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Narrator:Listen to part of the lecture in the archaeology class.
独白:听下面一段考古学课上的演讲。
Professor:When we think of large monumental structures built by early societies and 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。
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，巨石阵已经成就卓越的了，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。
Oh, yes, we are talking about the Neolithic period here, also called new Stone Age, which was the time before stone tools began to be replaced by tools made by 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。
It was about 5000 years ago, even before the first Egyptian pyramid that some of amazing Neolithic monuments-tombs, were racketed at the very size around ironed Great Britain and costal islands nearby.
大约是在 5000 年以前，甚至是在第一个埃及金字塔—某些不可思议的新时期时代坟墓—在制铁的大不列颠和附近沿海的岛屿上就已经建立起来了。
I am referring particular to structures that in some cases, look like ordinary natural hills.
我特别指的是某些建筑物。在某些情况下看起来就像普通的山丘。
But we definitely build by humans, well-organized communities of human's to enclose a chamber or room within stone walls and sometimes with a high, cleverly designed sealing of overlapping stones.
但肯定的是，这些建筑物都是人类建造的，人类社区组织良好，我们把某一房子或房间裹在石墙里面，有时还筑高台，将叠在一起的石头间的缝隙巧妙地填补起来。
These structures are called Passage Graves, because in the chamber, sometime several chambers in fact, could only be entered from the outside through a narrow passage way.
这些建筑物称为通道式坟墓，因为人们要进入这些房间，事实上有时要进入好几间房，都必须从外面通过一条狭窄的通道。
Michael:Excuse me, professor, but you said Passage Graves.
迈克尔:不好意思老师，你刚刚提到的过道式坟墓。
Was this just monument 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？
Professor:Ah, yes! Good question, Michael.
教授:啊，对！问得好，，迈克尔。
Besides being built as tombs, some of these Passage Graves were definitely what we might call Astronomical Calendars, with chambers they flooded with some light on the certain special days of the year, which must see miraculous and inspired good dealer of they really just wonder.
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，每年都会有某些特殊的日子，阳光会照进这些房间。之后你就会看到奇迹般的具有启发性的宗教奇迹发生。
But research indicates that not just light but also the physics of sound help to enhance this religious experience.
然而，研究者表明，不仅仅光，声理学也有助于强化这种宗教体验。
Michael:How so?
迈克尔:怎么解释呢？
Professor:Well, first the echoes.
教授:嗯，首先是回声。
When religious leaders started chanting with echoes bounced off the stonewalls over and over again, it must seem like a whole chorus of other voices, spirits of God maybe join in.
当宗教领导开始念经的时候，声音会在碰到石墙后不断产生回响。这听起来肯定像是各种其他声音的和声，上帝的声音也在其中。
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。
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，当声波以同样的频率从墙上反弹后在相反的方向上相遇，便会产生驻波现象。
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。
You can stand quite near a man singing in loud voice and hardly hear him.
你可能站在一个大声说话的人旁边却几乎听不到他说的。
Yet step little further away and voice is almost defining.
而迈开一步后却感觉震耳欲聋。
As you move around chamber, the volume of the sound goes way up and way down, depending on where you are and these standing waves.
随着你在房间里走动，音量会上上下下，这要看你站在哪里，也要看驻波的具体情况。
And often the acoustic makes it hard to identify where sounds are coming from.
而经常音响效果使得人们很难辨别出声音的来源。
It is powerful voices that are speaking to you or chanting from inside your own head.
你会听到很大的声音，或是自己脑袋里听到各种念经的声音。
This had to engender powerful sense of all Neolithic worshipers.
这对于新石器时代的礼拜者意义甚大。
And another bit of physics I played here is something called Resonance.
而这里要提到的另一种物理学则称为共鸣。
I know physics, but well I imagine you have all below near of top empty bottles and heard sounds it makes.
我不懂物理学，但我想你们都有过这样的经历，把耳朵放在空瓶子顶部便会听到瓶子发出的声音。
And you probably notice that depending on its size-each empty bottle plays one particular music note.
你们很可能注意到，每个瓶子大小不同，其发出的某一音乐符号也有所不同。
Or it is the physics might put it, each bottle resonates at a particular frequency.
或许物理学会这么解释，每个瓶子在某一特定频率上会产生共鸣。
Well, that's true of these chambers too.
嗯，这些房间的原理也是一样的。
If you make a constant noise inside the chamber, maybe by steadily beating drum at certain rate, a particular frequency of sound will resonate.
如果你在房间里一直发出声音，或许可以固定的节奏打鼓，某一特定的声音频率便会产生共鸣。
We will ring out intensely, depending on the size of chamber.
这样会发出强大的声音，根据房间的大小声音强弱有所不同。
In some of large chambers though, these intensified sound may be too deep for us to hear, we can feel it.
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。
We are mysteriously agitated by a….but it is not a sound our ears can hear.
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。
The psychological effects of all these extraordinary sounds can be profound, especially when they seem so disconnected from human doing 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，特别是当它们与人类打鼓或念经所发出的声音毫无关联的时候。
And there can be observable physical effects on people too.
在人类身上也会产生可观察到的物理效应。
In fact, the sounds can cause headaches, feelings of dizziness, increase heartache, 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。
Anyway, what is we experience inside one of these Passage Graves clearly could be far more intense than 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。
But back to your question, Michael, as to whether these Graves were designed to be used by the living.
但回到你问的问题，迈克尔，关于人们设计建造这些坟墓是要作为居住地的吗？
Well, certainly, we have got to ask economical or calendar function.
嗯，当然，我们就不得不讲到天文日历的功能了，
That seems pretty obvious, and I want to go into more detail on that now.
这似乎显而易见，现在我就来详细讲讲。
