For some of us, the oldest mysteries, the ones before our time, are the most compelling. Sometimes, we stumble upon an answer like a happy accident. Other times, someone just won't let go until he or she finds the solution.

对于我们中的大多数人来说，最能引起我们注意的古老秘密往往是早于我们所生活的这个时代的。有时，我们偶然得到一个答案就像是经历了一次快乐的历险，而有时候对于有的人来说，不找到结果他们就不会放手向前。

10. The 20-Year Search For A Missing Opera

10.寻找失踪了20年的歌剧

Enrique Granados, a renowned Spanish composer, wrote an unpublished opera called Maria del Carmen in 1898. The story of a love triangle in Murcia, the opera was so celebrated when it opened in Madrid that the Queen of Spain gave Granados the distinguished Charles III Cross for his music. Even so, the original version of the opera was never performed again.

著名的西班牙作曲家恩里克·格拉纳多斯在1898年谱写的歌剧“玛利亚德尔卡门”，这是一个发生在穆尔西亚的三角恋故事，歌剧在马德里第一次演出，随后迅速成名，西班牙女王为格拉纳多斯颁发了查尔斯三世十字勋章，以显示其杰出的音乐才能。但是即便如此,歌剧的最初版本也不会再现。

When the New York Metropolitan Opera performed another of the composer's works in 1916, Granados and his wife sailed to America with the only copy of Maria del Carmen. Granados hoped to persuade the Met to perform his masterpiece. When they didn't agree, the Granados set sail to Spain via England, but a German submarine torpedoed their boat in the English Channel.

1916年，当时纽约的大都市都在演出另一个作曲家的作品，格拉纳多斯和他的妻子带着“玛利亚德尔卡门”的唯一副本前往美国，格拉纳多斯希望在那里能说服他们演出他的杰出作品。因为他们不同意，格拉纳多斯于是启航通过英格兰回西班牙,但德国潜艇在英吉利海峡击沉了他们的船。

The couple drowned, but the three-volume opera survived, as did their six children whom they'd left in Barcelona. Two decades later, a son who needed money sold the opera to an American musician against the wishes of other family members. For the next few decades, the music's ownership was litigated. Before the issue was settled, the opera was supposedly destroyed in a New York warehouse fire in 1970.

这对夫妇淹死了，但是三卷本歌剧幸存了下来，当时他们的六个孩子留在巴塞罗那。二十年后,急需用钱的一个儿子在违背其他家庭成员意愿的情况下将歌剧卖给美国音乐家。在接下来的几十年里，一直是对于音乐所有权的诉讼。问题还未解决，1070年，歌剧被毁于纽约仓库的一场大火里。几年后，音乐专业的沃尔特·克拉克写研究生论文，了解到那个失踪的杰作。在接下来的20年时间里，他坚定不移的怀疑着它的命运。“我想知道它是否真的被摧毁了，毕竟在那场大火以后没有人做了完全的清单详情。”克拉克这样说到，“在大火之后，没有人做了适当的库存。当我研究2006年格拉纳多斯的传记,我联系了从他孙子那里购买歌剧的人玛利亚，他也一直在不停地寻找。

A couple of decades later, Walter Clark, a graduate student writing a dissertation on music, learned of the missing masterpiece. For the next 20 years, he couldn't shake his doubts about its fate. “I wondered if it was really destroyed,” Clark said. “No one had done a proper inventory after the fire. When I was researching my [2006 biography of Granados], I contacted the grandson of the man who had purchased Maria, and he kept looking.” Finally, in 2009, the opera was found, although it had been damaged by smoke and water. Thanks to the music professor who played detective, Maria del Carmen has been restored and subsequently published by the company, Trito. For the first time since 1899, the opera will also be performed in Spain in 2015.

