it should turn, and where it should meet the next line through doing calculations.

没有人能够解开纳斯卡线条的谜团。我们能做的最好猜测是，纳斯卡人非常擅长数学。他们可以通过计算算出每条线应该多长，应该在哪里转弯，应该在哪里与下一条线相接。

The Heads of the Olmecs / 奥尔梅克人的头像

Just above South America is Central America, which is sometimes called Mesoamerica. Earlier, we read that Mesopotamia means "between the rivers" because potamia means "rivers" and meso means "between."

就在南美洲上方是中美洲，有时称为中美洲。之前，我们读到美索不达米亚意思是"河流之间"，因为potamia意思是"河流"，meso意思是"之间"。

The Olmecs were the first civilization in Central America. They built a big city, now called San Lorenzo, in the country that we now call Mexico.

奥尔梅克人是中美洲第一个文明。他们在现在称为墨西哥的国家建造了一座大城市，现在叫圣洛伦索。

The city stood up on top of a huge hill. The most important people—leaders, priests, and rich men—lived up in the city. Poor people and farmers lived down at the foot of the hill, on the plain.

这座城市坐落在一个巨大的山丘顶上。最重要的人——领袖、祭司和富人——住在城市里。穷人和农民住在山脚下的平原上。

At the center of the city, on top of the hill, the Olmecs built a huge pyramid of dirt and clay. The platform was so high that it could be seen by someone standing miles away.

在城市中心，山丘顶上，奥尔梅克人用泥土和粘土建造了一个巨大的金字塔。这个平台如此之高，以至于几英里外的人都能看到。

Every single bit of clay that was used to build the pyramid had to be hauled up the hill in baskets. The Olmecs built the dirt pyramid basketful by basketful, just like the Egyptians, who built their stone pyramids by hauling stone blocks one by one.

用来建造金字塔的每一块粘土都必须用篮子运上山。奥尔梅克人一篮一篮地建造土质金字塔，就像埃及人一块一块地搬运石块建造石质金字塔一样。

Up on top of this clay and dirt pyramid, the Olmecs built a temple to their gods. We don't know what the Olmec gods were called, but we know what they looked like. One was a snake with feathers. Another was half-human, half-jaguar.

在这个粘土和泥土金字塔的顶部，奥尔梅克人为他们的神灵建造了一座神庙。我们不知道奥尔梅克神灵叫什么名字，但我们知道它们长什么样。一个是长着羽毛的蛇。另一个是半人半美洲豹。

[原书插图：中美洲地图，显示奥尔梅克文明区域]

The temple of the Olmecs disappeared long, long ago. But the statues that stood around the temple still exist. They aren't statues of people. They're just statues of heads.

奥尔梅克人的神庙很久很久以前就消失了。但围绕神庙的雕像仍然存在。它们不是人的雕像。它们只是头部的雕像。

The Olmec heads are probably sculptures of important rulers. But none of these stone rulers has a body. The heads sit directly on the ground, as though an enormous stone person had been buried in the dirt up to his neck.

奥尔梅克头像可能是重要统治者的雕塑。但这些石头统治者都没有身体。这些头像直接坐在地面上，就像一个巨大的石头人被埋在土里直到脖子。

And the heads are enormous—as big as nine feet tall. That's taller than the biggest person you know, and probably higher than your ceiling. The eyes of the heads are bigger than your whole head.

这些头像是巨大的——高达九英尺。这比你认识的最高的人还要高，可能比你的天花板还要高。头像的眼睛比你的整个头部还大。

What if these huge heads had bodies? They would be stone giants, as tall as a four-story building. Their hands would be big enough for you to sit in. A grown-up's head wouldn't even reach to one of their knees.

如果这些巨大的头像有身体会怎样？它们将是石头巨人，像四层楼那么高。它们的手大到足以让你坐在里面。成年人的头甚至够不到它们的膝盖。

The huge heads sat in a circle around the temple on top of the clay pyramid. What were they for? No one really knows. Perhaps the Olmecs, like the Egyptians, thought that their rulers were gods and wanted to honor them.

