Chapter 32 - The American Kingdoms / 第三十二章 - 美洲王国

The Mayans of Central America / 中美洲的玛雅人

Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci called America a new world because they had never seen it before. But people had been living in this New World for thousands of years before Columbus or Amerigo ever arrived!

克里斯托弗·哥伦布和亚美利哥·维斯普齐称美洲为新世界，因为他们以前从未见过它。但人们在哥伦布或亚美利哥到达之前，已经在这个新世界生活了数千年！

These Native American peoples are sometimes still called Indians because Columbus gave them this name, thinking that he had reached India.

这些美洲原住民有时仍被称为印第安人，因为哥伦布给他们起了这个名字，以为自己到达了印度。

But of course Columbus had not reached India at all; he had reached the Americas. There are two American continents: North America (the continent on the top of your map) and South America (the continent at the bottom). The bridge of land that links them together is called Central America.

但哥伦布当然根本没有到达印度；他到达的是美洲。有两个美洲大陆：北美洲（地图上方的大陆）和南美洲（底部的大陆）。连接它们的陆桥被称为中美洲。

[原书插图：玛雅、阿兹特克和印加帝国地图]

When Columbus landed in the New World, he landed on islands just across from Central America. He wrote in his journal, "Men and women came out to meet us. Their hair is black and short in front, combed forward. They paint themselves with black and white. Some have scars on their bodies."

当哥伦布在新世界登陆时，他登陆在中美洲对面的岛屿上。他在日记中写道："男人和女人出来迎接我们。他们的头发是黑色的，前面很短，向前梳理。他们用黑色和白色涂绘自己。有些人身上有疤痕。"

Central America had its own empires during the Middle Ages—and those empires fought wars with each other, just like the empires over in Europe and Asia!

中美洲在中世纪有自己的帝国——这些帝国彼此交战，就像欧洲和亚洲的帝国一样！

The first great empire of Central America was the Mayan Empire. The Mayans lived on the Yucatan Peninsula, which lies between the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea. Today, the Yucatan Peninsula is part of Mexico.

中美洲第一个伟大的帝国是玛雅帝国。玛雅人生活在尤卡坦半岛，位于墨西哥湾和加勒比海之间。今天，尤卡坦半岛是墨西哥的一部分。

The Mayans began to build great cities at the same time that Rome was falling apart. These cities lasted for hundreds of years. But not all the Mayans lived in their cities. Only the most powerful people—kings, noblemen, and governors—lived in the cities.

玛雅人在罗马衰落的同时开始建造伟大的城市。这些城市持续了数百年。但并非所有玛雅人都住在城市里。只有最有权势的人——国王、贵族和总督——住在城市里。

The less important Mayans, such as farmers and craftsmen, lived in the jungles of Central America and came to cities to trade and to worship the gods.

不太重要的玛雅人，如农民和工匠，住在中美洲的丛林中，到城市来贸易和祭拜神灵。

Worshipping the gods was an important part of Mayan life. Stone pyramids with temples on top were built in all of the Mayan cities. The Mayan kings, who sacrificed in these temples, were said to be descended from the sun god.

祭拜神灵是玛雅生活的重要部分。所有玛雅城市都建有顶部带神庙的石制金字塔。在这些神庙中祭祀的玛雅国王，据说是太阳神的后代。

They tried to make themselves look "godlike" by filing their front teeth into fangs and painting their faces. When the kings were babies, their mothers would tie pieces of wood tightly around their heads. The wood made their skulls grow up into a peak.

他们试图通过将前牙齿锉成尖牙和涂脸来使自己看起来"像神一样"。当国王还是婴儿时，他们的母亲会在头部周围紧紧地绑上木块。木块使他们的头骨长成尖顶状。

So Mayan kings had heads that sloped straight back from their eyebrows and were pointed on top—a sign of divine power! The Mayans also thought that gods were cross-eyed, so a king's mother would often tie a little toy to the front of her baby's hair.

所以玛雅国王的头从眉毛处直接向后倾斜，顶部呈尖状——这是神圣力量的标志！玛雅人还认为神是斗鸡眼的，所以国王的母亲经常在婴儿头发前面绑一个小玩具。

Because the Mayans believed that their kings were divine, they allowed the kings to have complete power. Over in Europe, other nations (like England) were beginning to put limits on the powers of the king—but in Central America, the king could still declare any law and have it carried out.

