評(píng)論
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Even if we can't yet read their writing, we can learn a lot about the Olmecs from the buildings and the cities that have recently been uncovered.
盡管還不能解讀文字，但最近發(fā)現(xiàn)的建筑與城市卻能讓我們了解奧爾梅克的很多信息。
Major cities such as La Venta, near the Gulf of Mexico, had impressive step-pyramids with temple monuments for the worship of the gods and the burials of the kings.
拉本塔是一座靠近墨西哥灣的大型城市，城里有宏偉的階梯式金字塔，以及敬拜神靈和舉辦國(guó)王葬禮的廟宇。
These would have formed the centre of the city.
這些建筑是城市的中心。
The pyramid itself was often topped by a temple, just as at the same time the Parthenon was built overlooking Athens.
金字塔的頂端常建有廟宇，就像同一時(shí)期的希臘人，將帕臺(tái)農(nóng)神廟建在髙處，俯視整個(gè)雅典。
But whereas the Parthenon stood on the naturally formed rock of the Acropolis,
但帕臺(tái)農(nóng)神廟是建在衛(wèi)城自然形成的巖石之上的。
the Olmecs built artificial mountains-platforms is far too mild a word-on which to put their temples to overlook the city.
而奧爾梅克人要先建造人工山丘—用平臺(tái)一詞實(shí)在無法形容—在此之上再修建俯瞰全城的廟宇。
The layout of the city, and its placing in an ordered landscape, typified not just Olmec, but most later Central American urban centres-like the Mayas and the Aztecs.
城市的布局及景觀安排不僅是典型奧爾梅克式的，也是后來大多數(shù)中美洲城市，如瑪雅和阿茲特克城市的原型。
All were a variation of the Olmec model of a temple overlooking an open square, flanked by smaller temples and palaces.
一座神廟俯視著一片開闊的廣場(chǎng)，周圍散布著較小的廟宇和宮殿—后世的城市規(guī)劃只不過是奧爾梅克建筑模式的不同變體。
By 400 BC La Venta, along with all the other Olmec centres, was abandoned.
公元前四百年，拉本塔和其他所有的奧爾梅克中心城市都被廢棄了。
It's a pattern that occurs with disconcerting frequency in Central America-great population centres are suddenly, mysteriously, abandoned.
這樣的情況在中美洲歷史上頻繁出現(xiàn)，令人困惑。人口眾多的大型城市，突然神秘地被廢棄了。
In the case of the Olmecs, it could have been the overpopulation of this fragile tropical river valley, or a shift in the earth's tectonic plates making rivers change their course, the eruption of one of the local volcanoes, or a temporary climate change caused by the shifting patterns of the El Nio ocean current-all of them are possibilities.
對(duì)奧爾梅克而言，原因可能是脆弱的熱帶河谷無法承受日益增多的人口，或是地殼運(yùn)動(dòng)讓河流改道，也可能是當(dāng)?shù)氐哪匙鹕絿姲l(fā)，或厄爾尼諾洋流帶來的短期氣候變化。
