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第1段
1 .<-NARRATOR:->Listen to part of lecture in an archaeology class.
旁白：请听一段人类学课上的演讲。
第2段
1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->When we think of large, monumental structures built by early societies, an Egyptian pyramid probably comes to mind.
教授：当我们想到早期的社会上人们建造的一些大型建筑物时，埃及金字塔便会浮现于眼前。
2 .But there are some even earlier structures in the British Isles also worth discussing. And besides the well-known circle of massive stones of Stonehenge which, don't get me wrong, is remarkable enough, well, other impressive Neolithic structures are found there too.
但在英国，有一些更为早期的建筑也是值得讨论的。而除了巨石阵这一闻名的建筑物外，巨石阵是很了不起的，人们在英国还发现了其他的令人难忘的新石器时代建筑物。
3 .Oh, yes, we are talking about the Neolithic period here, also called the new Stone Age, which was the time before stone tools began to be replaced by tools made of bronze and other metals.
哦，我们这里讲的是新石器时代，也叫石器时代。该时代是在石器工具开始被由铜或其他金属工具代替之前的那段时期。
第3段
1 .It was about 5,000 years ago—even before the first Egyptian pyramid—that some of amazing Neolithic monuments—tombs—were erected at the various sites around Ireland, Great Britain, and coastal Islands nearby.
大约是在5000 年以前，甚至是在第一个埃及金字塔之前，某一些令人惊叹的新石器时代的遗迹，坟墓，在爱尔兰、英国和附近沿海的岛屿上就已经建立起来了。
第4段
1 .I am referring, in particular, to structures that, in some cases, look like ordinary natural hills, but were definitely built by humans—well-organized communities of humans—to enclose a chamber, or room, within stone walls and sometimes with a high, cleverly designed ceiling of overlapping stones.
我指的是，在某些情况下，它看起来就像普通的山丘，但肯定的是，这些建筑物都是人类建造的，组织良好的人类社区，在石墙内封闭的房间，有时会有高的，巧妙设计的重叠石头的顶棚。
2 .These structures are called “passage graves”—because the inner chamber—sometimes several chambers, in fact—could only be entered from the outside through a narrow passageway.
这些建筑物称为通道式坟墓，因为内室，有时甚至是好几个房间，都必须从外面通过一条狭窄的通道进入。
第5段
1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->Excuse me, professor, but you said “passage graves”.
学生：不好意思老师，你提到过道式坟墓。
2 .Were these just monuments to honor the dead buried there, or were they designed to be used somehow by the living?
这些坟墓是作为埋葬在那里的人的纪念碑呢，还是人们设计出来作为居住场所的？
第6段
1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Ah, yes. Good question, Michael. Besides being built as tombs, some of these passage graves were definitely what we might call astronomical calendars—with chambers that were flooded with sunlight on certain special days of the year … which must’ve seemed miraculous and inspired a good deal of religious wonder.
教授：啊，对！问得好，Michael。这些建筑除了作为坟墓外，某些过道式坟墓绝对就是我们所说的天文日历，在每年特定的日子里，阳光充满了这些房间，之后你就会看到奇迹般的具有启发性的宗教奇迹发生。
2 .But research indicates that not just light but also the physics of sound helped enhance these religious experiences.
然而，研究表明，不仅是光光，声理学也有助于增强这些宗教体验。
第7段
1 .<-MALE STUDENT:->How so?
学生：怎么解释呢？
第8段
1 .<-FEMALE PROFESSOR:->Well, first the echoes.
教授：嗯，首先是回声。
2 .When a religious leaders started chanting, with echoes bouncing off the stone walls, over and over again, it must’ve seemed like a whole chorus of other voices—spirits or gods, maybe—join in.
当一个宗教领袖开始吟唱的时候，随着回声从不断石壁上反射回来，它听起来像是各种其他声音的和声，精灵或神灵的声音可能也在其中。
3 .But even more intriguing is what physicists called Standing Waves.