最终，歌剧在2009年被发现,尽管它已经被烟熏、被水浸泡。多亏音乐教授Maria del Carmen才得以将其复原，随后Trito公司将其发行。由于其第一次演出是在1899年的西班牙，歌剧也将于2015年在西班牙演出。

9. The Moroccan Village Built On A Rock Pile

9.建在岩石堆上的摩洛哥村庄

At about 3,900 meters (13,000 ft) above sea level, the village of Arroumd sits perilously atop a huge pile of rocks in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. For over 130 years, the origin of that rock pile has mystified scientists. Most assumed the movement of a glacier deposited the rocks, but modern dating techniques point to seismic activity 4,500 years ago as the culprit. The village is located near a major tectonic fault that sits below the face of a cliff.

在海拔约3900米(13000英尺)的地方，Arroumd村庄坐落在摩洛哥阿特拉斯山脉的一大堆岩石之上。130多年来，岩石堆的起源一直困扰着科学家们。大多数人认为是冰川沉积岩的运动，但是现代最先进的技术指出，4500年前的地震活动是罪魁祸首，这个村庄坐落于靠近临近悬崖下面的主要构造断层。

Although a glacier probably eroded the face of the cliff, making it vulnerable to collapse, the avalanche occurred approximately 7,000 years after the glacier melted. So the glacier may have made the cliff more likely to collapse, but an earthquake was probably the actual trigger of the avalanche of rocks. Even beyond the huge pile of rocks, Arroumd is a mysterious place. “Several incidents occurred at the site, including some accidents—minor, thankfully–and mystery ailments to those who went there,” said lead researcher Philip Hughes. “I always joke about the ‘curse' of the Arroumd landform. This year, we encountered severe whirlwinds when entering the valley . . . We were unable to stand on our feet, which is rather unusual for this part of the world, where climate is often hot and calm.”

尽管雪崩之后的7000年，冰川融化可能侵蚀悬崖，使它容易断裂。所以我们认为冰川可能使悬崖崩溃，但实际上可能是地震引发雪崩落下的岩石。

8. How Mary Ingalls Really Went Blind

8.玛丽·英格尔（Mary Ingalls）失明之谜

In the Little House on the Prairie children's book series, author Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote that her real-life sister, Mary, was blinded by scarlet fever at age 14. The event was also dramatized on a television series based on the books. But pediatricians say the explanation for Mary's blindness doesn't make sense.

在儿童系列图书《草原上的小屋》中，作家劳拉·英格尔斯·怀尔德曾提到她的亲姐姐玛丽在14岁时因患猩红热而失明。这一事件在由该书改编而成的电视剧中同样被戏剧化。然而儿科医生却认为玛丽失明原因行不通。

Dr. Beth Tarini was surprised by that discovery even as a medical student. "I was in my pediatrics rotation," said Tarini. "We were talking about scarlet fever, and I said, 'Oh, scarlet fever makes you go blind. Mary Ingalls went blind from it.' " Her professor disagreed, which propelled Tarini on a detective mission to find out what really happened to Mary.

在贝斯·塔瑞尼博士还是一名医科学生时就对这一发现颇感惊讶。塔瑞尼说：”当时我正在儿科轮班”。”我们谈论着猩红热，我说，‘哦，是猩红热使你失明的，玛丽·英格尔斯就是这样。”但她的教授并不同意她的观点，这使得塔瑞尼决定调查出玛丽失明的真正原因。

Tarini and her team researched the issue for 10 years. They found that Mary had scarlet fever as a young child, but her illness at 14 was referred to as "brain fever." There was also no reference to her having the distinctive rash of scarlet fever as a teenager. While scarlet fever had a mortality rate for children of up to 30 percent in the 1800s, most cases of blindness from the disease were temporary.

