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VOA标准英语2012--Archeologist: Mayans Did Not Predict Apocalypse

时间：2012-12-24 08:42:22

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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 excavations1 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 prophesies2 coming from the Maya people before the [Spanish] conquest, that tells us the end is nigh, that these dramatic and disastrous3 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 replica4 of a stela or pillar that recalls the last time the calendar turned over.

The correlation5 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 dreading6 the Mayan apocalypse. The rest of us have until January 13th to see the exhibit. 


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1 excavations 185c90d3198bc18760370b8a86c53f51     
n.挖掘( excavation的名词复数 )；开凿；开凿的洞穴（或山路等）；（发掘出来的）古迹
参考例句：
  • 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
2 prophesies 730e0c586e84103066878ed0d3772638     
v.预告，预言( prophesy的第三人称单数 )
参考例句：
  • 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
3 disastrous 2ujx0     
adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的
参考例句：
  • 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。
4 replica 9VoxN     
n.复制品
参考例句：
  • 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。
5 correlation Rogzg     
n.相互关系，相关，关连
参考例句：
  • 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。
6 dreading dreading     
v.害怕，恐惧，担心( dread的现在分词 )
参考例句：
  • She was dreading having to broach the subject of money to her father. 她正在为不得不向父亲提出钱的事犯愁。
  • This was the moment he had been dreading. 这是他一直最担心的时刻。

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