但更为让人费解的是物理学家所说的驻波现象。
4 .Basically, the phenomenon of standing waves occurs when sound waves of the same frequency reflect off the walls and meet from opposite directions.
基本上，当同一频率的声波从墙上反弹后在相反的方向上相遇，便会产生驻波现象。
第9段
1 .So, the volume seems to alternate between very loud and very soft.
所以，音量似乎会在大声和柔声之间轮流转变。
2 .You can stand quite near a man singing in a loud voice and hardly hear him; yet step a little further away, and his voice is almost deafening.
你可能站在一个大声说话的人旁边却几乎听不到他的声音，而迈开一步后却感觉震耳欲聋。
3 .As you move around the chamber, the volume of the sound goes way up and way down, depending on where you are in these standing waves.
随着你在房间里走动，音量会上上下下，这要看你站在这些驻波里的具体位置。
4 .And often the acoustics makes it hard to identify where sounds are coming from … it’s as if powerful voices are speaking to you or chanting from inside your own head.
通常，声学使得人们很难辨别出声音的来源，就好像强有力的声音在和你说话，或是自己脑袋里诵经的声音。
5 .This had to engender powerful sense of all Neolithic worshipers.
这使新石器时代的礼拜者产生强大的感官。
第10段
1 .And another bit of physics at played here is something called Resonance.
而这里要提到的另一种物理现象叫做共鸣。
2 .I am no physicist, but well I imagine you have all blown air over the top of an empty bottle and heard the sound it makes.
我不是物理学家，但我想你们都有过这样的经历，在空瓶的顶部吹过空气便会听到瓶子发出的声音。
3 .And you probably notice that depending on its size, each empty bottle plays one particular musical note … or, as a physicist might put it, each bottle “resonates at a particular frequency.”
你们很可能注意到，每个瓶子大小不同，其发出的调子也有所不同，就像物理学家所说的，每个瓶子“在特定的频率上会产生共鸣”。
4 .Well, that's true of these chambers too.
嗯，这些房间的原理也是一样的。
5 .If you make a constant noise inside the chamber, maybe by steadily beating drum at a certain rate, a particular frequency of sound will resonate … will ring out intensely, depending on the size of the chamber.
如果你在房间里发出一个持续的噪音，或许通过固定的节奏打鼓，某一特定的声音频率便会产生共鸣，会根据房间的大小发出强烈的声音。
6 .In some of the larger chambers, though, this intensified sound may be too deep for us to hear—we can feel it, we’re mysteriously agitated by it, but it’s not a sound our ears can hear.
而在某些大房间里，这些强大的声音可能过于低沉，所以我们听不到，我们可以感觉到，我们会因此无意识地感到烦躁……但是这些声音耳朵是听不到的。
7 .The psychological effects of all these extraordinary sounds can be profound, especially when they seem so disconnected from the human doing the drumming or chanting.
所有这些非同寻常的声音所产生的心理效果是非常强大的，特别是当它们好像显得与人类打鼓或诵经所发出的声音毫无关联的时候。
8 .And there can be observable physical effects on people too.
也会对人产生可见的物理效应。
9 .In fact, the sounds can cause headaches, feelings of dizziness, increase heart rate, that sort of thing, you see.
事实上，这些声音会造成头痛，头晕，加剧头疼症状，等等。
10 .Anyway, what was experienced inside one of these Passage Graves clearly could be far more intense than the everyday reality outside, which made them very special places.
不管怎样，在这些过道式坟墓里面所体验到的很明显比日常生活中体验到的要更为强烈，这也是这些地方的独特之处。
11 .But back to your question, Michael—as to whether these graves were designed to be used by the living—well, certainly with regard to astronomical or calendar function, that seems pretty obvious, and I want to go into more detail on that now.
但回到你问的问题，Michael，关于人们设计建造这些坟墓是要作为居住地么。嗯，我们就不得不讲到天文日历的功能了，这似乎显而易见。现在我就来详细讲讲。