神秘的月球 第1期

 　　1972 was the year a great love affair ended.

　　一段美丽的爱情在1972年走到终点

　　The human race fell out of love with the moon.

　　人类对月亮的爱意荡然无存

　　It was a classic case of familiarity breeds contempt.

　　这是因了解而分开的典型范例

　　There'd been six moon landings, and we'd grown bored.

　　六次登月任务后，我们开始心生厌烦

　　To this day no-one has been back.

　　此后再也没人去过月球

　　The moon did turn out to be dull.

　　月球的确很乏味

　　It's, what do you see,

　　各位也看到了

　　a barren colourless landscape

　　那是一片散布着

　　with fragmentary rock all over the place.

　　碎石的荒芜大地

　　Our eyes wandered to other more intriguing¹ worlds.

　　我们不安于世的目光转向其他更引人入胜的世界

　　Throughout the solar system scientists found many more moons

　　科学家在太阳系中发现许多卫星

　　that seemed far more exciting than our own dull pile of grey rock.

　　而它们看来比咱们灰色无聊的月球刺激得多

　　For 35 years our own moon has been abandoned.

　　我们自己的月亮被打入冷宫35年

　　But now all that's about to change.

　　但这一切即将改变

　　This is the story of our love affair with the moon.

　　这是我们与月球间的爱情故事

　　What inspired it, how it faded away,

　　描述人类如何爱上月球，对它倦极生厌

　　and how now we're slowly but surely

　　及现在又是如何

　　falling in love all over again.

　　重新爱上它

　　Our love affair with the moon is an ancient one.

　　我们对月亮的爱恋由来已久

　　It is earth's constant companion in the dark emptiness of space.

　　在黑暗空虚的太空中，它忠实地陪伴地球

　　The moon has looked down on the whole of human history.

　　月亮默默地俯视着人类历史的上演

　　And throughout history, we have looked up at it.

　　而从古至今，我们也一直仰望着它

　　It has inspired great myths and legends.

　　月亮激发了伟大的神话与传说

　　We've feared it, and we've worshipped it.

　　我们对月亮是又敬又怕

　　Five thousand years ago,

　　五千年前

　　in a remote corner of the Outer Hebrides,

　　一个新石器时代的聚落

　　a Neolithic² community made its home.

　　在外赫布立群岛的偏远角落安顿下来

　　We know very little about these people,

　　我们对这群人所知不多

　　but they've left us an enduring symbol of their profound

　　但他们与月亮刻骨铭心的关系

　　relationship with the moon.

　　却为后世留下了恒久的象征

　　Islanders Margaret Curtis and her husband Ron

　　住在岛上的玛格丽特寇提斯和她丈夫朗恩

　　have devoted³ their lives to understanding that relationship.

　　穷尽毕生精力研究这段关系

　　I find a link with these people that our minds seem to be

　　我觉得和这些人有志一同

　　working along the same ideas.

　　冥冥之中似乎有股默契

　　This has been very much of a detective story sorting it all out.

　　厘清这一切的头绪，有点像个推理故事

　　They may not have had writing but they've set the stones up

　　他们也许没有文字，但是竖立了这些石头

　　in such a way that we can fathom⁵ out what they were after.

　　好让我们理解他们的意念

　　No-one knows for certain what

　　没人能够确定

　　the Standing⁴ Stones of Callanish represent.

　　卡拉尼什立石阵究竟代表了什么

　　But their positioning suggests

　　但其配置暗示

　　that they are a complex tribute to the moon,

　　立石阵是对月亮的复杂礼赞

　　part sacred site and part ancient observatory⁶.

　　既是圣地也是古代的观测站

　　These stones at Callanish are a sort of lun,

　　卡拉尼什立石阵有点像

　　lunar computer, a lunar calendar and its a computer

　　一部月球电脑，或是一套阴历

　　that's still working after 5,000 yrs,

　　而这台电脑五千年后还能运作

　　which is more than we can say for some of the computers

　　光是这一点

　　we've got round nowadays.

　　就比现代电脑强了

1 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 neolithic   

adj.新石器时代的

参考例句：

• Cattle were first domesticated in Neolithic times.新石器时代有人开始驯养牛。
• The monument was Stone Age or Neolithic.该纪念碑是属于石器时代或新石器时代的。

3 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

5 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

6 observatory   

n.天文台，气象台，瞭望台，观测台

参考例句：

• Guy's house was close to the observatory.盖伊的房子离天文台很近。
• Officials from Greenwich Observatory have the clock checked twice a day.格林威治天文台的职员们每天对大钟检查两次。