英語聽力文摘 “神奇”的巨石陣

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神奇的巨石陣

Wizards and aliens aside, actual scientists don’t have much to say about Stonehenge. That is, until now. Just recently, a four-thousand-year old gravesite was found within three miles of Stonehenge. The tomb contained what some archaeologists think may be one of the original craftsmen. Even better than that, he isn’t British.

The ancient bones are referred to as “the archer,” because, whoever he was, he was buried with several arrows. The fact that the grave is so close to the stones suggests that the archer was somehow connected to Stonehenge, as does the fact that he lived in 2300 BC, the same time when the monoliths were erected. Was he its founder, a designer, a priest? It isn’t clear. But the archer was an important person. Along with the arrows, he has copper knives, ornaments, and pottery. Several of these have been identified as coming from what archaeologists call “the Beaker Culture.”

There’s one of the surprises. The Beaker Culture had its Bronze-age heyday in the Alps, not in England. Researchers did chemical analysis of the remains and found that the archer most likely came from what is now Switzerland.

Next surprise? Another grave was found nearby, this containing a younger man. This fellow grew up in England, but an unusual foot bone shows he’s related to the archer–the archer, it seems, came to England and raised a family.

Who was this foreigner who was treated with such reverence? We won’t ever know for sure. His fame has disappeared into history. But the stone circle he may have built has never been forgotten, even four thousand years later.

除了巫師和外星人外，真正的科學(xué)家對于巨石陣并沒有說明太多。到目前為止。就在最近，離巨石陣三公里以內(nèi)的地方發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個有四千年歷史的墓地。該墓可能是一些考古學(xué)家認(rèn)為的最早的技工之一。甚至情況比那還要好，他不是英國人。

古老的骨骼暗示其為一名弓箭手，因為，不管他是誰，他的陪葬物品中有幾支箭。實際上，因為墓地離巨石陣很近，所以這位弓箭手與巨石陣有一定關(guān)系，又因為他生活在公元前2300年，也就是那時這些巨石被豎立起來的。他是巨石陣的建造者，設(shè)計者或神父嗎?目前尚無定論。但是這位弓箭手無疑是一位非常重要的人。除了箭，他還有銅質(zhì)小刀，裝飾物和陶器。其中幾件物品已經(jīng)被確認(rèn)為是考古學(xué)家稱作的“燒杯文化”。

有一個驚奇的發(fā)現(xiàn)。燒杯文化在青銅時代達鼎盛時期于阿爾卑斯山一帶，而不是在英格蘭。研究人員對這些遺留下來的物品做了化學(xué)和分析，發(fā)現(xiàn)弓箭手很有可能來自于現(xiàn)在的瑞士。

另一個驚喜呢?在附近發(fā)現(xiàn)了另外一個墓，是一位比較年輕的人的墓。他生活在英格蘭，但他獨特的足骨表明他與弓箭手有關(guān)系。這位弓箭手好像是來自英格蘭的，并且是他養(yǎng)家糊口的。

這位如此受尊敬的外國人是誰呢?我們永遠(yuǎn)都不能確定。他的名聲也已經(jīng)隨歷史消失。但是這些可能由他建造的巨石陣卻永遠(yuǎn)不會被遺忘，即使是四千年以后。