塔克拉玛干沙漠的神秘古尸-环宇时空-休闲英语-轻松英语-洪恩在线

Mummies in the Takla Makan Desert

They are one of the great mysteries of modern China: ancient mummies found buried throughout the Takla Makan Desert in the 1970s and 1980s. Not only were the bodies amazingly well-preserved, but more incredibly, many were clearly Caucasians - Europeans who apparently lived in the heart of central Asia as far back as 4,000 years ago. No one is quite sure why they were there or why their culture disappeared. Researchers think they simply may have followed herds from the steppes of Eastern Europe and settled in the oases[1] scattered throughout the huge desert. What they do know is that the mummies, freeze-dried[2] in the arid desert air, are a remarkable find that raises new questions about long-lost connections between East and West.

古尸4

注释：

1． oases：
是oasis的复数形式，oasis原意是“沙漠中的绿洲”，而现在人们通常用它来表示“在枯燥或不愉快环境中信人欢慰的事物，安全的地方”，比如：在枯燥的功课“荒野”中，假日不啻是“绿洲”。可以说成：Holidays have been the oases in a dry wilderness of lessons. 再比如这句话的翻译：这个图书馆是这个喧闹城市中一片宁静的“绿洲”—— The library is an oasis of calm in the hectic cicy.

2． freeze-dried：
动词freeze-dry表示“使食品、疫苗等冷冻、干燥”。形容词freeze-dried表示“冻干的”。

塔克拉玛干沙漠的神秘古尸

他们——这些于1970和1980年被发现埋藏在塔克拉玛干沙漠中的古代干尸，是出现在现代中国的自然之谜。让人惊讶的不但是那些保存完好的尸体，更使人难以置信的是——他们中间许多居然是确确实实的白种人——显然是4000年前曾生活在中亚中心地带的欧洲人。没人能确切地知道他们为什么会出现在那儿，他们的文明为什么会不复存在。而研究者认为，他们或许只是从东欧的大草原跟随牧群而来，最后定居在无边沙漠中散布的绿洲。而他们所能确信的是，这具木乃伊——在干燥沙漠中被风干的尸体，的确是一个神奇的发现，它为东西方长久以来失去的联系提出了新的问题。