塔瑞尼和她的团队花了十年来研究这个问题。他们发现，玛丽小时候患有猩红热，但她在14岁所患的病应被称为“脑膜炎”。另外，也没有资料显示她在青少年时期出现猩红热皮疹症状。虽然在19世纪猩红热导致的儿童死亡率高达30％，但大多数情况下失明是暂时性的。

As the team continued to investigate, they discovered that Laura wrote a letter to her daughter, Rose, in 1937 describing Mary's illness. Laura sent the letter right before the publication of her book By the Shores of Silver Lake, which described Mary's blindness as being caused by scarlet fever. However, an excerpt from the letter stated: "Mary had some sort of spinal sickness. I am not sure if the Dr. named it. We learned later when Pa took her from De Smet, South Dakota to Chicago, Illinois to a specialist that the nerves of her eyes were paralyzed and there was no hope."

进一步的调查发现，1937年劳拉曾写了一封信给她的女儿露丝描述玛丽的病情。劳拉写这封信时正好是她的新书《银湖畔》出版之前，书中写到玛丽由于患猩红热而失明。然而信的摘录却写到：“玛丽有某种脊柱病，我不确定医生是否这么叫它，我们后来才知道，当爸爸带着她从南达科他州的迪斯梅特到伊利诺伊州的芝加哥时，专家已认为她的眼睛的神经坏了，没有希望了。”

After poring over historical records, including the Ingalls' town newspaper that reported that Mary had suffered from severe headaches and partial paralysis on one side of her face, the researchers now believe that Mary contracted viral meningoencephalitis, which inflames the brain and spinal cord. By inflaming the optic nerve, it can also lead to blindness.

通过研究历史记录，包括英格尔居住小镇报纸上的报道，该报道称玛丽患有严重的头痛，脸部也有一侧部分瘫痪。研究人员现在相信，玛丽所患的病毒性脑膜炎损害了她的大脑和脊髓。从而引起视神经的损害，也可导致失明。

7. Gospel Of The Lots Of Mary

7．《玛丽福音》之谜

Recently translated by Princeton University religion professor Anne Marie Luijendijk, the 1,500-year-old "Gospel of the Lots of Mary" is not a gospel describing the life and death of Jesus Christ, as everyone had assumed. Instead, it's a sort of Magic 8 Ball to predict the future and help people solve their problems.

最近，普林斯顿大学宗教学教授安妮·玛丽·路易简德克翻译了《玛丽福音》，与所有人认为的相反，这本有1500 年历史的福音书并不描述耶稣基督的生与死，而像是神奇8号球一样预测未来，帮助人们解决问题。

This Christian oracle book was written in the Egyptian Coptic language, which uses the Greek alphabet. The book opens like this: “The Gospel of the lots of Mary, the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, she to whom Gabriel the Archangel brought the good news. He who will go forward with his whole heart will obtain what he seeks. Only do not be of two minds.”

本基督教预言书由采用希腊字母的埃及科普特语写成。这本书的开头是这样写的：“玛丽福音，耶稣基督母亲的福音，她为加布里埃尔天使带来好消息。一心向前的人会得偿所愿。只要他不三心二意。”

That opening led Luijendijk to believe the book contained a standard type of gospel. However, she found that the heavily used book was made up of 37 oracles, which rarely mentioned Jesus. If a person needed help with a problem, he would ask a question of the book's owner. Then they would select an oracle at random to solve the problem. The book's owner would interpret the oracle's answer.

这样的开头使路易简德克认为这是本标准的福音书。然而，她发现这本年代久远的书由 37 个预言组成，而其中很少提到耶稣。如果有人需要帮助，他会问书的主人一个问题。然后他们会随意选择一个预言来解决这个问题。书的主人会解释这个预言。

Each oracle is written so vaguely that it could be used for many situations. An example would be: “Stop being of two minds, o human, whether this thing will happen or not. Yes, it will happen! Be brave and do not be of two minds. Because it will remain with you a long time and you will receive joy and happiness.”

