一生要去的50个地方之Chichen Itza, Mexico

Las Monjas is one of the more notable （ adj. 值 得 注 意 的 ； 显 著 的 ） structures at Chichen Itza. It is a complex of Terminal Classic( 古 典 时 期)buildings constructed in the Puuc architectural( 普 克 建 筑 ) style. The Spanish named this complex Las Monjas ( “The Nunnery”) but it was actually a governmental palace. Just to the east is a small temple (known as the La Iglesia, “The Church”) decorated with elaborate（ [ɪ‘læbərət] adj. 精美的） masks.
圣井，也称祭井，由一条274米长，高于地面的石子路连接。这口深达23米的天然井为当地人 提供饮用水，被作为朝圣之地。 玛雅人对雨神极为崇拜，每到春季都要举行盛大的祭献仪式。每当祭献，国王都要将挑选出来 的一名14 岁的美丽少女投入这口通往“雨神宫殿”的圣井，让她去做雨神的新娘子，向雨神乞 求风调雨顺。在献美女的同时，祭司和贵族们也把各种黄金珠宝投入圣井，以示诚意。那些在 井中数小时后仍存活的人则被救起，并受到礼遇，他们被认为已与雨神交谈过了。
Why the shape of other platforms are rectangular?
In keeping with Maya practice
球 场 Archaeologists have identified 13 ballcourts for playing the Mesoamerican（中美洲）ballgame in Chichen Itza,but the Great Ball Court about 150 metres to the north-west of the Castillo is by far the most impressive. It is the largest and best preserved ball court in ancient Mesoamerica. The parallel platforms flanking the main playing area are each 95 metres long. The walls of these platforms stand 8 metres high; set high up in the centre of each of these walls are rings carved with intertwined feathered serpents(['sɜːp(ə)nt] n.
“Cenote Sagrado”（圣井） or Sacred Cenote(also variously known as the Sacred( [‘seɪkrɪd] adj. 神圣的） Well or Well of Sacrifice(['sæ krɪfaɪs] n. 祭品)), is the most famous.
奇琴伊察的武士庙，建有1000根圆柱，被称为“千柱厅”。比起玛雅人早先建造的那些古 城，奇琴伊察的建筑虽然稍晚，但别具特色，也可以说，这座举世闻名的武士庙是当时世 界上最为超前的杰作。该庙建于公元11世纪，以内部占地广阔著称。穹窿形的石房顶用木 楣支持，木楣则置放在石柱之上。现在，房顶和木楣都已不见，只有石柱石墙仍然留存。 武士庙刻有极其丰富的浮雕装饰。大门上有两根纤细的蛇形柱，蛇头雕刻精美，两边墙面 雕有龙头蛇身图案浮雕，梯道两边的顶端立有武士小雕像，在武士庙中通到圣殿的阶梯顶 上，有座称为“查克穆尔”的人像。考古发现，托尔特克人在尤卡坦半岛，留下许多这种 石刻人像。而当时奇琴伊察的祭师，可能把活人祭品的心脏摆在这个斜倚的人像上.
