2010 年英语专业四级阅读理解passage 2(翻译)

2010年专业四级英语真题（翻译）

Passage 2（翻译）

Over the past several decades, the U.S., Canada, and Europe have received a great deal of media and even research attention over unusual phenomena and unsolved mysteries. These include UFOs as well as sightings and encounters with "nonhuman creatures" such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster. Only recently has Latin America begun to receive some attention as well. Although the mysteries of the Aztec, Mayan, and Inca civilizations have been known for centuries, now the public is also becoming aware of unusual, paranormal phenomena in countries such as Peru.

The Nazca "lines" of Peru were discovered in the 1930s. These lines are deeply carved into a flat, stony plain, and form about 300 intricate pictures of animals such as birds, a monkey, and a lizard. Seen at ground level, the designs are a jumbled senseless mess. The images are so large that they can only be viewed at a height of 1,000 feet - meaning from an aircraft. Yet there were no aircraft in 300 B.C., when it is judged the designs were made. Nor were there then, or are there now, any nearby mountain ranges from which to view them. So how and why did the native people of Nazca create these marvelous

designs One answer appeared in 1969, when the German researcher and writer Erich von Daniken proposed that the lines were drawn by extraterrestrials as runways for their aircraft. The scientific community did not take long to scoff at and abandon von Daniken’s theory. Over the years several other theories have been put forth, but none has been accepted by the scientific community.

Today there is a new and heightened interest in the Nazca lines. It is a direct result of the creation of the Internet. Currently there are over 60 sites dedicated to this mystery from Latin Ameri ca’s past, and even respected scientists have joined the discussion through e-mail and chat rooms. Will the Internet help explain these unsolved mysteries Perhaps it is a step in the right direction.

在过去的几十年里，美国、加拿大和欧洲在不寻常的现象和未解之谜上得到了大量的媒体甚至研究的关注。这些现象和未解之谜包括不明飞行物，以及目击和遭遇“非人类生物”，如大脚怪和尼斯湖水怪。直到最近，拉美文化才引起了人们的关注。尽管阿兹特克文明、玛雅文明和印加文明的神秘之处几个世纪以来一直为人所知，但现在公众也开始意识到秘鲁等国家的不寻常的超自然现象。

秘鲁的纳斯卡“线条”是在20世纪30年代被发现的。这些线条被深深地雕刻在平坦多石的平原上，形成了大约300幅复杂的（错中复

杂的；难以理解的）动物图片，如鸟类、猴子和蜥蜴。从地面上看，这些设计杂乱无章，毫无意义。这些图片太大了，只能在1000英尺的高度观看——这意味着从飞机上看。然而，据人们判断这个图案是在公元前300年前还没有飞机的时候被制造出来的。过去没有，现在也没有任何山脉能看到它们。那么纳斯卡的原住民是如何以及为什么创造出这些奇妙的设计的呢?其中一个答案出现在1969年，当时德国研究员兼作家埃里希·冯·丹尼肯提出，这些线条是外星人画的，是他们飞机的跑道。科学界没过多久就嘲笑和抛弃了冯·丹尼尔肯的理论。多年来，人们提出了其他一些理论，但没有一个被科学界所接受。

今天，人们对纳斯卡线条的兴趣又增加了。这是互联网诞生的直接结果。目前有超过60个网站致力于研究这个拉丁美洲历史上的谜团，甚至一些受人尊敬的科学家也通过电子邮件和聊天室加入了讨论。

互联网会帮助解释这些未解之谜吗?也许这是朝着正确方向迈出的一步。