VOA标准英语2012--Archeologist: Mayans Did Not Predict Apocalypse
时间：2019-01-14 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2012年(十二月)
Archeologist: Mayans Did Not Predict Apocalypse
The Maya 2012 exhibit greets you with fictionalized images of the apocalypse.
"So many of the objects in this gallery came from excavations 1 carried out by our museum," said Loa Traxler, the exhibit's curator and an authority on Mayan civilization.
She says earthquakes, floods and other cataclysmic events can and do happen, but ...
"None of those things were predicted by the ancient Maya as pre-ordained occurrences for December 21," she said.
Traxler says the predictions are really the product of a modern-day preoccupation with the end times.
"Authors and bloggers today want to assert that there was ancient wisdom and ancient prophesies 2 coming from the Maya people before the [Spanish] conquest, that tells us the end is nigh, that these dramatic and disastrous 3 things are right on our doorstep. The Maya associated none of those things with these calendar cycles," she said.
She says they simply loved to assign meaning to numbers. "They developed a very sophisticated calendar system very much focused on giving context to their histories and biographies and their contemporary day events," she said.
Time was measured in bak'tuns, or cycles of about 400 years. The last bak'tun is now ending. But Traxler says the calendar simply starts anew.
"It's like the odometer in your car. The drums will all turn over one more time," she said.
The exhibit showcases more than 150 artifacts including a replica 4 of a stela or pillar that recalls the last time the calendar turned over.
The correlation 5 between the Mayan and Gregorian calendars can be seen on this display.
So do museum visitors believe the world will end?
"I think it's a possibility. I hope it's not going to come true," said one visitor.
But another said, "No. The calendar ends. This period ends. But the world is not going to end."
A recent survey found that 2 percent of Americans are dreading 6 the Mayan apocalypse. The rest of us have until January 13th to see the exhibit.
- The excavations are open to the public. 发掘现场对公众开放。
- This year's excavations may reveal ancient artifacts. 今年的挖掘可能会发现史前古器物。 来自辞典例句
- The Frate neither rails nor prophesies against any man. 这里修士对任何人既不斥骂，也不预言。 来自辞典例句
- Whoever speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but whoever prophesies builds up the church. 那说语言的，是建立自己；那讲先知话的，却是建立教会。 来自互联网
- The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
- Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。
- The original conservatory has been rebuilt in replica.温室已按原样重建。
- The young artist made a replica of the famous painting.这位年轻的画家临摹了这幅著名的作品。
- The second group of measurements had a high correlation with the first.第二组测量数据与第一组高度相关。
- A high correlation exists in America between education and economic position.教育和经济地位在美国有极密切的关系。