The Lost Continent 遗失的大陆-21

In the summer of 1968, the occupants of a small plane flying off the coast of Bimini near Florida spotted¹ beneath them mysterious shapes in the clear waters. The site quickly attracted huge interest, especially when fragments of ancient monuments were also found in nearby waters. Known as the Bimini road, could these strange misshapen rocks be the corroded² ruins of ancient Atlantis? Their sudden dramatic appearance had been foretold³ by one of America’s most famous clairvoyant⁴s, Edgar Casey. Called the sleeping prophet because of the trance-like state in which he delivered his prophecies. Casey had predicted that Atlantis would rise again in 1967 or 1968. But the circumstances of the discovery cast a shadow of doubt on the risen Atlantis. Not only had the Bimini road been discovered by followers⁶ of Casey, it also turned out that Casey himself had been sponsored by a wealthy businessman to locate gold, oil, or other mineral deposits in the Bahamas. Unfortunately on this occasion, Casey’s power seemed to abandon him.

Edgar Casey was in the employ of a businessman who believed that he could actually find gold. And he, Casey, then decided⁷ to produce Atlantis as some kind of a substitute for that.

The fragments of ancient monuments also have another explanation that is far removed from the ruins of Atlantis. They are almost certainly the remains⁸ of a ship’s ballast, dating back to the time of Columbus when ships needed to take on board and later dump extra weight.

You don't want all that ballast in ship, you want buoyancy, you get rid of the stone. And there all the sudden is a Corinthian capital from Rome, or from whatever have you, in the, in the Caribbean.

Casey also prophesized that a long lost haul of Atlantean records would be discovered under the Egyptian Sphinx in 1999. Unfortunately these records have so far failed to materialize, further discredit⁹ing Casey’s prophecies that Atlantis would rise again.

The Atlantis legend, if you like, has become a new religion. It’s a new age religion. It’s for all those people who are dissatisfied with what the conventional churches have to offer. I think modern people looked to want to find something, something they can believe in even if it’s not reachable, not attainable¹¹, so they search for Utopia, a fabulous¹² land, and they’re trying believing in that even though they can never really find it.

But hope's spring's eternal. Using a dazzling array of high-tech¹³ and low-tech equipment and spurn¹⁴ing the skepticism of conventional experts, a new breed of fringe researcher continues to search for Atlantis.

Is it a search without end? Or would advances in new technology finally reveal the location of lost Atlantis?

--------------------
occupant: n. 占有者，拥有者
clairvoyant: n. 千里眼有假想的超视能力的人，如巫师
prophet: n. 预言者
trance: n. 恍惚
removed: adj. 离开的，与...无关的
ballast: n. 压舱物
buoyancy: n. 浮性
Sphinx: n. 狮身人面像
discredit: v. 使被怀疑；使不可置信
materialize: v. 物化，实现
spurn: .屏弃，弃绝

1 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

2 corroded   

已被腐蚀的

参考例句：

• Rust has corroded the steel rails. 锈侵蚀了钢轨。
• Jealousy corroded his character. 嫉妒损伤了他的人格。

3 foretold   

v.预言，预示( foretell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She foretold that the man would die soon. 她预言那人快要死了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Must lose one joy, by his life's star foretold. 这样注定：他，为了信守一个盟誓／就非得拿牺牲一个喜悦作代价。 来自英汉 - 翻译样例 - 文学

4 clairvoyant   

adj.有预见的；n.有预见的人

参考例句：

• Love is blind,but friendship is clairvoyant.爱是盲目的，友谊则能洞察一切。
• Those whom are clairvoyant have often come to understand past lives.那些能透视的人们已能经常理解死去的生命。

5 clairvoyants   

n.透视者，千里眼的人( clairvoyant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

6 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

7 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

8 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

9 discredit   

vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑

参考例句：

• Their behaviour has bought discredit on English football.他们的行为败坏了英国足球运动的声誉。
• They no longer try to discredit the technology itself.他们不再试图怀疑这种技术本身。

10 discrediting   

使不相信( discredit的现在分词 )； 使怀疑； 败坏…的名声； 拒绝相信

参考例句：

• It has also led to the discrediting of mainstream macroeconomics. 它还使得人们对主流宏观经济学产生了怀疑。

11 attainable   

a.可达到的，可获得的

参考例句：

• They set the limits of performance attainable. 它们确定着可达到的运行限度。
• If objectives are to be meaningful to people, they must be clear, attainable, actionable, and verifiable. 如果目标对人们是具有意义的，则目标必须是清晰的，能达到的，可以行动的，以及可供检验的。

12 fabulous   

adj.极好的；极为巨大的；寓言中的，传说中的

参考例句：

• We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
• This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。

13 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

14 spurn   

v.拒绝，摈弃；n.轻视的拒绝；踢开

参考例句：

• They spurn all our offers of help.他们拒绝接受我们提出的一切援助。
• As an armyman,I spurn fearlessly at all danger and the enemy.作为一个军人，一切危险和敌人丝毫不在我的眼。

15 spurning   

v.一脚踢开，拒绝接受( spurn的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• There is no point in spurning sth. 鄙视某事物是毫无意义的。 来自互联网
• It does its job with subtlety, however, spurning the hammer intensity of something like cranberry juice. 然而，它与微妙做它的工作践踏象酸果蔓的果实果汁一样的一些东西的榔头紧张。 来自互联网