宏浩翻譯有限公司

Archeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican pyramid to look for clues about the mysterious collapse of one of ancient civilization’s largest cities.

考古學家正在開啟一個被封存超過30年的洞穴，此洞穴位在墨西哥一個金字塔的地下深處，他們希望找到遠古文明最大城市之一的神秘瓦解的線索。

The soaring Teotihuacan stone pyramids, now a major tourist site about an hour outside Mexico City, were discovered by the Aztecs around 1500 AD, not long before the arrival of Spanish explorers to Mexico.

高聳的迪奧狄華肯石造金字塔距墨西哥市一小時路程，現在已經成為重要的觀光景點。該金字塔最早是由阿茲提克人在西元1,500年時所發現，不久後西班牙探險家就抵達了墨西哥。

But little is known about the civilization that built the immense city, with its ceremonial architecture and geometric temples, and then torched and abandoned it around 700 AD.

但對建造這座龐大城市的文明，現代人的所知仍然有限。這座有著儀式性建築設計及幾何形神殿的城市，在西元700年遭焚毀及遺棄。

Archeologists are now revisiting a cave system that is buried 20 feet beneath the towering Pyramid of the Sun and extends into a tunnel stretching for some 295 feet with a height of 8 feet.

考古學家目前正在重新造訪埋藏在高聳的太陽金字塔下方20呎的洞穴系統，此一洞穴延伸出一條長295呎、高8呎的地道。

They say new excavations begun this month could be the key to unlocking information about the sacred rituals of the people who inhabited the city, later dubbed "The Place Where Men Become Gods" by the Aztecs who believed it was a divine site.

他們說本月開始的新挖掘工程可能是揭開居住此城民族神聖儀式訊息的關鍵，此城後來被阿茲提克人稱為「羽化成仙之地」，因為他們相信此地是個聖地。

新聞辭典

soaring：形容詞，高聳的。本文後面的towering也為同義。towering的另一個意思為卓越的、傑出的。例如，a towering intellect（一位傑出的知識份子）。

immense：形容詞，巨大的、廣大的。

geometric：形容詞，幾何的、幾何圖案的。名詞為geometry，幾何學。