TPO-5 Reading 2 阅读译文

THE ORIGINOF THEPACIFIC ISLANDPEOPLE太平洋群岛居民的起源The greaterPacific region,traditionally calledOceania,consists ofthree culturalareas:Melanesia,Micronesia,and Polynesia.Melanesia,in thesouthwest Pacific,containsthe largeislands ofNew Guinea,the Solomons,Vanuatu,and NewCaledonia.Micronesia,the areanorth ofMelanesia,consists primarilyof smallscattered islands.Polynesia isthecentral Pacificarea in the greattriangle definedby Hawaii,Easter Island,and NewZealand.Before thearrival ofEuropeans,the islandsin thetwo largestcultural areas,Polynesia andMicronesia,together containeda populationestimated at700,

000.广义的太平洋地区，传统上被称作大洋洲，由三块文化区域组成美拉尼西亚，密克罗尼西亚和波利尼西亚美拉尼西亚在西南太平洋，包含了新几内亚岛、所罗门、瓦努阿图和新喀里多尼亚的广大岛屿密克罗尼西亚在美拉尼西亚的北边，主要由一些分散的岛屿组成波利尼西亚是太平洋中心地区，位于由夏威夷、复活节群岛和新西兰的三大岛屿组成的三角区域中在欧洲人到来之前，最大的波利尼西亚和密克罗尼西亚岛屿群一共有差不多70万人口Speculation on the originof thesePacific islandersbegan assoon asoutsidersencountered them,intheabsence ofsolid linguistic,archaeological,and biologicaldata,many fancifuland mutuallyexclusive theorieswere devised.Pacific islandersere variouslythoughtto havecome fromNorth America,South America,Egypt,Israel,and India,aswell asSoutheast Asia.-Many oldertheories implicitlydeprecated thenavigationalabilities andoverall culturalcreativity of the Pacific islanders.-For example,Britishanthropologists G.Elliot Smithand W.J.Perry assumedthat onlyEgyptians wouldhavebeen skilledenough tonavigate andcolonize the Pacific.-They inferredthat theEgyptianseven crossedthe Pacificto foundthe greatcivilizations of the NewWorld NorthandSouth America.■Tn1947Norwegian adventurerThor Heyerdahldrifted ona balsa-lograft westwardwith thewinds andcurrents acrossthe Pacificfrom South America toprovehis theorythat Pacificislanders wereNative Americansalso calledAmerican Indians.Later Heyerdahlsuggested that thePacificwas peopledby threemigrations:by NativeAmericansfrom thePacific Northwestof NorthAmerica driftingto Hawaii,by Peruviansdriftingto EasterIsland,and byMelanesians.In1969he crossedthe Atlanticin anEgyptianstyle reedboat toprove Egyptianinfluences inthe Americas.Contrary tothesetheorists,the overwhelmingevidence ofphysical anthropology,linguistics,andarchaeology showsthatthePacificislanderscame fromSoutheast Asiaand wereskilledenough asnavigators tosail againstthe prevailingwinds andcurrents.对于太平洋群岛居民起源的思索开始于外来者和岛民们接触的最初，由于缺乏可靠的语言学、考古学和生物学资料，出现了很多奇异并且互相排斥的理论之前太平洋岛民曾被认为来自北美洲、南美洲、埃及、以色列、印度以及东南亚许多古老的理论含蓄地贬低了太平洋群岛居民的航海能力和综合文化创造力比如，英国人类学家G.Elliot Smith和W.J.Perry认为只有埃及人才能熟练地航海和统治太平洋他们推断埃及人甚至曾经穿越过太平洋去寻找新世界的文明北美洲和南美洲）1947年，挪威探险家Thor Heyerdahl为了证明他的太平洋群岛居民是美国本土居民（也被称作美国印第安人）的理论，用一只带有标志的轻质木筏，借助风力和水流从南美洲漂流过了太平洋后来Heyerdahl表明太平洋人来自三个移民群体从北美洲西北部太平洋地区漂流到夏威夷的美国本土居民，从秘鲁去往复活节岛的漂流者，还有美拉尼西亚人1969年，他驾驶一条埃及样式的芦苇船穿过大西洋，证明埃及人在美洲的影响与这些理论相矛盾的是，有关自然人类学、语言学和考古学的权威证据表明，太平洋岛居民来自东南亚，并且他们有足够的能力来逆着风和洋流航行The