Level 4 Reading 9B

Reading 9B

阅读9B

LURE OF THE LOST CITY El Dorado. Atlantis. The Lost City of Z. Tales of fabled places have drawn generations of explorers to the most remote locations on Earth. Usually they return empty-handed—if they return at all. But sometimes the pursuit of myth can lead to real discoveries. On February 18, 2015, a helicopter carrying a team of explorers headed toward the mountains of La Mosquitia, a remote area of Honduras. Below, farms gradually gave way to steep slopes, some covered with unbroken rain forest. The pilot headed for a V-shaped gap in a distant ridge. Beyond it lay a valley surrounded by mountains: a landscape of emerald and gold. There were no signs of human life—not a road, a trail, or a column of smoke. The pilot descended, aiming for a clearing along a riverbank. The team had come to explore a region long thought to contain "Ciudad Blanca”— a city built of white stone, known as the Lost City of the Monkey God. One of the team members was an archeologist named Chris Fisher. Fisher didn't believe in the legend, but he did believe that the valley—known simply as T1—contained a secret. In fact, somewhere in this valley, he believed, were the ruins of a real lost city, abandoned for at least half a millennium. The White City of Honduras The Mosquitia region of Honduras and Nicaragua contains vast areas of dense vegetation, swamps, and rivers. It also hides a number of dangers: deadly snakes, hungry jaguars, and insects carrying potentially deadly diseases. Over time, the myth of La Mosquitia's White City became part of the Honduran national consciousness. By the 1930s, it had also captured the imagination of the American public. Several expeditions were launched to find it, including three by the Museum of the American Indian in New York City. The first two came back with rumors of a lost city containing a giant statue of a monkey god. The museum's third expedition, a group led by a journalist named Theodore Morde, landed in Honduras in early 1940. Morde emerged from the jungle five months later with boxes of artifacts, claiming he had found evidence of an ancient walled city. He would not reveal the location for fear of looting but promised to return the following year. He never did; he died in 1954. The city—if there was one—remained unidentified. In the 1990s, a documentary filmmaker named Steve Elkins became fascinated by the legend of the White City. He spent years studying reports from explorers, archeologists, and geologists. He then studied satellite photographs of three valleys, which he labeled T1, T2, and T3 (T stands for "target"). The images, however, were inconclusive, and he realized he needed a better way to see through the dense jungle canopy. Then, in 2010, Elkins learned of a new technology called lidar (light detection and ranging)— a way to explore the valleys from aircraft flying above the jungle. Lidar works by bouncing hundreds of thousands of pulses of infrared laser beams off the ground below. Scanning the three valleys cost a quarter of a million dollars, but the initial results were astonishing. In an attempt to investigate the myth of the White City, Elkins had apparently uncovered two real ancient cities in valleys T1 and T3. To help interpret the data, he turned to Chris Fisher, a specialist on Mesoamerica.

失落之城的诱惑 埃尔多拉多。亚特兰蒂斯。Z失落之城传说中的地方吸引了几代探险家前往地球上最偏远的地方。 通常他们空手而归——如果他们回来的话。 但有时对神话的追求可以带来真正的发现。 2015年2月18日， 一架载有探险队的直升机驶向洪都拉斯偏远地区La Mosquitia的山区。 下面，农场逐渐让位于陡坡，有些覆盖着完整的雨林。 飞行员朝远处山脊上的一个V形缺口飞去。 在它的后面是一个被群山环绕的山谷：一片翡翠和黄金的风景。 没有人类生命的迹象，没有道路、小径或一柱烟。 飞行员下降，瞄准河岸边的空地。 该团队前来探索一个长期以来被认为包含“布兰卡城”的地区-- 一座用白色石头建造的城市，被称为猴神的失落之城。 团队成员之一是一位名叫克里斯·费舍尔的考古学家。 费舍尔不相信这个传说，但他确实相信这个山谷——简称T1——包含着一个秘密。 事实上，他相信，在这个山谷的某个地方，是一座真正失落的城市的废墟，被遗弃了至少半个千年。 洪都拉斯的白色城市 洪都拉斯和尼加拉瓜的莫斯基蒂亚地区拥有大片茂密的植被、沼泽和河流。 它还隐藏着许多危险： 致命的蛇、饥饿的美洲虎和携带潜在致命疾病的昆虫。 随着时间的推移，La Mosquitia的白城神话成为洪都拉斯民族意识的一部分。 到了20世纪30年代，它也吸引了美国公众的想象力。 为了找到它，人们进行了几次探险，其中包括纽约市美洲印第安人博物馆的三次探险。 前两个人带着谣言回来了，说一座失落的城市里有一座巨大的猴神雕像。 博物馆的第三次探险队由一位名叫西奥多·莫德的记者率领，于1940年初在洪都拉斯登陆。 五个月后，莫德带着一箱箱文物走出丛林， 声称他发现了古城墙的证据。 由于担心抢劫，他不愿透露地点，但承诺明年会回来。 他从未这样做过；他于1954年去世。 这座城市——如果有的话——仍然身份不明。 20世纪90年代，一位名叫史蒂夫·埃尔金斯的纪录片制作人对白城的传说着迷。 他花了数年时间研究探险家、考古学家和地质学家的报告。 然后，他研究了三个山谷的卫星照片，并将其标记为T1、T2和T3（T代表“目标”）。 然而，这些图像没有定论，他意识到他需要一种更好的方式来透过茂密的丛林树冠看东西。 然后，在2010年，埃尔金斯了解到一种名为激光雷达（光探测和测距）的新技术-- 一种从丛林上空飞行的飞机上探索山谷的方法。 激光雷达的工作原理是从地面反射数十万个红外激光束脉冲。 扫描这三个山谷花费了25万美元，但最初的结果令人震惊。 为了探究白城的神话，埃尔金斯显然在T1和T3山谷中发现了两座真正的古城。 为了帮助解释这些数据，他求助于中美洲问题专家克里斯·费舍尔。