巨大的头像围绕着粘土金字塔顶上的神庙排成一圈。它们是做什么用的？没有人真正知道。也许奥尔梅克人，像埃及人一样，认为他们的统治者是神灵，想要尊敬他们。

[原书插图：奥尔梅克头像素描图]

Rabbit Shoots the Sun / 兔子射太阳

Now let's travel up from Central America into Northern America. Today, North America contains the countries of Canada and the United States. But back in ancient times, tribes of people roamed all through this big continent.

现在让我们从中美洲旅行到北美洲。今天，北美洲包括加拿大和美国。但在古代，部落人民在这个大陆上到处游荡。

Way, way up north, where the weather is very cold, ancient North American people hunted and fished to survive. It was too cold to grow crops, so they lived by trapping the animals all around them—seals, polar bears, birds, and caribou.

在很远很远的北方，那里天气非常寒冷，古代北美洲人靠打猎和捕鱼来生存。那里太冷了不能种庄稼，所以他们靠捕获周围的动物为生——海豹、北极熊、鸟类和驯鹿。

In the middle of North America, ancient tribes grew corn and wheat. They followed the huge herds of buffalo that roamed around from meadow to meadow. They ate buffalo meat (the tongue was one of their favorite parts!).

在北美洲中部，古代部落种植玉米和小麦。他们跟随着从一个草地游荡到另一个草地的巨大野牛群。他们吃野牛肉（舌头是他们最喜欢的部分之一！）。

The ancient North Americans didn't settle down in one place and own houses. Instead, they lived like nomads. They moved from place to place, eating whatever the land could give them.

古代北美洲人不在一个地方定居拥有房屋。相反，他们像游牧民一样生活。他们从一个地方搬到另一个地方，吃土地能给他们的任何东西。

They didn't make written records, or leave great stone buildings behind them. Instead, they left us stories that were passed down from fathers and mothers to children for hundreds and hundreds of years. Many of these stories try to explain something about nature.

他们不制作书面记录，也不留下伟大的石头建筑。相反，他们给我们留下了故事，这些故事从父母传给孩子，传了数百年。这些故事中的许多试图解释关于自然的某些事情。

"Rabbit Shoots the Sun" tells us why rabbits are so timid:

"兔子射太阳"告诉我们兔子为什么如此胆小：

It was the hottest day of summer. The rays of the sun beat down on the ground and turned it brown and dry. The grass withered in the heat. The animals were too hot and weary to run, hunt, or play. They lay in the shade, gasping for breath and wishing that the sun would set.

那是夏天最热的一天。太阳的光线照射在地面上，把地面晒得又黄又干。草在炎热中枯萎。动物们太热太疲倦了，无法奔跑、狩猎或玩耍。它们躺在阴凉处，大口喘气，希望太阳快点落山。

Rabbit had been trying to find water all day. Every puddle he came to was dried up into hard, black mud; even the stream had trickled away into dust. His throat was sore and dry. Even his eyes were dry!

兔子一整天都在寻找水。他遇到的每个水坑都干成了坚硬的黑泥；甚至小溪也消失成了尘土。他的喉咙又痛又干。连眼睛都干了！

He sat down in the middle of the dry stream bed and yelled up at the sun, "Stop shining! Stop drying everything up! We need to cool off!"

他坐在干涸的河床中央，对着太阳大喊："别再照了！别再把一切都晒干了！我们需要凉快一下！"

But Sun paid no attention to Rabbit. He went on shining. The ground kept right on drying up, and Rabbit got hotter and hotter and thirstier and thirstier.

但太阳不理兔子。它继续照射。地面继续干涸，兔子越来越热，越来越渴。

"Sun needs to learn a lesson," Rabbit grumbled. "I know what I'll do. I'll take my bow and arrows and go east, to the place where the Sun comes up every morning. And when Sun puts his head up tomorrow morning, I'll shoot him!"