每个预言是如此含糊以至于它可以被用于很多情况。一个例子是：“不要再三心二意，人类，不论这件事情是否会发生。是的，它会发生！要勇敢，不要三心二意。因为它会陪伴你很长的时间，你会得到快乐和幸福。”

Ancient "lot books" were consulted to predict people's futures. Overall, this book takes a positive view of what lies ahead. However, Luijendijk had never known of another lot book that was referred to as a “gospel,” which translates as "good news." That leads Luijendijk to believe that gospels may have been viewed differently in ancient times, perhaps not solely as texts about the life and death of Jesus.

古代有很多书被用来预测人们的未来。总体而言，这本书对于未来持正面看法。然而，路易简德克从来不知道的另一些被称为“福音”的书，被译为“好消息”。这使得路易简德克相信福音书的解读可能与古时不同，它也许并不仅仅有关耶稣的生命和死亡。

In 1984, the text was donated to Harvard University by the daughter-in-law of an antiquities trader. However, no one knows how or when the family acquired the book.

1984年，这本书被一名古董商人的女婿捐赠给哈佛大学。然而，没有人知道这个家庭如何得到这本书。

6. Why Palmyra Was Located In The Syrian Desert

6.为什么巴尔米拉坐落于叙利亚的沙漠之中

Palmyra was an important trading hub in the Roman Empire around 2,000 years ago. But historians could never understand how Palmyra's 100,000 residents were able to thrive in the middle of the Syrian desert—or why they would live there in the first place.

2000年前，巴尔米拉是罗马帝国重要的贸易枢纽。但是历史学家永远不明白巴尔米拉的十万居民是如何在叙利亚沙漠的中部生存下来的，或者说，他们一开始为什么要选择在那里生活。

However, a team of Norwegian and Syrian researchers has finally solved the mystery. Palmyra and over three dozen surrounding (but forgotten) ancient Roman farming villages used a network of water reservoirs to make their arid steppe green. By collecting and channeling the yearly rainfall of 12–15 centimeters (5–6 in) from seasonal storms into these reservoirs, the ancient inhabitants farmed the land with a variety of crops. This gave Palmyra a stable source of food, even during droughts, making it a grand oasis of avenues, arches, and columns in a vibrant desert marketplace.

然而，一支由挪威和叙利亚研究人员共同组成的研究小组最终解开了这一谜题。巴尔米拉以及在它周围超过36个的古罗马村庄（但是被遗忘了）利用一种水库网来使他们干燥的大草原保持常绿。每年暴雨季节降水量有12-15公分，古代居民收集和引导这些降水到他们的水库，并利用这些水耕作多种多样的农作物。这给了巴尔米拉一个稳定的食物来源，即使在旱季巴尔米拉也是一片壮观的绿洲，在其充满活力的集市中，有着树木茂密的林荫道，各式各样精美的拱门和圆柱。

The city also prospered as a major trading hub linking Eastern civilizations with Western ones. Although the Persians and Parthians controlled the East and the Romans dominated the West, there were small independent kingdoms located between the two. Each of their rulers demanded payments from travelers to use their water routes—along parts of the Euphrates and Nile Rivers, for example.

这个城市作为连接东方和西方文明的主要贸易枢纽，也十分繁荣。虽然当时是波斯人和帕提亚人统治东方而罗马人主导西方，但是也有一些小的独立的国家处在它们之间。每个国家的统治者要求旅游者有偿使用他们境内的水路，比如幼发拉底河和尼罗河。

Rather than pay all those exorbitant river taxes to take the direct routes, tradesmen would cut through the desert and stop at Palmyra. There, they could purchase the items and services they needed to safely complete their journeys. This greatly contributed to Palmyra's prosperity in ancient times.

比起选择径直的航线需要付出过高的河税，商人们更愿意从沙漠穿过并停留在巴尔米拉。在巴尔米拉，他们可以购买他们所需要的商品和服务以保证安全地走完这一段旅程。这在古代极大地促进了巴尔米拉的繁荣。

注：本文转载自前十网，译者：Freya然