(单词翻译:单击)
中英文本
We're used now to face-piercings and studs, but this man must have been wearing plugs.
我们如今对在脸上穿孔与饰钉已习以为常，但他的孔更大，想必是戴着塞子。
We know that piercings and plugs are common throughout the history of Central America.
穿孔与戴塞在中美洲的历史上都极为常见。
Alterations like these, in the name of Olmec beauty, would have transformed the face-and today it's only in masks like this that we can have any idea of what the Olmecs would have looked like, for the skeletons have completely dissolved in the acid soil of the rainforest.
这种奥尔梅克式的美会改变面部外形。只有这样的面具才能让们了解奥尔梅克人曾经的长相，因为他们的尸骸都已被雨林的酸性土壤消解干净。
But the Olmec sense of personal beautification could go far beyond cosmetics or jewellery.
但奥尔梅克人的审美还超越了化妆品与珠宝，进入了神话与信仰的领域。
Here's Karl Taube again:
卡尔陶布形容：
"They would modify their heads-it's often called cranial deformation, but I think that's a loaded word.
他们会改变自己的头部形状，人们通常称之为颅骨变形。但我觉得这种说法有点言过其实。
For them it was a mark of beauty.
对他们而言这是一种美的标记。
For newborns, they would bind their heads, and so they would become elongated-some people call it avocado head.
他把新生儿的头绑起来，使其变得修长，有人称之为鳄梨头。
But really what they're evoking is their head as an ear of corn.
但他实际上希望自己的头像一个玉米。
And so the Olmec really were truly the people of maize."
奥尔梅克人是和玉米密不可分的民族。
Sadly there are only a few Olmec inscriptions-or glyphs-now surviving, and decipherment of their writing is tentative at best.
遗憾的是，留存下来的奥尔梅克文字数量不多，而我们的解读如今还只停留在初级阶段。
There just isn't enough continuous writing to let us be certain of what the symbols mean.
没有足够多的连续文字，便无法确定这些符号的意义，因此只能去推测他们对神灵或自然循环的看法。
But there are lots of objects bearing symbols, marks and glyphs, such as pottery and sculptures, and they show us that writing was originally widespread across the Olmec heartland.
但很多物品，如陶罐、雕像上都有符号、标记或象形文字，表明文字在奥尔梅克中心地区已被广泛使用。
重点讲解
1.acid soil 酸性土壤
Roses will not root in such acid soil.
玫瑰在这种酸性土壤中不会生根。
Culture pot experiment was used to study the effects of limestone on the content of soil available heavy meatal before planting vegetables in acid soil.
采用盆栽的方式研究了蔬菜种植前施用石灰对南方强酸性土壤中有效态重金属含量的影响。
2.write to 写信给
Please write to me frequently.
请经常给我来信。
Why did you write to his office?
你为什么写信给他的办公室？
