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This is Orkney to live here is to know the importance of the sun.
這是奧克尼，住在這里的人對太陽的重要性了然于心
In the summer the days are long and full of light.
夏季時，這里的白晝漫長明亮
In December it's a different story.
但到了12月就完全變了樣
It's midwinter.
現在時值隆冬
It's about 11 in the morning and it's still not light completely.
已經上午十一點了，天還只是濛濛亮
There's a strong wind coming in off the Atlantic.
大西洋上吹來陣陣強風
And it's cold and it's wet and
天氣又冷又濕
that's pretty much typical of this time of the year up here.
這里每年一到這個時節，就會這樣
Yet despite the cold,in the stone age,
盡管寒冷，五千年前的石器時代
5000 years ago a civilisation thrived here.
曾有文明在這里興盛發展
The island is covered in the remains of their society.
島上遍布那個社會留下來的遺跡
The ruins are full of mystery.
廢墟彌漫著神秘的氣息
We know little about the people who lived here.
我們對住在這里的人所知甚少
But they did leave evidence of the important role
但由他們留下的線索可以判斷
the sun played in their lives.
太陽在他們生活中所扮演的重要角色
MaesHowe - a thousand years older than the pyramids
年代比金字塔還早一千年的梅蕭韋古墓葬
is one of finest examples of stone age architecture.
是最杰出的石器時代建筑典范之一
On entering MaesHowe you have to crouch right down
進梅蕭韋古墓葬時，得要拱背彎腰
and you're confronted with a passage
眼前的通道
which seems to actually go on and on and on,
似乎沒完沒了
slightly, feel an impression of going uphill, up a slope.
你有種走上坡路的感覺
And coming through clearly another doorway.
穿過另一道門
Suddenly the whole thing opens out into the most amazing chamber.
然后眼前豁然開朗，看到一座驚人的石室
This alone is probably the highest and largest enclosed space
這可能是新石器時代，奧克尼人看過
the Neolithic Orkadians would have experienced.
最大、最高的室內空間
When it was excavated,
十九世紀
when it was first entered back in the 19th century the clay floor
這里剛被人發現的時候，這里的黏土地板上
was littered with broken pieces of human skull.
布滿了人類顱骨的碎片
This is a place of the dead.
這是個屬于死者的地方
This is a house of the dead.
是亡靈之屋
Most of the time the occupants of
墓穴中的死者多半處于
the tomb were left in complete darkness.
伸手不見五指的黑暗中
Then at sunset on the Winter Solstice
但是到了冬至…
the shortest day of the year
即一年中最短的一天在落日時分
something amazing happens.
會發生一件驚人的事
The light of the setting sun shines straight up
落日的余暉射進入口隧道
the entrance tunnel and illuminates the interior.
照亮墓穴內部
Well the significance is that it's marking
其重要性是標示了一年中
the shortest time of the year,
白晝最短、日照最少的一天
with the least light,and from that point on,
從這天開始
slowly and gradually,the light is going to increase,
日照會漸漸增加
the days are going to grow longer.
白晝會越來越長
So what's happening here,is that the dead,
也就是說他們在一年中
the ancestors, are being awoken on that shortest day.
白晝最短的一天，喚醒往生的祖先
