大学英语自学教程 上册 un18

[00:00.00]Unit 18 text A
[00:04.88]Why Are Maps Drawn with North at the Top ?
[00:08.15]为什么地图绘制得北方在上？
[00:11.42]Now it is hard to visualize a map that does not feature north at the top
[00:15.24]现在很难想像一幅不是北方朝上的地图，
[00:19.07]but this was not always so.
[00:21.25]但过去的情况并不总是这样。
[00:23.43]The oldest known map in the accepted sense of the world was drawn about 3,800 BC,
[00:28.21]现在被人们认可的最古老的地图绘制于大约公元前3800年
[00:32.99]and represents the river Euphrates flowing through northern Mesopotamia, Iraq.
[00:37.42]图上显示幼发拉底河流经伊拉克的美索不达米亚平原北部。
[00:41.85]This,and others that followed it,
[00:44.23]这幅地图以及
[00:46.60]were little more than rough sketches of localized features;
[00:49.63]后来的地图比地方地理特征略图好不了多少；
[00:52.66]it was not until many centuries later that the ancient Greeks placed
[00:56.49]直到许多世纪之后，古希腊人
[01:00.32]the science of map--making on a sound footing.
[01:03.29]才把地图绘制学置于可靠的基础之上。
[01:06.27]At the forefront of the pioneers in the field
[01:09.00]在此领域最早的先驱者首推
[01:11.73]was the Greek mathematician philopher Claudius Ptolemaeus (c.AD 90-168),
[01:17.02]希腊数学家和哲学家克劳迪’托勒密乌（约公元90年-168年）。
[01:22.31]more popularly known to history as Ptolemy.
[01:25.28]历史上通常称他为托勒密。
[01:28.24]The last great scientist of the classical period,
[01:31.21]他作为古典时期伯最后一位伟大的科学家
[01:34.17]he was the first to draw a map that was based on all available knowledge,
[01:37.75]他第一个画出以当时所有的知识为基础的地图，
[01:41.33]rather than guess or imagination.
[01:43.61]而不是基于猜测和想象。
[01:45.90]Earlier,the Babylonians had attempted to map the world,
[01:49.32]在此之前巴比伦人曾试图绘制世界地图，
[01:52.74]but they presented it in the form of a flattened disc rather than a sphere,
[01:56.43]但他们把地图绘在扁平盘上，
[02:00.11]which was the form adopted by Ptolemy.
[02:02.59]而非托勒密所采用的球体上。
[02:05.07]Given the state of knowledge of those times, he got things wrong;
[02:08.60]鉴于当时人们的知识状况，他把事情搞错了。
[02:12.13]for example,his estimate of China
[02:14.61]例如，他对中国
[02:17.09]and the Atlantic Oceanwas far from being accurate.
[02:20.17]和大西洋的估计远非准确。
[02:23.26]Nevertheless,it was a useful effort
[02:25.68]可是，这是有用的尝试。
[02:28.11]and the map remained a work of reference for over a thousand years.
[02:31.89]而且该地图1000多年中一直是人们的参考资料。
[02:35.66]In fact, Christopher Columbus used a version of it
[02:38.34]事实上，克里斯托夫’哥伦布在探索新大陆的航行中
[02:41.02]when he set sail in search of the New World--
[02:43.50]曾使用过该地图的一个版本。
[02:45.98]which caused him some navigational problems,
[02:48.62]这给他带来了许多航海问题，
[02:51.26]since Ptolemy had calculated wrongly the size of the Atlantic
[02:55.03]因为托勒密错误地计算了大西洋的大小，
[02:58.81]and was unaware that the Pacific Ocean existed.
[03:01.79]并且对太平洋的存在一无所知。
[03:04.76]The really important thing about Ptolemy's map was that north was at the top
[03:09.19]托勒密的地图真正重要的地方是其北方朝上。
[03:13.62]The reason for this was that he decided to orientate the map in the
[03:17.69]其原因在于他决定以极星的方向给地图定向
[03:21.77] direction of the Pole Star since Polaris was the immovable guiding light
[03:25.90]因为北极星是那时航海者
[03:30.02]in which the voyagers of that era placed their trust.
[03:33.00]所信任的不变的导航灯。
[03:35.98]North at the top remained the accepted arrangement until the early Middle Ages
[03:40.16]直到教会势力开始严重干涉科学进步的中世经，
[03:44.34]when the Church began to interfere seriously with the advance of science.
[03:48.17]地图北方朝上一直是为人们所接受的布局。
[03:51.99]In accordance with the orders of the Church,
[03:54.36]按照教会的命令，
[03:56.72]maps were still produced in accordance with Ptolemy's principles
[04:00.16]地图仍然按托勒密的原则绘制，
[04:03.59]but now Jerusalem was the central feature,