Lesson 3 An unknown goddess 无名女神

叶凝云

原文

    Some time ago, an interesting discovery was made byarchaeologists on the Aegean island of Kea. An American teamexplored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of Ayia Irini. The city at onetime must have been prosperous, for it enjoyed a high level of civilization. Houses -- often threestoreys high -- were built of stone. They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls. The citywas equipped with a drainage system, for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrowstreets.
    The temple which the archaeologists explored was used as a place of worship from the fifteenthcentury B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacred room of temple, clay fragments of fifteenstatues were found. Each of these represented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. Thebody of one statue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century B.C. Its missinghead happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C. This head must have been found inClassical times and carefully preserved. It was very old and precious even then. When thearchaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed to find that the goddess turnedout to be a very modern-looking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on herhips. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age, she wasvery graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists have been unable to discover her identity.

New words and expressions 生词和短语

goddess(tile)  n.   女神
archaeologist  n.   考古学家
Aegean   adj. 爱玲海的
explore  v.   考察，勘探
promontory  n.   海角

prosperousadj. （经济上）繁荣的，昌盛的
civilization  n.   文明
storey  n.   楼层
drainage  n.   排水
worship   n.   祟拜

sacred  adj. 宗教的，神圣的
fragment  n.   碎片
remains  n.   遗物，遗迹，废墟
classical  adj. （希腊和罗马）古化的
reconstruct  v.   修复

rest  v.   倚放，放置
hip  n.   屁股，臀部
full-length  adj. （裙衣）拖地长的
graceful  adj. 优雅的
identity  n.   身份

参考译文

    不久之前，在爱琴海的基亚岛上，考古工作者有一项有趣的发现。一个美国考古队在阿伊亚.依里尼海角的一座古城里考察了一座庙宇。这座古城肯定一度很繁荣，因为它曾享有高度的文明，房子一般有3层楼高，用石块修建。里面房间很大，墙壁装饰华丽。城里甚至还敷设了排水系统，因为在狭窄的街道底下发现了许许多多陶土制作的排水管道。
    考古工作者考察的这座庙宇从公元前15世纪直到罗马时代一直是祭祀祈祷的场所。在庙中最神圣的一间殿堂里发现了15尊陶雕像的碎片。每一尊雕像代表一位女神，而且一度上过色。其中有一尊雕像，她的躯体是在公元前15世纪的历史文物中发现的，而她那身异处的脑袋却碰巧是在公元前5世纪的文物中找到的。她的脑袋一定是在古希腊罗马时代就为人所发现，并受到精心的保护。却使在当时，它也属历史悠久的珍奇之物。考古工作者把这些碎片重新拼装起来后，惊奇地发现那位女神原来是一位相貌十分摩登的女郎。她身高3英尺，双手叉腰。身穿一条拖地长裙，尽管上了年纪，但体态确实优美。不过，考古工作者至今未能确定这位女神的身份。