因为玛雅人相信他们的国王是神圣的，所以他们允许国王拥有完全权力。在欧洲，其他国家（如英国）开始对国王的权力施加限制——但在中美洲，国王仍然可以宣布任何法律并执行它。

The Marvelous City of Tenochtitlan / 特诺奇蒂特兰的奇妙城市

The Aztecs were even more warlike than the Mayans! We don't know where the Aztecs first came from, but we do know that as they wandered through Central America, they fought battle after battle with the other tribes who lived there.

阿兹特克人比玛雅人更加好战！我们不知道阿兹特克人最初来自哪里，但我们知道当他们在中美洲漫游时，他们与生活在那里的其他部落不断作战。

As they roamed through the highlands of Central America, the Aztecs came to the edge of a wide lake. The edges of the lake were soft and marshy, filled with reeds. Little islands dotted its surface. On one of these islands, a large cactus grew. And on the cactus sat an eagle, holding a snake in its talons.

当他们在中美洲高地游荡时，阿兹特克人来到了一个宽阔湖泊的边缘。湖边柔软沼泽，长满了芦苇。小岛点缀在湖面上。在其中一个岛上，长着一株大仙人掌。仙人掌上栖息着一只鹰，爪子里抓着一条蛇。

When the Aztec priests saw the eagle, they cried out, "It is a sign from the sun god! He wishes us to settle here. His divine power will be with us if we build our capital city on the island of the eagle!"

当阿兹特克祭司看到鹰时，他们喊道："这是太阳神的征兆！他希望我们在这里定居。如果我们在鹰之岛上建造首都，他的神圣力量将与我们同在！"

The Aztecs were determined to find a way. And so they hauled basketfuls of dry earth and stones from the land around the lake and dumped the earth onto the muddy beaches. They pulled basketfuls of mud up from the lake bottom and filled in the pools and swamps.

阿兹特克人决心找到办法。于是他们从湖周围的土地上运来一篮篮的干土和石头，把土倒在泥泞的海滩上。他们从湖底挖起一篮篮泥土，填平池塘和沼泽。

[原书插图：阿兹特克战士]

They cut poles from the trees surrounding the lake, drove the poles down into the bottom of the lake, and attached reed mats to the poles. Then they filled the fenced-in areas with more dirt and mud. Slowly, the island became larger and drier. The Aztecs built more and more houses in their new city. They named it Tenochtitlan.

他们从湖边的树上砍下杆子，把杆子打进湖底，然后把芦苇垫绑在杆子上。然后他们在围起来的区域里填上更多的土和泥。慢慢地，岛变得更大更干燥。阿兹特克人在新城市里建造了越来越多的房屋。他们把它命名为特诺奇蒂特兰。

More and more people came to live in Tenochtitlan. Even though the island was not very big, this floating city had over a hundred thousand Aztecs living in it. More parts of the lake were filled in so that stone buildings could be raised. Canals edged with stone channeled the water away from the foundations of the city.

越来越多的人来到特诺奇蒂特兰居住。尽管岛屿不是很大，但这座水上城市有超过十万阿兹特克人居住。湖的更多部分被填平，以便建造石质建筑。石砌的运河将水从城市地基引开。

The canals also acted as streets; often, the Aztecs traveled through their capital city by canoe. Smaller cities grew up around the edge of the lake. The people who lived in these cities grew corn, squash, tomatoes, and beans, paddled canoes full of food over to Tenochtitlan.

运河也起到街道的作用；阿兹特克人经常乘独木舟穿行于首都。湖边周围长起了较小的城市。住在这些城市的人种植玉米、南瓜、西红柿和豆类，划着装满食物的独木舟到特诺奇蒂特兰。

But the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan didn't rely on the shore for all their food. They learned how to grow crops in the lake. They wove reeds into huge mats and floated these mats in the water. They covered the surface of the mats with dirt and planted seeds in the dirt. When the plants sprang up, their roots grew down through the dirt, through the mats, and into the water.

但特诺奇蒂特兰的阿兹特克人并不完全依赖岸上的食物。他们学会了如何在湖中种植农作物。他们将芦苇编成大垫子，让这些垫子漂浮在水中。他们在垫子表面覆盖泥土，在泥土中种植种子。当植物长出来时，它们的根穿过泥土、穿过垫子，长到水中。

The Aztecs also learned how to make a brand new food: chocolate. The rich dirt around the lake was a perfect place to grow cacao trees—small fruit trees that bear fruit like melons, each almost a foot long. When the purple fruit of the cacao tree turned brown, the Aztecs would pick the fruit and scoop out the insides.

