书城外语一本书读懂消失的文明:英汉对照
9180200000034

第34章 阿兹特克——墨西哥文化舞台上的最后角色(3)

The city and the archaeological site are located in what is now the San Juan Teotihuacan municipality in the State of Mexico, approximately 40 kilometres northeast of Mexico City. The site covers a total surface area of 83 square kilometres . It is the most visited archaeological site in Mexico.

特奥蒂瓦坎古城:“人们见到上帝的地方”

特奥蒂瓦坎意为“意味着人们见到上帝的地方”,它是墨西哥盆地的一个巨大的考古遗址,距离墨西哥市东北部只有48公里,那里有一些建于前哥伦布时期的最大金字塔建筑物。特奥蒂瓦坎除了以金字塔著称外,还拥有闻名的大型住宅区、死亡大道和众多保存完好的彩色壁画,此外特奥蒂瓦坎还生产一种橙色陶器,其被传到中美洲各地。

据说,该城市于公元前100年左右初建,以后一直修建,直到公元250年左右才完工。这座城市一直持续到公元7~8世纪的某个时候,在其顶峰期间,也许是公元1000年的上半叶,特奥蒂瓦坎成为前哥伦布美洲时期最大的城市,人口有可能达到125万人或更多,这让它得以跻身于这一时期世界上最大的城市之列。公元1世纪左右,特奥蒂瓦坎开始成为墨西哥高原地区的一个新的宗教中心,这座城市成为新世界规模最大、人口最多的核心地带。特奥蒂瓦坎甚至成为容纳庞大人口的多层公寓小区的家园,这个地区的文明与文化建筑群也被称为特奥蒂瓦坎文明。

尽管有关特奥蒂瓦坎是不是帝国的中心还是一个有争议的问题,但是它对整个中美洲的影响力是有据可查的,有关特奥蒂瓦坎遗迹的证据遍布韦拉克鲁斯和玛雅地区,阿兹特克人可能受到过这个城市的影响。特奥蒂瓦坎的居民种族也是一个有争议的问题。可能他们的候选人是纳瓦人、奥托米人或托托纳克人。学者们还认为,特奥蒂瓦坎是一个多民族的城邦。

这座城市和考古遗址位于现在的墨西哥州圣胡安特奥蒂瓦坎市,距离墨西哥市东北约40公里。这个遗址占地总面积83平方公里,它是访问量最大的墨西哥考古遗址。

Arts:Song and poetry from the real thought of the Aztecs

Song and poetry were highly regarded; there were presentations and poetry contests at most of the Aztec festivals. There were also dramatic presentations that included players, musicians and acrobats.

A remarkable amount of this poetry survives, having been collected during the era of the conquest. In some cases poetry is attributed to individual authors, such as Nezahualcoyotl, tlatoani of Texcoco, but whether these attributions reflect actual authorship is a matter of opinion. Miguel Leon-Portilla, a well-respected Aztec scholar of Mexico, has stated that it is in this poetry where we can find the real thought of the Aztecs, independent of "official" Aztec ideology.

The most important collection of these poems is Romances de los senores de la Nueva Espana, collected, probably by Juan Bautista de Pomar. He spoke Nahuatl, but was raised a Christian and wrote in Latin characters.

艺术:来自阿兹特克人真实想法的歌曲与诗歌

在阿兹特克,歌曲和诗歌受到了高度的重视,大部分节日里,人们都会举行文稿演讲和诗歌比赛,也有一些运动员、音乐家和演员参与的戏剧表演。

在殖民时期,有相当一部分诗歌经过搜集而流传下来,在某些情况下诗歌成就归功于个别作者,例如特斯科科的君主内萨瓦尔科约特尔。但是这些成就是否能反映出真正的作者身份,那是一个仁者见仁智者见智的问题。米格尔·莱昂·波蒂利亚是一位德高望重的墨西哥阿兹特克学者,他曾表示,正是在这种诗歌里我们才可以找到阿兹特克人的真实想法,这是不受阿兹特克的“官方”思想支配的。

阿兹特克最重要诗集是《新西班牙领主之民谣》,诗集可能是由胡安·德·珀玛集结而成。他说的纳瓦特尔语,但被培养成一个基督教徒,并用拉丁语写作。

Mestizos and languages:Nahuatl wordstraveled around the world

Most modern day Mexicans are mestizos, of mixed indigenous and European ancestry. During the 16th century the racial composition of Mexico began to change from one that featured distinct indigenous and immigrant populations, to the population composed primarily of mestizos that is found in modern day Mexico.

The Nahuatl language is today spoken by 1.5 million people, mostly in mountainous areas in the states of central Mexico. Local dialects of Spanish, Mexican Spanish generally, and the Spanish language worldwide have all been influenced, in varying degrees, by Nahuatl. Some Nahuatl words (most notably chocolate and tomato) have been borrowed through Spanish into other languages around the world.

Mexico City was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, making it one of the oldest living cities of the Americas. Many of its districts and natural landmarks retain their original Nahuatl names. Many other cities and towns in Mexico and Central America have also retained their Nahuatl names (whether or not they were originally Mexica or even Nahuatlspeaking towns). A number of town names are hybrids of Nahuatl and Spanish.

混血儿与语言:瓦特尔语环游世界

大多数现代墨西哥人都是混血儿,他们的血液里流淌的是本土和欧洲的混合血统。16世纪期间,墨西哥的种族构成开始改变,从独特的土著和移民人口,转变为主要由混血儿组成,在如今的墨西哥就能找到很多这样的人。

今天,有150万人讲纳瓦特尔语,他们主要分布在墨西哥中部的山区,本地方言主要是西班牙语和墨西哥西班牙语。遍及全球的西班牙语在不同程度上受到了纳瓦特尔语的影响,一些纳瓦特尔语词汇(最明显的是巧克力和番茄)已通过西班牙语而环游世界了。