Discoveries in the Jungle This is how, in February 2015, Fisher and his team came to be in the dense jungle of La Mosquitia. Besides Fisher, who had extensive experience with lidar imagery, the team included two other archeologists, a group of scientists, and Elkins's camera crew. The team set out from base camp, cutting a trail through the jungle with machetes. They faced plenty of challenges—snakes,insects, mud, and constant rain. Although the area was remote, they were not alone. Animals wandered around them or gathered in the trees above, seemingly unafraid. "I've never seen anything like it," one team member noted. "I don't think these animals have ever seen human beings." After climbing above the floodplain, they arrived at the base of a steep, jungle-covered highland—the edge of the presumed city. "Let's go to the top," Fisher said. Holding onto vines and tree roots, the explorers continued up the muddy slope. At the summit, Fisher pointed out the outline of a building. There was evidence of construction—probably an earthen pyramid The team later identified one of the citys plazas, or large public spaces— an area of rain forest as level as a soccer field. Straight-edged mounds on three sides revealed the remains of walls and buildings. By the following afternoon, the group had mapped three more plazas and many mounds. But it appeared that the river was rising, so they prepared to leave. Suddenly, one of the cameramen called out: "Hey, there are some weird stones over here." At the base of the pyramid, the team found the tops of dozens of beautifully carved stone sculptures: the head of a jaguar, large jars carved with snakes, and objects that looked like seats or tables. All the artifacts were in perfect condition, apparently untouched since they had been left centuries before. There were 52 objects above ground—and probably many more below the surface. In the days that followed, the team recorded each object using a 3-D scanner. Nothing was touched, nothing removed. Further expeditions to the area are now being planned with the support of the Honduran government. There is still much to learn about the former inhabitants of La Mosquitia. Whether or not the White City is real or myth, the search for it has led to riches.

丛林中的发现 2015年2月，费舍尔和他的团队就这样来到了La Mosquitia茂密的丛林中。 除了费舍尔，他对激光雷达图像有着丰富的经验， 该团队包括另外两名考古学家、一组科学家和埃尔金斯的摄制组。 这支队伍从大本营出发，用砍刀在丛林中开辟了一条小径。 他们面临着许多挑战——蛇、昆虫、泥土和持续的降雨。 虽然这个地区很偏远，但他们并不孤单。 动物们在他们周围游荡，或者聚集在上面的树上，似乎无所畏惧。 一位团队成员指出：“我从未见过这样的事情。”。 “我认为这些动物从未见过人类。” 爬过洪泛区后，他们到达了一个陡峭的、丛林覆盖的高地的底部，即假定的城市边缘。 “让我们登上顶峰，”费舍尔说。 探险者们紧紧抓住藤蔓和树根，继续沿着泥泞的斜坡向上走。 在峰会上，费舍尔指出了一座建筑的轮廓。 有建筑的证据——可能是一座土金字塔 该团队后来确定了该市的一个广场或大型公共空间-- 一片像足球场一样平坦的雨林。 三面直边的土堆露出了墙壁和建筑物的遗迹。 到第二天下午，该小组又绘制了三个广场和许多土堆的地图。 但河水似乎在上涨，所以他们准备离开。 突然，一位摄影师喊道：“嘿，这里有一些奇怪的石头。” 在金字塔的底部，研究小组发现了数十座雕刻精美的石雕的顶部： 美洲豹的头，雕刻着蛇的大罐子，以及看起来像座位或桌子的物体。 所有的文物都完好无损，显然自几个世纪前被留下以来就没有被碰过。 地面上有52个物体，地表下可能还有更多。 在接下来的几天里，研究小组使用3D扫描仪记录了每个物体。 什么也没碰，什么也没移。 在洪都拉斯政府的支持下，目前正在计划对该地区进行进一步的探险。 关于La Mosquitia的前居民，我们还有很多要了解的地方。 无论白城是真实的还是虚构的，对它的探索都带来了财富。

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