这火已经烧了......4000年?

"This fire has burned 4,000 years and never stopped," says Aliyeva Rahila.

阿利耶娃·瑞海拉说:“这场大火已经燃烧了4000年,并且从未停止过。

"Even the rain coming here, snow, wind -- it never stops burning."

“就算下雨,下雪或者刮风--它也从未熄灭过。”

Ahead, tall flames dance restlessly across a 10-meter stretch of hillside, making a hot day even hotter.

前方,高高的火焰在10米长的山坡上不停地跳动,让炎热的天气显得更加炎热。

This is Yanar Dag -- meaning "burning mountainside" -- on Azerbaijan's Absheron Peninsula, where Rahila works as a tour guide.

这就是亚纳尔·达格—意思是“燃烧的山腰”—它位于阿塞拜疆的艾伯夏伦半岛,瑞海拉就在这里做导游。

A side effect of the country's plentiful natural gas reserves, which sometimes leak to the surface, Yanar Dag is one of several spontaneously occurring fires to have fascinated and frightened travelers to Azerbaijan over the millennia.

该国丰富的天然气储备有时会泄漏到地表,而亚纳尔达格火山就是其中之一,数千年来,前往阿塞拜疆的游客一直都对这自然发生的火灾既着迷又害怕。

Venetian explorer Marco Polo wrote of the mysterious phenomena when he passed through the country in the 13th century.

13世纪,威尼斯探险家马可·波罗经过这个国家时,写下了这些神秘的现象。

Other Silk Road merchants brought news of the flames as they would travel to other lands.

其他的丝绸之路商人也把火焰的消息带到了其他地方。

It's why the country earned the moniker the "land of fire."

这就是为什么这个国家被称为“火之国”。

Such fires were once plentiful in Azerbaijan, but because they led to a reduction of gas pressure underground, interfering with commercial gas extraction, most have been snuffed out.

在阿塞拜疆,这样的火灾曾经大量发生,但由于它们降低了地下的天然气压力,并影响了商业天然气的开采,所以大多数都被扑灭了。

Yanar Dag is one of the few remaining examples, and perhaps the most impressive.

亚纳尔·达格是仅存的几个例子之一,也许也是最令人印象深刻的。

At one time they played a key role in the ancient Zoroastrian religion, which was founded in Iran and flourished in Azerbaijan in the first millennium BCE.

他们曾经在古老的琐罗亚斯德教中扮演了关键的角色,这个宗教在公元前1000年建立于伊朗,并在阿塞拜疆蓬勃发展。

For Zoroastrians, fire is a link between humans and the supernatural world, and a medium through which spiritual insight and wisdom can be gained.

对于琐罗亚斯德教来说,火是人类和超自然世界之间的联系,是获得灵性洞察力和智慧的媒介。

It's purifying, life-sustaining and a vital part of worship.

它是净化、维持生命和礼拜的重要部分。

Today, most visitors who arrive at the no-frills Yanar Dag visitors' center come for the spectacle rather than religious fulfillment.

今天,大多数来到雅纳尔达格游客中心的游客都是为了观看壮观的场面,而不是为了宗教活动。

The experience is most impressive at night, or in winter.

这种经历在晚上或冬天是最令人难忘的。

When snow falls, the flakes dissolve in the air without ever touching the ground, says Rahila.

瑞海拉说,当雪花飘落时,雪花会在空气中溶解,而不会落到地面上。

Despite the claimed antiquity of the Yanar Dag flames -- some argue that this particular fire may only have been ignited in the 1950s -- it's a long 30-minute drive north from the center of Baku just to see it.

尽管有人声称亚纳尔达格火很古老——不过也有些人认为这场大火可能是在20世纪50年代才点燃的——从巴库市中心向北要驱车30分钟才能看到它。

The center offers only a small cafe and there's not much else in the area.

游客中心只有一个小咖啡馆,周边区域也基本上没什么别的设施了。

For a deeper insight into Azerbaijan's history of fire worship, visitors should head east of Baku to Ateshgah Fire Temple.

为了更深入地了解阿塞拜疆的火崇拜历史,游客应该前往巴库东部的阿提什加火神庙。

"Since ancient times, they think that [their] god is here," says our guide, as we enter the pentagonal complex which was built in the 17th and 18th century by Indian settlers in Baku.

“自古以来,他们认为上帝就在这里,”当我们进入巴库的印度定居者在17和18世纪建造的五边形建筑群时,我们的导游说道。

Fire rituals at this site date back to the 10th century or earlier.

其实这个地方的祭火仪式可以追溯到10世纪或更早。

The name Ateshgah comes from the Persian for "home of fire" and the centerpiece of the complex is a cupola-topped altar shrine, built upon a natural gas vent.

阿提什加这个名字来自波斯语,意思是“火之家”,这个建筑群的中心是一个圆顶顶的祭坛神龛,建在一个天然气喷口上。

A natural, eternal flame burned here on the central altar until 1969, but these days the fire is fed from Baku's main gas supply and is only lit for visitors.

1969年以前,一种天然的、永恒的火焰一直燃烧在中央祭坛上,但如今,这种火焰来自巴库的主要天然气供应,只是为了游客才点燃的。

问题

文中提到被称为“火之国”的是哪一个国家?

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