纪录片《文明》 第37期 创世纪的第二个瞬间（37）

Certainly ruler 15 was trying to impress the population

第十五位统治者显然想给人们留下深刻印象

so he was really trying to cement in stone

所以他很努力地把科潘历史和王朝百态

what the history of Copan was and what the dynasty was

都铭刻在石头上

and to make sure that it stayed for the future.

保证后人能看得到

The hieroglyphic¹ stairway sought to impress the people

建这座象形文字石阶是为了震撼世人

and to persuade the gods to continue to bring rain.

也为了让神明继续带来雨水

But by tunnelling beneath it, the archaeologists have discovered

但在它下方挖掘隧道时 考古学家发现

that this grand structure was, in fact, badly built.

这座宏大的建筑实际上是豆腐渣工程

You can see all these gaps in the fill itself

你可以看到这些填料中的间隙

indicate that it was just loose rubble².

证明这只是排列松散的碎石

This is a terrible way to build a pyramid.

这是很差劲的金字塔造法

What this tells us is that, at this point in time,

这告诉我们 在这时

people were no longer as enthusiastic

人们已不像以往那样

about supporting the rulers.

热情地支持统治者了

Even though a gorgeous and very

尽管在这里建造了一排

explicit³ hieroglyphic stairway was built here,

华美而精致的象形文字石阶

it was built on poor fills,

但它是建在差劲的填料上的

so it was a castle built on sand,

所以这就是个沙子做基石的城堡

and with time, eventually, it did decay

随着时间流逝 它终于腐朽

and the stairway itself

然后石阶本身

collapsed⁴ in a heap at the bottom of the pyramid.

垮塌成一堆废墟堆在金字塔底

1 hieroglyphic   

n.象形文字

参考例句：

• For centuries hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery.几世纪以来，刻划在埃及废墟中的象形文字一直是个谜。
• Dongba is an ancient hieroglyphic language.东巴文是中国一种古老的象形文字。

2 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

3 explicit   

adj.详述的，明确的；坦率的；显然的

参考例句：

• She was quite explicit about why she left.她对自己离去的原因直言不讳。
• He avoids the explicit answer to us.他避免给我们明确的回答。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。