馬丘比丘—失落的印加古城

在安第斯山高處、云霧彌漫的地方，一個(gè)印加古城一度繁榮；后來(lái)又人去城空，幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以來(lái)，一直為世人所遺忘。印加人為何建造這座古城，后來(lái)又為什么遺棄它呢？

The ancient city of Machu Picchu attracts visitors from all over the world. The most famous archaeological[考古學(xué)的] site in Peru， this Inca ruin floats among the clouds 2，000 feet above the Urubamba River that runs below and 7，700 feet above sea level.

Historians believe the Inca began building Machu Picchu around the 1450s， but because they left no written records behind， no one knows exactly what their purpose was.

Johan Reinhard (Archaeologist): The Inca royal family would go there for different kinds of ceremonies[典禮，儀式]，and we do know that…the…Incas had a very strong ritual[（宗教）儀式的] element there. There are some who think that maybe it was just a retreat[靜養(yǎng)的場(chǎng)所].

They went there to have a nice， you know， retreat from all the hubbub[吵鬧聲] of the capital city of Cuzco.

But within a hundred years after the Inca began building this impressive city， they started to abandon[放棄，遺棄] it.

Reinhard: Machu Picchu was probably abandoned or began to be abandoned already before the Spanish came， and that’s because around 1525 there was a civil war.

After the Spanish arrived seven years later， in 1532， the Inca deliberately[故意地] burned the forest around Machu Picchu.

Reinhard: They burned it because the foliage re-grows and completely covers it and made it virtually[實(shí)質(zhì)上]

impassable[不能通行的].

Perhaps， thanks to the Inca’s efforts to hide the city， the Spanish never found Machu Picchu. It was lost to the wider world until geographer Hiram Bingham rediscovered it in 1911.

Over the last century， archaeologists have learned that Machu Picchu was also the hub[中心] of a large network of Inca sites.

Reinhard: So the picture of Machu Picchu as being an isolated[使孤立] ruin on this…ridge is…is…really incorrect. There are a whole series of sites that lead to it.

This series of sites has been described as a pilgrimage[朝圣] trail， but the Inca’s ultimate[最終的] plan for these places [remain]注1 a mystery.

Reinhard: It’s part of a BIG system， that was being built up by the…by the…Incas and it wasn’t finished. We know there were things that were abandoned， so we don’t

know ultimately what it would…that whole area would have looked like if the Incas had inhabited it， say for another hundred years.

In 1983， Machu Picchu was named a UNESCO注2 World Heritage Site. As archaeologists learn more about what happened here， new questions continue to arise， guaranteeing[保證] that Machu Picchu will remain a place of mystery for years to come.

馬丘比丘古城吸引了世界各地的游客慕名前來(lái)。作為秘魯最著名的考古遺址，這座印加遺址高高地漂浮在烏魯班巴河上2000英尺（約609米）、海拔7700英尺（約2347米）的白云深處。

歷史學(xué)家相信印加人在公元15世紀(jì)50年代開始建造馬丘比丘城，但由于他們沒(méi)有留下文字記載，因此沒(méi)有人知道他們建造這座城市的真正目的。

約翰·萊茵哈德(考古學(xué)家)：過(guò)去，印加皇族會(huì)到那里舉行各種不同的儀式，我們確知……呃……在那里印加人有很強(qiáng)的宗教儀式元素。也有人認(rèn)為它可能只是一處隱居地。你知道，他們到那里靜養(yǎng)，以便躲避首都庫(kù)斯科的喧囂。

然而在印加人建造這座令人驚嘆的城市之后不到一百年，他們卻開始棄置這座城市。

萊茵哈德：在西班牙人到來(lái)以前，印加人很可能就已經(jīng)遺棄，或者開始遺棄馬丘比丘，因?yàn)?525年左右發(fā)生了一場(chǎng)內(nèi)戰(zhàn)。

在西班牙人到來(lái)七年之后，也就是1532年，印加人故意焚燒馬丘比丘周圍的森林。

萊茵哈德：他們焚燒森林的目的是因?yàn)槟抢锏闹参飼?huì)重新生長(zhǎng)，并完全覆蓋這座城市，使之成為無(wú)法到達(dá)的區(qū)。

或許，真的要感謝印加人為隱藏這座城市所作的努力，西班牙人沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)馬丘比丘。