瑪雅日歷中的秘密

山東 孫啟祿

1Two pieces of an ancient wall may preserve the earliest evi?dence of the Maya calendar (瑪雅日歷).The pieces are deco?rated with a dot and line above a deer head—representing one of the dates from the 260?day calendar—and they are from a temple built between 2,300 and 2,200 years ago in what is now Guate?mala in Central America.

2Several ancient communities living across the Americas—including the Aztecs,Maya,Mixtecs and Zapotecs—tracked the time using cycles of 13 days symbolized by num?bers,alongside cycles of 20 days named after gods.In this calendar,a specific day is as?signed (分配) both a number and a name,producing 260 unique days before the cycle re?peats.It is thought that people used the calendar to decide when to hold ceremonies,to mark important dates or to attempt to predict future events.

3Until now,most previous early evidence for the calendar used by these ancient people had been found on stone monuments dating back to around 100 BC.David Stuart at the University of Texas at Austin and his colleagues have now found evidence that the Maya people may have used this calendar over a century earlier.

4The team previously discovered the San Bartolo archaeological site,which includes a pyramid called Las Pinturas—meaning“the paintings”—back in 2001.Excavations then revealed that the Maya completed several phases of construction,with earlier struc?tures eventually knocked down to form the foundations of the pyramid.When the re?searchers were sorting through pieces of plaster(灰泥)collected from the pyramid's founda?tions,they realized that two pieces fit perfectly together to form a date symbol.“That was a stunner (令人震驚的事情)—we believe that this is the earliest example of the use of the Maya calendar,showing the day 7 Deer,”says Stuart.

5“Early evidence of the calendar has been debated,but in this study the two pieces present clear evidence of the 260?day calendar use.This is very important work,”says Takeshi Inomata at the University of Arizona.

一、閱讀自測

1.What does the underlined word“they”in paragraph 1 refer to?

A.The dates. B.The pieces.

C.The deer. D.The dot and line.

2.What is the second paragraph mainly about?

A.The formation of the Maya calendar.

B.Different ways of keeping time at that time.

C.The communities living across the Americas.

D.The time to hold ceremonies and mark important dates.

3.How did the researchers feel when they fitted the pieces together?

A.They were discouraged. B.They were surprised.

C.They were ignorant. D.They were at a loss.

4.What is Takeshi Inomata's attitude towards the discovery?

A.Negative. B.Critical. C.Doubtful. D.Positive.

二、語篇解碼

本文是一篇新聞報道。在一幅古代中美洲壁畫的兩個碎片中，考古學家在黑點和實線下方看到動物頭部的痕跡——這些符號代表“七鹿”，是260天日歷中的一天。這兩個碎片被認為是瑪雅日歷的最早證據。

三、語言學習

（一）語料薈萃

（二）語句分析

1.It is thought that people used the calendar to decide when to hold ceremonies,to mark important dates or to attempt to predict future events.人們認為，（當時）人們使用日歷來決定何時舉行儀式，標記重要日期或試圖預測未來事件。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句。It is thought that...意為“人們認為……”。It是形式主語，that 引導的是主語從句；when to hold ceremonies 是“疑問詞+to do”的結構，在句中作賓語。

2.Excavations then revealed that the Maya completed several phases of construction,with earlier structures eventually knocked down to form the foundations of the pyramid.考古發現，瑪雅人完成了幾個階段的建造，早期的建筑最終被拆毀，形成了金字塔的基礎。

【點石成金】本句是一個主從復合句。Excavations then revealed 是主句，that the Maya completed...pyramid 是賓語從句，with earlier structures eventually knocked down...pyramid 是“with+賓語+賓補”的結構，由于earlier structures 和knock down 有邏輯上的動賓關系，所以用V?ed形式作賓語補足語。

四、語言運用

（一）例句仿寫

1.人們認為絲綢大約在公元前400年沿著絲綢之路出口。

_____________________along the Silk Road routes in about 400 BC.

2.小女孩站在大廳中間，眼睛盯著墻上的畫。

The little girl was standing in the middle of the hall,_____________________.

（二）寫作實踐

假定你是學校網站英語專欄的小記者，請你根據以下信息寫一篇報道，刊登在學校的英語網站上。內容如下：

1.瑪雅日歷的最早證據被發現；

2.對證據的描述；

3.專家的觀點。注意：

1.詞數80左右；

2.可以適當增加細節，以使行文連貫。