阿兹特克人还学会了制作一种全新的食物：巧克力。湖周围肥沃的土壤是种植可可树的绝佳地点——这些小果树结出像甜瓜一样的果实，每个几乎一英尺长。当可可树的紫色果实变成棕色时，阿兹特克人会摘下果实并挖出里面的东西。

The Aztecs pounded these cacao beans into a fine powder, boiled them with corn flour into a soupy paste, strained the paste into a thin brown liquid, and then added vanilla and honey to it. The result: chocolate.

阿兹特克人将这些可可豆捣成细粉末，与玉米粉一起煮成汤状糊状物，将糊状物过滤成稀薄的棕色液体，然后加入香草和蜂蜜。结果就是：巧克力。

Cacao beans were as valuable as gold; the Aztecs even used them for money. Chocolate, they thought, was food worthy of the gods.

可可豆和黄金一样珍贵；阿兹特克人甚至用它们作为货币。他们认为，巧克力是配得上神灵的食物。

The Incas / 印加人

When Spanish and Portuguese explorers landed in the New World, they found the Aztecs flourishing in Central America. They met Mayans, living in small scattered tribes throughout Central America. But when they traveled south, down into the continent of South America, they found yet another great civilization: the civilization of the Incas.

当西班牙和葡萄牙探险家登陆新世界时，他们发现阿兹特克人在中美洲繁荣昌盛。他们遇到了玛雅人，分散在中美洲各地的小部落中生活。但当他们向南旅行，进入南美洲大陆时，他们发现了另一个伟大的文明：印加人的文明。

The Incas lived in the mountains that run along the western coast of South America. Today, we call this area Peru. Like the Mayans, the Incas believed that their king was descended from the sun god.

印加人生活在沿着南美洲西海岸的山脉中。今天，我们称这个地区为秘鲁。像玛雅人一样，印加人相信他们的国王是太阳神的后代。

Inti, the god of the sun, presided over the earth. Each day he rose and soared above it, looking down on it from the clouds; each evening, he sank down beneath it and swam through the waters that lie beneath the earth, back to the earth's far side, so that he could rise and soar over it again.

太阳神因蒂统治着大地。每天他升起并翱翔在大地之上，从云端俯视大地；每天傍晚，他沉入大地之下，游过地底的水域，回到大地的另一边，这样他就能再次升起并翱翔。

Cuzco was the capital city of the Incan Empire. Today, archaeologists can see from the ruins of Cuzco that it was a great city where thousands of Incas once lived. It had straight streets, paved with cobblestones. The houses were made of stone, cut so carefully that the blocks fit firmly together without any mortar.

库斯科是印加帝国的首都。今天，考古学家从库斯科的遗迹可以看出，它曾是一座伟大的城市，有数千印加人居住。它有笔直的街道，铺着鹅卵石。房屋由石头建造，切割得如此精确，石块紧密相接，不需要任何砂浆。

An Incan king named Huayna Capac became king of the Incas in 1493, the year after Columbus first landed in America. Huayna Capac ruled over an empire that stretched along the coast of South America for twenty-five hundred miles, almost as long as the United States is wide.

一位名叫华伊纳·卡帕克的印加国王在1493年成为印加人的国王，这是哥伦布首次登陆美洲的第二年。华伊纳·卡帕克统治着一个沿南美洲海岸延伸2500英里的帝国，几乎与美国的宽度一样长。

He built good, wide roads all throughout his empire. Traders went back and forth on these roads, carrying their goods on llamas. These goods—beautiful cloth, woven from the wool of llamas and sheep and dyed in bright colors; pottery jars, often made in the shape of animals or of men's heads; jewelry of gold and turquoise—traveled from one end of the empire to the other.

他在整个帝国建造了良好宽阔的道路。商人在这些道路上来回穿行，用美洲驼运载货物。这些货物——用美洲驼和绵羊毛编织并染成鲜艳颜色的美丽布料；陶罐，通常做成动物或人头的形状；黄金和绿松石首饰——从帝国的一端运到另一端。

But when Huayna Capac died, he divided his empire between his two sons. One ruled the north; the other ruled the south. Soon, these two brothers began to fight with each other. Hundreds of Inca warriors died on both sides. The kingdoms of both brothers grew weaker and poorer.

