畅销书展现哥伦布发现美洲之前美洲人的生活

Bestselling Book Challenges Long-held Theories about Life in America before Columbus

畅销书展现哥伦布发现美洲之前美洲人的生活

 

Americans celebrate Columbus Day on October 10, commemorating¹ the arrival of explorer Christopher Columbus in the New World. A best-selling new book looks at evolving ideas about what that world was like before Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492, and how it was changed forever by the new year of European exploration that followed. 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Alfred A. Knopf) was written by Charles C. Mann, a correspondent for the magazines Science and The Atlantic Monthly.

 

Charles Mann's new book was sparked by a reporting assignment more than 20 years ago, that took him to Maya ruins in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. That led him to other ancient Indian sites, to interviews with archaeologists and anthropologists, and to the realization³ that their ideas about the pre-Columbian Americas differed dramatically from what he had learned in school, and from what his son was being taught, as well.

 

Charles Mann: He was learning the same thing I was learning, which was that Native Americans probably walked across the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago at the end of the Ice Age, that they lived for the most part in small, scattered⁴ bands, and that they had so little impact on the environment that for all intents and purposes when Columbus landed the hemisphere was a wilderness⁵. And one way to summarize the perspective held I think by most researchers now is that none of these things are true.

 

In 1491, Charles Mann looks at newer theories about pre-Columbian Indians, how some are replacing older ideas, and how others still provoke heated debate. These theories include revised thinking about when and how the first Native Americans arrived in the New World.

 

Charles Mann: There has been a lot of doubt cast on the part about the ice-free corridor they went through, whether it actually existed, whether it was actually habitable. And if it wasn't, then you have to wonder, how did those people get across the 2,500 hundred miles of ice with nothing on it? How was it that they crossed the Bering Strait and raced down there just in time to settle. There are interesting pieces of evidence that suggest that the current Native Americans separated from their Siberian ancestors perhaps 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, and if that was the case, they probably would have come down by boat.

 

Researchers are also challenging estimates as to how many Indians were in the Americas by the time Columbus arrived. Charles Mann says the hotly contested figures reach an extreme high of 150 to 200 million and a low of 20 to 30 million, with the heaviest concentration in central Mexico.

 

Charles Mann: And that, according to a number of researchers, probably was the most densely⁶ settled place on earth at that time. There were something like 30 million people in that area alone. You also had an awful lot of people in the Inca Empire, which ran along the Andes down much of South America, and there are estimates of populations on the order of 20 million there.

 

In fact, Charles Mann says the Inca Empire was the largest empire on earth at that time.

 

Charles Mann: One way to put it is that the Inca Empire extended from the equivalent of Stockholm to the equivalent of Cairo, and had the world's largest road network at the time.

 

Stereotypes⁷ about pre-Columbian Indians as having only simple technologies are being dispelled⁸ as well.

 

Charles Mann: In fact their technology was quite sophisticated, it was just very different from ours. And the example is metallurgy. They didn't use metals for tools very much, but they did have all kinds of complicated ways of making alloys⁹, of smelting¹⁰ and creating these very thin foils. They prized flexibility¹¹ and all these other things that weren't as important in Europe where they prized hardness and making a sharp edge.

 

Early land of Americans also had a profound impact on the landscapes they inhabited, Charles Mann maintains. He sites the Amazon rainforest as a prime example.

 

Charles Mann: They used techniques to take the notoriously poor soil of the Amazon and create what is called terra preta do Indio, which is Indian black earth, these long lasting¹², very fertile soils. It's a program of environmental modification¹³ that has enormous implications in the sense that if we could learn how they did this, there's a possibility we could apply these techniques to places in Africa and Asia where the soils are poor or exhausted¹⁴.

 

Charles Mann notes that the theories he explores in his book are debated for ideological¹⁵ reasons across the political spectrum¹⁶, as well as throughout the scholarly community. Dean Snow is a professor of archaeological anthropology¹⁷ at Pennsylvania State University. He takes issue with several findings in 1491, including the high population figures that have emerged from recent research. But he too sees a gap between what the public knows about pre-Columbian history, and what scholars continue to learn. And he too sees an impressive record of accomplishment¹⁸ in that history.

 

Dean Snow: The reason that the American Indian experience is so important for the rest of us is that here they were virtually isolated¹⁹ from the rest of the world for 14,000 years, and yet the track of achievements you can trace archaeologically²⁰ in the Americas remarkably²¹ parallels what went on in what we like to call the Old World. So it is a wonderful laboratory, the Americas, in which to study what is possible in human nature over time.

 

That isolation²² ended in 1492. In the centuries that followed, Native Americans died from imported diseases in huge numbers -- numbers far greater than previously²³ thought, if the population figures cited in 1491 are correct.

 

Whether the arrival of Columbus is viewed as the end of a flourishing era of accomplishment for Native Americans, or the start of a new era of opportunity for Europeans, author Charles Mann believes that Columbus Day represents a major milestone²⁴.

 

Charles Mann: Completely different ecosystems²⁶, different species and human beings that developed in extraordinarily²⁷ different ways -- these all mixed together in a wild jumble²⁸. You know to some extent that's the world we still live in today, a world that has been violently shaken by an unprecedented²⁹ collision of ecosystems and cultures.

 

This is Nancy Beardsley.

