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We think that we have solved this most venerable and grand of geographic mysteries.
我们认为自己已经解决了最庄严宏大的地理谜题。
With those words, Joseph Judge of National Geographic magazine announced a major discovery in American history,
说完这番话，《国家地理》杂志的约瑟夫·贾琦就宣布了一个美国历史上的重大发现，
the true spot where Christopher Columbus first landed in the new world.
克里斯多弗·哥伦布首次登录新大陆的真正地点。
And the Geographic's declaration upsets the orthodox assertions of nearly every American history textbook.
《国家地理》的这次宣布让美国历史书里的传统说法哗然。
NPR's Frank Browning has this story.
下面请听国家公共电台弗兰克·勃朗宁为您发回的报道。
The orthodox explanation of where Columbus first landed was carved in textbook stone
50多年前，关于哥伦布着陆地点的问题已经板上钉钉地写在历史书里，
more than forty years ago by the dean of Columbus historians, Samuel Elliot Morrison.
成了一直以来的说法。这个说法的来源就是哥伦布的史学家塞缪尔·艾略特·莫里森。
Morrison declared incontrovertible the evidence that Columbus first set foot on Watling Island in the eastern Bahamas.
莫里森无可争议地宣布了证据，并表示哥伦布首次登陆华特林岛是在巴哈马群岛东部。
But if the question were closed for Professor Morrison, now dead, it was not for numerous other students on nautical history.
虽然莫里森教授已驾鹤西去，无法再继续研究这个问题，但无数后辈还是可以继续研究航海史。
For the last five years, the National Geographic's Joseph Judge, has dispatched teams of historians,
最后的5年里，《国家地理》的约瑟夫·贾奇派出了数组历史学家、
oceanographers, archaeologists and translators to find the true location and thereby to set straight the first footsteps of the American saga.
海洋学家、考古学家、翻译，以求寻找哥伦布着陆的真正位置，从而纠正美国冒险传奇始祖的历史记载。
The famous fleet of Columbus, the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria made its first landfall and its landing in the new world in 1492
哥伦布举世闻名的船队，妮娜号、皮塔号、圣玛利亚号，于1492年首次在新大陆着陆，
at a small island in the eastern Bahamas, named today, Samana Cay.
登上了巴哈马群岛东部的一个小岛，也就是今天的萨马纳岩礁。
The basic problem in identifying Columbus' landing point, which he named San Salvador in 1492, is that he left no clear markings.
确认哥伦布着陆地点的根本困难在于哥伦布并没有留下明显的标记。他将这里称为圣萨尔瓦多。
Moreover, the log of Columbus' voyage now exists only in a transcription made by the Spaniard Bartolomay de las Casas,
此外，哥伦布的航海日志现在只有西班牙人巴托洛梅·德·拉斯卡萨斯的手抄本了，
and many of the descriptions are either vague or use archaic terminology.
其他的版本不是模糊不清，就是用了太多的古老术语。
Professor Morrison had based his conclusions on a straightforward reading of the log.
莫里森教授在阅读了这版航海日志后就下了结论。
But he took no account of how Columbus' route would have been affected by constant ocean currents and winds.
但他并未考虑到哥伦布航海路径会受到恒定洋流和海洋风的影响。
When the Geographic team took the same data and then adjusted them for the effect of wind and current,
《国家地理》派出的小组采集到了同样的数据，并根据海洋风和洋流的影响对数据进行了调整，
they arrived at Samana Cay, to the southeast of Watling Island.
随后他们来到了华特林岛东南部的萨马纳岩礁。
Then to collaborate their findings, they went to points further down on Columbus' voyage, then backtracked according to the log notations,
为了整合发现的结果，他们继续往下走了走，然后根据日志的备注回溯，
and again found that they landed not on Professor Morrison's Watling Island, but on Samana Cay.
并再次发现，他们并不是在莫里森教授认定的华特林岛着陆的，而是在萨马纳岩礁。
Once on Samana, the team then returned to Columbus' log,
登录萨马纳岩礁后，该小组就查看了哥伦布的日志，
to compare what they saw to Columbus' own visual description, recounted here by writer Judge in a film clip:
从而把他们的所见与哥伦布的进行比对。如下是贾奇在一段视频中记录的：
You need sediments on a ridge behind the beach. Here is the beach, right here.
海滩后身儿的山脊上应该有沉积物才对。这里是海滩，就是这里。
You need a lagoon with a very narrow entrance and that you have there.
这里应该有入口很窄的泻湖，但那里才有。
You need a piece of land shaped like an island that is not, and that you have there.
这里应该是个外形很像小岛一样的地方，但那里才有。
In other words, every piece of geography that you're seeing before your eyes in this island is described in the Columbus' log.
换言之，这里的每个景象在哥伦布的日志里都有体现。
Moreover, Judge's team found archaeological traces of a settlement Columbus had mentioned finding on the actual island.
更为重要的是：贾奇小组发现了一些地质方面的蛛丝马迹，这些蛛丝马迹证明就是哥伦布曾提到在小岛上发现的遗址。
So far, it is too early to know how the Geographic's discoveries will affect the literature of professional history.
目前为止，还无法得知《国家地理》小组的发现对于历史会产生怎样的影响。
But for those who worry about what may become of the site in an age of overnight historical theme parks,
有些人担心，在当今这个历史遗址可以一夜间变身主题公园的时代，
Bahamian Minister of Education, Paul Adderly, who attended the press conference, assured questioners that the island will be safe.
该遗址也会遭遇不幸。对此，参加了新闻发布会的巴哈马教育部部长保罗保证说，该小岛一根汗毛都不会少的。
In Washington, I'm Frank Browning reporting.
感谢收听弗兰克·勃朗宁为您从华盛顿发回的报道。
