速解玛雅文化

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Like the Egyptians, the Maya are well known for their pyramids, which vary in shape, depending on where they were built. The Maya occupied the Yucatan Peninsula注1 and their civilization[文明] was formed as early as 1500 BC. Contrary to[与……相反] popular mystery, the Maya never “disappeared” - millions of them still live in the region, many of which still speak one or another language of the Mayan family.

The Maya worshipped[崇拜] the gods of nature every day. Their religion was characterized[以……特色] by the worship of nature gods, especially the gods of sun, rain and corn. Their amazing architecture remain as great ruins at the centers where they used for religious ceremonies[典礼], including Palenque注2, Uxmal and Chichen Itza.

About 300-900 AD, the major centers like Palenque, Tikal and Copan were mysteriously abandoned[遗弃]. The reasons are still unknown. A few centers remained in existence until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century.

Many people consider Mayan art and architecture to be the most sophisticated[精致的] and beautiful of the ancient New World. The carvings at Palenque and the statues[雕像] of Copan are especially refined[精制的], showing a grace and accurate observation of the human form, which reminded early archaeologists[考古学家] of the classical civilization of the Old World. With the decipherment[解读] of the Mayan script, it was discovered that the Maya were one of the few civilizations where artists attached[附上] their name to their work.

The Mayan writing system is a combination of phonetic[语音的] symbols and ideograms[表意文字]. The decipherment of the Mayan writings has been a long laborious[艰苦的] process. Shortly after the European conquest[征服], the overzealous[过分热心的] Spanish priests had ordered the burning of all the Mayan books. However, many stone inscriptions[碑铭] still survive. Today, the majority of Mayan texts can be read almost completely in their original languages.

The Maya developed independently the concept of zero and used a base 20 numbering system. They developed astronomy[天文学], calendar systems and writing. The Maya also built observatories[天文台] to watch stars and they produced extremely accurate astronomical observations. In addition, they were highly skilled as potters[陶工] and weavers[织工].

Maya marriages were arranged by adults and priests, and not as frequently by a couple who had fallen in love. The Maya married at a younger age than people do nowadays. When a boy reached 16, and a girl reached 12, they would each have a ceremony. They wore jewelry such as white beads[珠子] for boys and red shells for girls. At the wedding ceremony the couple would be blessed by a priest[牧师]. And it is believed, there was no honeymoon and no vows[誓言] exchanged.

You like chocolate, don’t you? Then you would certainly love what the Maya drank. It is known that the Maya enjoy chocolate. The seeds from the cacao[可可豆] tree are the main ingredient[成分] in chocolate drinks. Just as we drink chocolate milk and hot chocolate, they, too, drink chocolate in many forms. The Maya refer to chocolate as “The Drink of the Gods.” Their diet is mostly made of cornmeal[玉米粉], maize[玉米] and meat. The principal[主要的] food of the Maya is maize. Yum!

和埃及人一样，玛雅人也以其金字塔闻名―他们的金字塔因其建造位置不同而形状各异。玛雅人聚居在犹卡坦半岛，其文明早在公元前1500年已形成。与其它热门谜团不同的是，玛雅人从未“消失”―至今仍有数百万玛雅人生活在这一地区，他们当中不少人依然说某种玛雅家族语。

玛雅人每天都朝拜自然神。他们的宗教以崇拜自然神为特色，尤其是太阳神、雨神和玉米神。其令人惊叹的建筑现已成为雄伟的遗迹，分布在玛雅人曾用来举行宗教典礼的城邦中心，包括帕伦克、乌斯马尔以及奇琴伊萨等。

大约在公元300至900年，帕伦克、蒂卡尔和科潘等主要城邦中心被遗弃，原因至今未明。一些城邦中心则一直保存下来，直至16世纪西班牙殖民者的入侵被毁灭。

许多人认为玛雅艺术及其建筑是古代新大陆上最精美绝伦的产物。帕伦克的雕刻与科潘的雕像尤为精细，展现出玛雅人对人类姿态优雅、精确的观察力，也让早期考古学家联想到旧大陆的古典文化。通过对玛雅文的解读，人们发现玛雅艺术家会在自己的作品上签名，这在古代文明社会中极为少见。

玛雅文字是拼音符号与象形符号的混合体。解读玛雅文字一直是个漫长而艰苦的过程。在欧洲人征服该地区后不久，过度热心的西班牙牧师便下令烧毁所有玛雅文书籍。然而，许多石碑文幸存下来。如今，大部分玛雅文字已被破解，人们几乎可以阅读全部原文。

玛雅人独创了零的概念，并使用20进位计数法。另外，他们逐渐发展了天文学、历法和文字。玛雅人还建造了天文台观测星象，并记录非常精确的天文数据。除此之外，他们十分擅长制陶与编织。

玛雅人的婚姻由家人和牧师包办，热恋中的情侣谈婚论嫁的情况则较为少见。玛雅人的结婚年龄比现代人要早―男孩到了16岁，女孩到了12岁，双方便会各自举行仪式。他们戴上珠宝首饰，男孩会佩戴白珠子，女孩则佩戴红贝壳。在婚礼上，新婚夫妇会得到牧师的祝福。据说，这些新婚夫妇没有度蜜月的习惯，也不交换婚誓。

你喜欢巧克力，对吧？那么你肯定会爱上玛雅人的饮品。玛雅人以喜爱巧克力出名。可可树的种子是巧克力饮品的主要成分。就像我们喝巧克力奶和热巧克力一样，玛雅人喝巧克力的方式也花样百出。玛雅人称巧克力为“神的饮品”。他们的食物主要有玉米粉、玉米和肉类，而主食则是玉米。味道好极了！