 

注释：

Columbus Day 哥伦布发现美洲纪念日

correspondent [7kCris5pCndEnt] n. 通讯记者

Maya [5mB:jE] n. 马雅人

Yucatan Peninsula 尤卡坦半岛

archaeologist [7B:ki5ClEdVist] n. 考古学家

anthropologist² [7AnWrE5pClEdVist] n. 人类学家

hemisphere [5hemisfiE] n. 半球

corridor [5kCridC:] n. 走廊

habitable [5hAbitEbl] adj. 可居住的

Bering strait 白令海峡（西伯利亚和阿拉斯加间的海峡）

Inca Empire 印加王国

Andes [5Andi:z] n. 安第斯山脉

Stockholm [5stCkhEum] n. 斯德哥尔摩（瑞典首都）

Cairo [5kaiErEu] n. 开罗（埃及首都）

sophisticated [sE5fistikeitid] adj. 高度发展的，富有经验的

metallurgy [me5tAlEdVi] n. 冶金，冶金术

Amazon [5AmEzEn] n. 亚马逊河（南美洲大河）

milestone [5mailstEun] n. 里程碑

ecosystem²⁵ [i:kE5sistEm] n. 生态系统

jumble [5dVQmbl] n. 混杂

collision [kE5liVEn] n. 碰撞，冲突

1 commemorating   

v.纪念，庆祝( commemorate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was presented with a scroll commemorating his achievements. 他被授予一幅卷轴，以表彰其所做出的成就。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The post office issued a series commemorating famous American entertainers. 邮局发行了一个纪念美国著名演艺人员的系列邮票。 来自互联网

2 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

3 realization   

n.实现；认识到，深刻了解

参考例句：

• We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
• He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。

4 scattered   

adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的

参考例句：

• Gathering up his scattered papers,he pushed them into his case.他把散乱的文件收拾起来，塞进文件夹里。

5 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

6 densely   

ad.密集地；浓厚地

参考例句：

• A grove of trees shadowed the house densely. 树丛把这幢房子遮蔽得很密实。
• We passed through miles of densely wooded country. 我们穿过好几英里茂密的林地。

7 stereotypes   

n.老套，模式化的见解，有老一套固定想法的人( stereotype的名词复数 )v.把…模式化，使成陈规( stereotype的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Such jokes tend to reinforce racial stereotypes. 这样的笑话容易渲染种族偏见。
• It makes me sick to read over such stereotypes devoid of content. 这种空洞无物的八股调，我看了就讨厌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 dispelled   

v.驱散，赶跑( dispel的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His speech dispelled any fears about his health. 他的发言消除了人们对他身体健康的担心。
• The sun soon dispelled the thick fog. 太阳很快驱散了浓雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 alloys   

n.合金( alloy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This is essentially a development of thoria dispersion strengthened nickel alloys. 这基本上是用二氧化钍弥散强度化的镍基合金。 来自辞典例句
• The lack of deep hardening in these alloys negates their use. 这些合金缺乏深层硬化能力使它们无法利用。 来自辞典例句

10 smelting   

n.熔炼v.熔炼，提炼（矿石）( smelt的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• a method of smelting iron 一种炼铁方法
• Fire provided a means of smelting ores. 火提供了熔炼矿石的手段。 来自辞典例句

11 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

12 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

13 modification   

n.修改，改进，缓和，减轻

参考例句：

• The law,in its present form,is unjust;it needs modification.现行的法律是不公正的，它需要修改。
• The design requires considerable modification.这个设计需要作大的修改。

14 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

15 ideological   

a.意识形态的

参考例句：

• He always tries to link his study with his ideological problems. 他总是把学习和自己的思想问题联系起来。
• He helped me enormously with advice on how to do ideological work. 他告诉我怎样做思想工作，对我有很大帮助。

16 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

17 anthropology   

n.人类学

参考例句：

• I believe he has started reading up anthropology.我相信他已开始深入研究人类学。
• Social anthropology is centrally concerned with the diversity of culture.社会人类学主要关于文化多样性。

18 accomplishment   

n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能

参考例句：

• The series of paintings is quite an accomplishment.这一系列的绘画真是了不起的成就。
• Money will be crucial to the accomplishment of our objectives.要实现我们的目标，钱是至关重要的。

19 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

20 archaeologically   

archaeology（考古学）的变形

参考例句：

• An archaeologically valuable ancient tomb was unearthed in the underlying soil of this corn field. 这片玉米地下伏土层中出土了一个有考古价值的古墓。
• The first chapter researchs archaeologically the formation and characters of English common law. 第一章对英国普通法的形成、特征和美国对英国普通法的继受进行了考古研究。

21 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

22 isolation   

n.隔离，孤立，分解，分离

参考例句：

• The millionaire lived in complete isolation from the outside world.这位富翁过着与世隔绝的生活。
• He retired and lived in relative isolation.他退休后，生活比较孤寂。

23 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

24 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

25 ecosystem   

n.生态系统

参考例句：

• This destroyed the ecosystem of the island.这样破坏了岛上的生态系统。
• We all have an interest in maintaining the integrity of the ecosystem.维持生态系统的完整是我们共同的利益。

26 ecosystems   

n.生态系统( ecosystem的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are highly sensitive and delicately balanced ecosystems in the forest. 森林里有高度敏感、灵敏平衡的各种生态系统。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Madagascar's ecosystems range from rainforest to semi-desert. 马达加斯加生态系统类型多样，从雨林到半荒漠等不一而足。 来自辞典例句

27 extraordinarily   

adv.格外地；极端地

参考例句：

• She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
• The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨，大海出奇地宁静。

28 jumble   

vt.使混乱，混杂；n.混乱；杂乱的一堆

参考例句：

• Even the furniture remained the same jumble that it had always been.甚至家具还是象过去一样杂乱无章。
• The things in the drawer were all in a jumble.抽屉里的东西很杂乱。

29 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。