但当华伊纳·卡帕克死后，他把帝国分给了两个儿子。一个统治北方；另一个统治南方。很快，这两兄弟开始相互争斗。数百名印加战士在双方死亡。两兄弟的王国都变得更加虚弱和贫穷。

When more Spanish explorers arrived, anxious to settle down in the new continent they had discovered, the two warring kings were too weak to resist. The Spanish marched over those broad, smooth Incan roads, from one end of the empire to the other—and destroyed it.

当更多西班牙探险家到达，急于在他们发现的新大陆定居时，两个交战的国王太虚弱无法抵抗。西班牙人沿着那些宽阔平坦的印加道路行进，从帝国的一端到另一端——并摧毁了它。

📚 Chapter Vocabulary / 本章词汇表

基础生活词汇 / Basic Life Vocabulary

people

/ˈpiːpəl/

中文：人们
定义：人类群体
例句：Many people lived in America before Columbus arrived.

house

/haʊs/

中文：房屋
定义：居住的建筑
例句：The Aztecs built houses on their floating city.

food

/fuːd/

中文：食物
定义：营养来源
例句：The Aztecs made chocolate, a new kind of food.

water

/ˈwɔːtər/

中文：水
定义：生命必需的液体
例句：The floating gardens always had plenty of water.

hair

/heər/

中文：头发
定义：头上的毛发
例句：Their hair was black and short in front.

name

/neɪm/

中文：名字
定义：称呼或标识
例句：Columbus gave them the name "Indians".

历史专业词汇 / Historical Terms

empire

/ˈempaɪər/

中文：帝国
定义：大型政治统治体
例句：The Mayan Empire was the first great empire of Central America.

civilization

/ˌsɪvəlɪˈzeɪʃən/

中文：文明
定义：高度发达的社会
例句：The Incas had an advanced civilization in the mountains.

pyramids

/ˈpɪrəmɪdz/

中文：金字塔
定义：角锥形建筑
例句：Stone pyramids with temples were built in Mayan cities.

sacrifice

/ˈsækrɪfaɪs/

中文：祭祀
定义：宗教仪式
例句：Mayan kings sacrificed in the temples.

warriors

/ˈwɔːriərz/

中文：战士
定义：作战的士兵
例句：Hundreds of Inca warriors died in the civil war.

priests

/priːsts/

中文：祭司
定义：宗教领袖
例句：Aztec priests saw the eagle as a divine sign.

地理相关词汇 / Geography Vocabulary

continents

/ˈkɒntɪnənts/

中文：大陆
定义：大陆板块
例句：There are two American continents: North and South America.

islands

/ˈaɪləndz/

中文：岛屿
定义：被水包围的陆地
例句：Columbus landed on islands near Central America.

lake

/leɪk/

中文：湖泊
定义：大型水体
例句：The Aztecs built their city on a lake island.

mountains

/ˈmaʊntənz/

中文：山脉
定义：高海拔地形
例句：The Incas lived in the mountains of South America.

jungles

/ˈdʒʌŋɡəlz/

中文：丛林
定义：热带森林
例句：Many Mayans lived in the jungles and came to cities to trade.

canals

/kəˈnælz/

中文：运河
定义：人工水道
例句：Stone canals channeled water through Tenochtitlan.

文化社会词汇 / Culture & Society

kings

/kɪŋz/

中文：国王
定义：王国统治者
例句：Mayan kings were believed to be descended from gods.

chocolate

/ˈtʃɑːklət/

中文：巧克力
定义：可可制成的食品
例句：The Aztecs invented chocolate from cacao beans.

tribes

/traɪbz/

中文：部落
定义：社会群体
例句：The Aztecs fought battles with other tribes.

trade

/treɪd/

中文：贸易
定义：商品交换
例句：Farmers came to cities to trade their crops.

worship

/ˈwɜːrʃɪp/

中文：崇拜
定义：宗教敬拜
例句：People came to worship the gods in temples.

money

/ˈmʌni/

中文：金钱
定义：交换媒介
例句：Cacao beans were used as money by the Aztecs.

📊 Processing Statistics / 处理统计

章节标题：The American Kingdoms / 美洲王国
段落数量：30个双语段落
标注词汇：72个关键词汇
词汇分类：6个类别
词汇卡片：24张
特殊元素：插图标记、时间标记
功能特性：悬停提示、点击发音、响应式设计