VOA慢速英语2020 古代版的漂洋过海来见你？（在线收听）

A new study shows that there was mixing between ancient native peoples from Polynesia and South America.

一项新的研究表明，来自波利尼西亚和南美洲的古老土著民族之间存在交配现象。 

Researchers say they found a single episode of the two groups interbreeding around 800 years ago after a long trip across the Pacific Ocean.

研究人员称，他们发现这两个族群在800年前的一次横跨太平洋的长途旅行中发生了交配。 

For a long time, the question of such contact had been debated among scientists.

长期以来，科学家们一直在争论这种交配问题。 

The contact was theorized partly because of the presence of a kind of sweet potato in the islands of Polynesia.The plant is native to South and Central America.

理论上说，让科学家产生这种想法的部分原因是波利尼西亚群岛上出现了一种甘薯。但是，这种植物原产于南美洲和中美洲。

Scientists said last week that an examination of DNA from 807 people made the results clear.

科学家们上周说，对807人的DNA的检测清楚地证明了这一假设。 

The genetic material came from 14 Polynesian islands and Pacific coastal Native American populations from Mexico to Chile.

该遗传物质来自14个波利尼西亚群岛和从墨西哥到智利的太平洋沿岸的美洲原住民。 

People from four island areas in French Polynesia had DNA that showed interbreeding with South Americans at around the year 1200.Those South Americans were most closely related to present-day native Colombians.

法属波利尼西亚四个岛屿地区的人的DNA显示，大约在1200年左右，他们与南美人有过交配。这些南美人与现在的哥伦比亚原住民关系最为密切。

The islands are about 6,800 kilometers from South America.

这些岛屿距离南美洲约6800公里。 

People from Easter Island also had South American ancestry, some from modern Chilean immigrants and some from the same ancient mixing as the other islands.

来自复活岛的人也有南美血统，这些人一部分来自现代智利移民，一部分来自与其他岛屿一样的古代混血。

Easter Island, which belongs to Chile, was settled sometime after the interbreeding 800 years ago.

复活岛，属于智利，是在800年前的异血缘交配后的某个时候安顿下来的。 

The island, which lies 3,700 kilometers west of South America, is known for its massive stone statues.

该岛位于南美洲以西3700公里处，因巨大的石像而闻名。 

The study left open the question of who crossed the Pacific Ocean.Were Polynesians traveling east and arriving in Colombia or maybe Ecuador? Or were South Americans traveling west?

这项研究没有解决到底是哪一方横渡太平洋的问题。波利尼西亚人是向东旅行到达哥伦比亚或厄瓜多尔?还是南美人向西旅行?

Alexander Ioannidis is a computational geneticist at Stanford University in California.

亚历山大·约阿尼迪斯是加州斯坦福大学的计算遗传学家。 

He was the lead author of the research, which appears in the science journal Nature. Ioannadis says he thinks the Polynesians crossed the Pacific,since they were "exploring the ocean and discovering some of the most distant Pacific islands around exactly the time of contact."The Reuters news agency reported his comments.

他是这项研究的第一作者，该研究发表在科学杂志《自然》上。 约阿尼迪斯说，他认为是古波利尼西亚人跨越了太平洋，因为他们“在探索海洋的同时，发现了一些最遥远的太平洋岛屿，而这一事件整好与交配发生的时间相吻合。”路透社报道了他的评论。

If the Polynesians reached the Americas, he added, they probably traveled in sailing canoes with two hulls.

他补充说，如果波利尼西亚人到达了美洲，他们很可能是乘坐双船体的独木舟旅行的。 

He noted these boats operate much like a modern catamaran, another kind of two-hulled boat.The contact explains the mystery of how the sweet potato arrived in Polynesia centuries before European sailors.

他指出，这些船操作起来很像现代游艇——另一种双体船。这种交融解释了甘薯为何比欧洲水手早几个世纪到达波利尼西亚的奥秘。

Ioannidis noted the vegetable’s name in many Polynesian languages - kumara -

约阿尼迪斯注意到这种蔬菜在许多波利尼西亚语言中的名字——库马拉 

sounds similar to its name in some languages spoken in the Andes Mountains.

听起来和它在安第斯山脉的某些语言中的名字相似。 

Im Alice Bryant.

爱丽丝·布莱恩特报道。