奇幻、智慧、古老：世界最神秘的八大民族

 　　1. Russians

　　1、俄罗斯人

　　Scientists still cannot agree on their origins and answer the question when Russians became Russian. The ancestry¹ of Russians were sought among Normans, Scythians, and Sarmatians, and even the South Siberian Usuns.

　　俄罗斯人从何而来？究竟又是何时成为如今的俄罗斯人？科学家们意见不一，也无从回答。诺曼人、斯基泰人、萨尔马特人和南西伯利亚乌孙人里都有俄罗斯人的祖先。

　　2. Maya

　　2、玛雅人

　　Some scientists believe that they are connected to legendary² atlantes, others suppose their ancestors were Egyptians. The Maya created an efficient agricultural system, had deep astronomy knowledge. Their calendar was used by other peoples of Central America. Maya applied³ hieroglyphic⁴ writing system. Now it seems that the Maya came from nowhere and disappeared nowhere.

　　有部分科学家认为玛雅人和传奇的男像柱有关，另一些科学家认为玛雅人的祖先是欧洲人。玛雅人发明了高效的农业体系，有深厚的天文学知识。中美其他民族都用玛雅人的日历。玛雅人运用象形文字书写体系。如今，似乎无人知晓玛雅人从何而来，又如何销声匿迹的。

　　3. Prussians

　　3、普鲁士人

　　Their origin itself is a mystery too. It was firstly mentioned in the IX century in the records of an anonymous⁵ merchant and later in Polish and German chronicles. Linguists⁶ find its analogies in various Indo-European languages. In the XVII began the history of Prussianism.

　　普鲁士人源自何方也是个谜。最初在9世纪某无名商人的记录中有记载，后来在波兰和德国的编年史中有所提及。语言学家发现在印欧语系的多门语言中都能找到与其相类似的。普鲁士精神始于17世纪。

　　4. Sumerians

　　4、苏美尔人

　　Must be one of the most mysterious peoples in the ancient world. We know nothing about their origin and nothing about the origin of their language. The Sumerians were rather advanced – they became the first in the Near East to use a wheel, to create an irrigation system and their unique writing, besides, they were impressively good at maths and astronomy.

　　苏美尔人一定是古时最神秘的种族之一，对于其起源及语言我们一无所知。苏美尔人一度非常先进，在近东地区最先使用轮子、创造了灌溉系统和独一无二的书写体系。此外，苏美尔人数学和天文学水平尤为出众。

　　5. Gipsies

　　5、吉普赛人

　　According to the linguistic⁷ and genetic⁸ researches, ancestors of the Gipsies left the territory of India in the amount that did not exceed 1000 people. Today there are approximately 10 million Gipsies in the world. In the Middle Ages Europeans believed that Gipsies were Egyptians.

　　根据语言学和遗传学研究发现，吉普赛人的祖先离开印度领土的时候人数不超过1000人。而今，世界有一千万吉普赛人。中世纪的欧洲人认为吉普赛人是欧洲人。

　　6. Philistines⁹

　　6、腓力斯人

　　The Philistines are the most mysterious peoples mentioned in the Bible. Only them and Hittites knew the technology of steel production and they marked the start of the Iron Age. According to the Bible, the Philistines originate from Caphtor Island (Crete).

　　腓力斯人是《圣经》中提到最为神秘的种族。只有腓力斯人和赫梯人了解钢铁生产技术，标志了铁器时代的开始。《圣经》上说腓力斯人来自迦斐托岛（克里特岛）。

　　7. Basques

　　7、巴斯克人

　　The Basque language, Euskara, is believed to be the only relic¹⁰ pre-Indo-European language that does not belong to any language group that exists today. According to the research of National Geographic¹¹ made in 2012 all Basques have a set of genes¹² that are pretty much different from those of other peoples around them.

　　巴斯克语被视为文化遗产，是唯一不属于任何语言群体的前印欧语系语言。根据《国家地理》2012年的研究，所有巴斯克人都有一组与其周边种族大不相同的基因。

　　8. Sarmatians

　　8、萨尔马特人

　　The Sarmatians left a lot of secrets. Perhaps they had matriarchy, some scientists suppose that Russian kokoshnik was invented by the Sarmatians. These people had a tradition of an artificial skull¹³ deformation¹⁴, that enabled people to have egg-shaped heads.

　　萨尔马特人有许多秘密。也许他们是母系社会，一些科学家认为俄罗斯卡柯史尼克（卡柯史尼克头冠）就是萨尔马特人发明的。萨尔马特人有人工颅骨变形的传统，让人可以拥有鸡蛋形状的头颅。

1 ancestry   

n.祖先，家世

参考例句：

• Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
• He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。

2 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

3 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

4 hieroglyphic   

n.象形文字

参考例句：

• For centuries hieroglyphic word pictures painted on Egyptian ruins were a mystery.几世纪以来，刻划在埃及废墟中的象形文字一直是个谜。
• Dongba is an ancient hieroglyphic language.东巴文是中国一种古老的象形文字。

5 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

6 linguists   

n.通晓数国语言的人( linguist的名词复数 )；语言学家

参考例句：

• The linguists went to study tribal languages in the field. 语言学家们去实地研究部落语言了。 来自辞典例句
• The linguists' main interest has been to analyze and describe languages. 语言学家的主要兴趣一直在于分析并描述语言。 来自辞典例句

7 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

8 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

9 philistines   

n.市侩，庸人( philistine的名词复数 )；庸夫俗子

参考例句：

• He accused those who criticized his work of being philistines. 他指责那些批评他的作品的人是对艺术一窍不通。 来自辞典例句
• As an intellectual Goebbels looked down on the crude philistines of the leading group in Munich. 戈培尔是个知识分子，看不起慕尼黑领导层不学无术的市侩庸人。 来自辞典例句

10 relic   

n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物

参考例句：

• This stone axe is a relic of ancient times.这石斧是古代的遗物。
• He found himself thinking of the man as a relic from the past.他把这个男人看成是过去时代的人物。

11 geographic   

adj.地理学的，地理的

参考例句：

• The city's success owes much to its geographic position. 这座城市的成功很大程度上归功于它的地理位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Environmental problems pay no heed to these geographic lines. 环境问题并不理会这些地理界限。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

12 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

13 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

14 deformation   

n.形状损坏；变形；畸形

参考例句：

• The deformation frequencies are not sufficiently distinctive.其变形频率不是十分明显的。
• The calculated deformation is almost equal to the real situation by measurement.经检测，计算变形量与实际情况基本一致。