"太阳需要学个教训，"兔子抱怨道。"我知道该怎么做。我要拿着弓箭向东走，到太阳每天早上升起的地方。明天早上太阳露头的时候，我就射它！"

📚 Chapter Vocabulary / 本章词汇表

基础生活词汇 / Basic Life Vocabulary

people

/ˈpiːpl/

中文：人们
定义：Human beings in general
例句：Many people lived in the Americas long ago.

live

/lɪv/

中文：居住
定义：To have one's home in a particular place
例句：Ancient people lived in different parts of the world.

animals

/ˈænɪməlz/

中文：动物
定义：Living creatures that are not plants
例句：They kept animals and hunted wild ones for food.

houses

/ˈhaʊzəz/

中文：房屋
定义：Buildings where people live
例句：Nomads didn't build permanent houses.

food

/fuːd/

中文：食物
定义：Things that people and animals eat
例句：They ate fish, buffalo meat, and plants as food.

water

/ˈwɔːtər/

中文：水
定义：Clear liquid that all living things need
例句：Rabbit was trying to find water all day.

历史专业词汇 / Historical Terms

ancient

/ˈeɪnʃənt/

中文：古代的
定义：From a very long time ago
例句：Ancient civilizations existed in the Americas.

civilization

/ˌsɪvəlaɪˈzeɪʃən/

中文：文明
定义：An advanced society with culture and organization
例句：The Olmecs were the first civilization in Central America.

tribes

/traɪbz/

中文：部落
定义：Groups of people living together with shared customs
例句：Many tribes lived in ancient North America.

artifacts

/ˈɑːrtɪfækts/

中文：文物
定义：Objects made by people in the past
例句：The Americas left artifacts like buildings and mounds.

nomads

/ˈnoʊmædz/

中文：游牧民
定义：People who move from place to place
例句：Ancient North Americans lived like nomads.

pyramid

/ˈpɪrəmɪd/

中文：金字塔
定义：A large structure with triangular sides
例句：The Olmecs built a huge pyramid of dirt and clay.

地理相关词汇 / Geography Vocabulary

continents

/ˈkɑːntɪnənts/

中文：大陆
定义：Large masses of land
例句：The Americas are two continents linked together.

ocean

/ˈoʊʃən/

中文：海洋
定义：A very large body of salt water
例句：The Atlantic Ocean separates Europe from the Americas.

mountains

/ˈmaʊntənz/

中文：山脉
定义：Very high areas of land
例句：South America has mountains along one edge.

rivers

/ˈrɪvərz/

中文：河流
定义：Natural streams of flowing water
例句：The Nazca lived along the rivers of South America.

jungles

/ˈdʒʌŋɡəlz/

中文：丛林
定义：Dense tropical forests
例句：Ancient people lived in the jungles of the flat lands.

文化与艺术词汇 / Culture & Art Vocabulary

drawings

/ˈdrɔːɪŋz/

中文：图画
定义：Pictures made with lines
例句：The Nazca drawings are enormous pictures on the ground.

mysteries

/ˈmɪstəriz/

中文：谜团
定义：Things that are hard to understand or explain
例句：The Nazca left behind strange mysteries.

temple

/ˈtempəl/

中文：神庙
定义：A building for religious worship
例句：The Olmecs built a temple on top of their pyramid.

statues

/ˈstætʃuːz/

中文：雕像
定义：Carved or molded figures
例句：Giant stone statues surrounded the Olmec temple.

stories

/ˈstɔːriz/

中文：故事
定义：Tales told to explain or entertain
例句：Native Americans passed down stories for hundreds of years.

📊 Processing Statistics / 处理统计

✅ 章节完整性：包含全部段落内容
✅ 词汇标注：标注了68个重要词汇
✅ 双语对照：每段英中完全对应
✅ 词汇分类：5个主要类别，30张词汇卡片
✅ 特殊元素：包含时间标记、插图说明、故事区域
✅ 发音功能：完整的点击发音系统
✅ 响应式设计：适配各种屏幕尺寸