basiccultural requirementsfor thesuccessful colonizationof thePacific islandsincludethe appropriateboat-building,sailing,and navigationskills toget tothe islandsinthe firstplace,domesticated plantsand gardeningskills suitedto oftenmarginal conditions,and avaried inventoryof fishingimplements andtechniques.It isnow generallybelieved（that theseprerequisites originatedwith peoplesspeaking Austronesianlanguages agroup）of severalhundred relatedlanguages andbegan toemerge inSoutheast Asiaby about5000B.C.E.The cultureof thattime,based onarchaeology andlinguistic reconstruction,is assumedto havehad abroad inventoryof cultivatedplants includingtaro,yarns,banana,sugarcane,breadfruit,coconut,sago,and rice,Just asimportant,the culturealso possessedthebasic foundationfor aneffective maritimeadaptation,including outriggercanoes andavariety offishing techniquesthat couldbe effectivefor overseasvoyaging.成功地将太平洋群岛殖民地化需要的基础文化条件包括适当的造船、航行和航海技术，以便能首先到达岛屿；适应贫瘠条件的驯化植物和园艺技术；各种各样的捕鱼器具和技术现在普遍认为这些先决条件是那些说南岛语（一个有几百种亲属语种的语系）的人所带来的，他们公元前5,000年前就出现在东南亚通过考古学和语言学的重建发现，那个时候的文明拥有广泛的植物储存，包括芋头、纱、杳蕉、甘蔗、面包果、椰子、西米和稻米同样重要的是，当时的社会也具备适应海洋的基础，包括桅杆船和各种各样有利于越洋航行的捕鱼技术Contrary tothe argumentsof somethat muchof thepacific wassettled byPolynesiansaccidentally maioonedaftei beinglost andadiift,it seemsleasonable thatthis featwasaccomplished bydeliberate colonizationexpeditions thatset outfully stockedwith foodanddomesticated plantsand animals.Detailed studiesofthewinds andcurrents usingcomputersimulations suggestthat driftingcanoes wouldhave beena mostunlikely meansofcolonizing thePacific.These expeditionswere likelydriven bypopulation growthandpolitical dynamicsonthehome islands,as wellas thechallenge andexcitement ofexploringunknown waters.Because allPolynesians,Micronesians,and manyMelanesiansspeak Austronesianlanguages andgrow cropsderived fromSoutheast Asia,all thesepeoplesmost certainlyderived fromthat regionand notthe NewWorld orelsewhere.Theundisputed pre-Columbian presencein Oceaniaofthesweet potato,which isa NewWorlddomesticate,has sometimesbeen usedto supportHeyerdahls AmericanIndians inthePacific^theories.However,this isone plantout ofa longlist ofSoutheast Asiandomesticates.As Patrick Kirch,an Americananthropologist,points out,rather thanbeingbrought byrafting SouthAmericans,sweet potatoesmight justhave easilybeen broughtback byreturningPolynesian navigatorswho couldhave reachedthe westcoast ofSouthAmerica.与那个认为太平洋人很多都是波利尼西亚人偶然迷失并漂流而定居下来的说法相反的是，这些壮举是通过有意的殖民远征来实现的他们出发时满载食板已培育好的植物以及驯化的动物通过电脑模拟对风向和洋流进行的详细研究表明，船只漂流是最不可能的殖民太平洋的途径远征可能是由本土的人口增长、政治动荡以及探索未知水域的挑战和兴奋所驱动的因为所有的波利尼西亚人、密克罗尼西亚人和很多美拉尼西亚人说南岛语，种植的庄稼起源于东南亚，所以所有的这些人最有可能来自那个地方，而不是新世界或者其他地方甘薯，一种新世界的品种，在哥伦比亚发现美洲大陆前它就在大洋洲的出现，这是无可置疑的，这有时候被用来证明Heyerdahl提出的美国印第安人是太平洋岛民的来源的理论然而，这是一种在东南亚培育的植物的长名单之外的植物正如美国人类学家PatrickKirch所指出的，比起从南美漂流过来，甘薯更容易被那些到过南美的玻利尼西亚返航者携带来。