VOA慢速英语--科学家尝试利用DNA技术拼图复原死海古卷

An international team of scientists has successfully decoded² ancient DNA³ from animal skin on which some of the Dead Sea Scrolls⁴ were written.

The first of the 2000 year old religious documents were found in 1947 in a cave near Qumran, about 20 kilometers east of Jerusalem. Scientists since have gathered more than 25,000 pieces of writing on skin and ancient paper in the caves and other sites in the Judean Desert.

The University of Tel Aviv, the Israeli government and experts from Uppsala University in Sweden and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City carried out DNA tests over seven years. They identified the kind of animal skins used for the documents. The finding will help experts to establish real scrolls from fakes⁵.

Many experts believe the scrolls were made by a small Jewish group called the Essenes. The Essenes had separated from the more traditional Jewish religion and were very secretive.

However, other experts argue that several people from different groups wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those experts believe the scrolls were gathered together and put in the cave to keep them safe during a time of conflict.

The DNA tests show that the animal skin used for the writings was mainly from sheep common to the desert area. But, there were also some cow skin documents. The scientists say this suggests some documents may have been created in a city like Jerusalem, where cow raising was more common. Jews built a major religious center in the then Roman-ruled city around 2,500 years ago.

"The biological material of which the scrolls are made, is as telling and as informative⁷ as the content of the text," said researcher Noam Mizrahi. He is a professor of Bible studies at Tel Aviv University.

Study at the DNA laboratory in Uppsala showed the two versions of the document called the Book of Jeremiah were on cow skin. The scientists say the finding shows that these two documents were brought to Qumran from outside. They say the different versions also suggest that the understanding of Jewish religious writings differed.

Mizrahi said the Jewish community during the Second Temple appears to have been more diverse in religious understanding than researchers once thought.

The team of scientists tested extremely small pieces, even dust, of the scrolls. They say the same process could be used in the future to identify fake⁶ scrolls, like those found at The Museum of the Bible in Washington. Museum officials removed the documents in 2018, after discovering they were false.

I'm Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

decode¹ - v. to figure out an unknown language or system

fake - adj. not real, a copy

text – n. the written words

1 decode   

vt.译（码），解（码）

参考例句：

• All he had to do was decode it and pass it over.他需要做的就是将它破译然后转给他人。
• The secret documents were intercepted and decoded.机密文件遭截获并被破译。

2 decoded   

v.译（码），解（码）( decode的过去式和过去分词 )；分析及译解电子信号

参考例句：

• The control unit decoded the 18 bits. 控制器对这18位字进行了译码。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Scientists have decoded the dog genome. 科学家已经译解了狗的基因组。 来自辞典例句

3 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。

4 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

5 fakes   

骗子( fake的名词复数 )； 赝品

参考例句：

• The experts discovered several fakes in the art collection. 专家们在这批艺术收藏品中发现了几件赝品。
• Fakes do exist, and now we are coming across them. 冒充的事，实际上是有的，现在就碰到了。

6 fake   

vt.伪造，造假，假装；n.假货，赝品

参考例句：

• He can tell a fake from the original.他能分辨出赝品和真品。
• You can easily fake up an excuse to avoid going out with him.你可以很容易地编造一个借口而不与他一同外出。

7 informative   

adj.提供资料的，增进知识的

参考例句：

• The adverts are not very informative.这些广告并没有包含太多有用信息。
• This intriguing book is both thoughtful and informative.这本引人入胜的书既有思想性又富知识性。