Chichen Itza, Mexico
Pre-Hispanic City of Chichen-Itza
[ hi'spæ nik ]
adj. 西班牙的
墨
西
哥
玛
雅
古
迹
Chichen Itza is located in the eastern portion of Yucatán
（[ju:kə‘ta:n] 尤卡坦州（位于墨西哥）
“修女院”北面是一个方形大 平台上的圆形建筑——“椭圆 形天文台” ，又名“蜗牛”， 得名于圆形建筑内部螺旋状的 石头阶梯。天文台是为掌管风 和学习的羽蛇神而设，门设在 可以观察春季昼夜平分点、月 亮最大南北倾斜及其他天文现 象的位置。玛雅人用太阳照射 在门上在屋内形成的阴影来判 断夏至与冬至的到来。在建筑 的边缘放着很大的石头杯子， 玛雅人在里面装上水并通过反 射来观察星宿，以确定他们相 当复杂且极为精确的日历系统。
奇琴伊察最令人注目的古 典时期建筑之一是一组精 美的普克风格建筑群。虽 然被西班牙人起了"修女 院"（"Las Monjas","The Nunnery"）的绰号，这组 建筑实际上是城市在古典 时期的政府宫殿。东边不 远是一座不大的庙宇，绰 号“教堂”（La Iglesia， The Church），装饰有精 美的雨神面具。 “修女院”建筑群附近还 有一些其他建筑，包括： Akab‘ Dzib （玛雅语“黑 暗或朦胧的文字”），有 着象形文字铭文的宫殿； “红房子”“鹿房子”
骷髅平台（tzompantli） 骷髅平台位于武士神庙的东侧， 是长60米、宽15米的建筑，其侧 壁上刻满骷髅，可能是陈列被献 祭者首级之处。
The Skull Platform shows the clear cultural influence of the central Mexican Plateau（ [plæ‘to] adj. 高原印第安人 的）. Unlike the tzompantli of the highlands, however, the skulls were impaled ve r t i c a l l y rat h e r t h a n horizontally （[,hɑrə’zɑntli] adv. 水 平地）as at Tenochtitlan（特诺 奇 蒂 特 兰 城 ） .
The Temple of the Warriors complex consists of a large stepped pyramid（ [‘pɪrəmɪd] n. 金字塔） fronted and flanked （[flæŋk] vi. 侧面与…相接） by rows of carved columns（[’kɒləm] n.圆 柱，柱形物）depicting（vt. [dɪ‘pɪkt]描述） warriors. This complex is analogous （[ə’næləgəs] adj. 类似的）to Temple B at the Toltec （ [‘tɔltek] adj. 托尔特克人的）capital of Tulan, and indicates some form of cultural contact between the two regions. The one at Chichen Itza, however, was constructed on a larger scale. At the top of the stairway on that is a Chac Mool.
TheYucatán Peninsula is a limestone（[‘laɪmstəʊn] n. [岩] 石灰岩） plain, with no rivers or streams. The region is pockmarked(有凹痕的） with natural sinkholes, called cenotes, which expose the water table to the surface. One of the most impressive of these is the Cenote Sagrado, which is 60 metres in diameter（n. 直径）, and sheer cliffs（陡峭的悬崖） that drop to the water table some 27 metres below.
El Caracol (“The Snail”) is located to the north of Las Monjas. It is a round building on a large square platform. It gets its name from the stone spiral （ [‘spaɪrəl] adj. 螺 旋 形 的 ） staircase inside. The structure, with its unusual placement on the platform and its round shape (the others are rectangular（ adj. <数> 矩形 的）, in keeping with Maya practice), is theorized to have been a protoobservatory （ 原 型 观 测 ） with doors and windows aligned（ [ə’laɪnd] v. 使成 一 线 ； 排 整 齐 ） to astronomical events, specifically around the path of Venus() as it traverses（ v. 横越，穿 越） the heavens.
all run underground. There are two large, natural sink holes, called cenotes [si'nəuti] n. 天然井), that could have provided plentiful water year round at Chichen , making it attractive for settlement. Of the two cenotes , the
The Cenote Sagrado was a place of pilgrimage （[‘pɪlgrɪmɪdʒ] n. 朝圣之行）for ancient Maya people who, according to ethnohistoric（[,eθnəu-his’tɔrik] adj. 人种史学的） sources, would conduct sacrifices during times of drought. Archaeological investigations support this as thousands of objects have been removed from the bottom of the cenote, including mFra Baidu bibliotekterial such as gold, carved jade, copal（[‘kəʊp(ə)l] n. 柯巴脂）, pottery （[‘pɒt(ə)rɪ] n. 陶器）, flint（[flɪnt] n. 打火石）, obsidian（[əb’sɪdɪən] n. 黑曜 石）, rubber, cloth, as well as skeletons(['skɛlətn] n. 骷髅) of children and men.
Chichen Itza
state in Mexico . The northern Yucatán Peninsula [ pə'nɪnsələ ] n. 半
岛
is arid['æ rɪd ] adj. 干旱的； [农] 荒芜的 , and the rivers in the interior
（ [ɪn‘tɪɜːrɪə] n. 内部；本质adj. 内部的； 国内的；本质的）