Uzbekistan's best kept secret
By Monica Whitlock
BBC Correspondent, Uzbekistan
Kampyr-Tepe, in southern Uzbekistan, was built at the time of Alexander the Great's empire and occupied for about 500 years until it fell into decline.
位於烏茲別克南方的Kampyr-Tepe(tepe: 源自土耳其語，即山丘Hill之意)是建於亞歷山大大帝在位的帝國時期，前後總共被佔據了約有500年的時間，直到帝國逐漸勢微。
Since it was discovered, a generation ago, it has been closed to the public because it stands in a sensitive and tightly guarded military zone, right on the Afghan border.
Kampyr-Tepe的發現大約是在一個世代以前的事了，由於地處一個敏感及高度警戒的軍事區域，正巧就在阿富汗的邊界，因此目前已不對外開放。
The city perched on a high shelf of land - cut into clay walls that dropped sheer into the plains below.
這座切割成一道道黏土牆的城市，高高的盤踞在一塊突出地表的岩石上，垂直深入下方的平原。
Caught in the light of a winter afternoon, an entire city spread as far as we could see, the dun-coloured dust touched with gold.
冬日午後的光線照射下來，整座城市延伸至我們眼目所及之處，暗褐色的塵土綴上點點金黃。
It was here that Alexander raised his capital more than 2,000 years ago. This was the furthest conquest, then, of the Greeks in Asia.
這裡就是亞歷山大在兩千多年前所建立的都市。是當時希臘人在亞洲最遙遠的佔領地。
From our vantage point, we could see why. Far below, beneath a swirl of starlings, we could see the plains melt into those of Afghanistan, Alexander's route here from Persia.
從我們所在優越的地理位置來看，我們就可以理解為什麼選擇這樣一個地方。遠在歐掠鳥盤旋之處的下方，我們窺見平原逐漸隱沒融入遠方，最終變成阿富汗平原，那是亞歷山大從波斯來此的征服之路。
At our feet spread the whole of the south.
從我們的腳邊向整個南方的天際延伸。
Relics
There was not a sound but the birds flocking and turning across the precipice, wheeling and turning back.
除了鳥兒成群在絕壁間來回盤旋的聲音之外，四周一片寂寥。
The small houses were in the nearest part of the city. Square rooms opened on to a grid of narrow passages, criss-crossing to make streets.
矮小的房舍座落在離城市最近的一部份。方正的房間通往有如格子狀的狹小的通道，交織成密密的街道。
Stacks of pots and plates sat outside, as though the people of Kampyr-Tepe had left the washing up one evening after dinner.
被堆在門外的鍋碗瓢盆，彷彿是Kampyr-Tepe的人們在一個夜晚飽餐過後忘了洗滌似的。
Great round platters and bowls, made of the same ochre dust as the plain.
大大的圓形餐盤和碗，都是用與整座平原相同的赭土所製成。
At first we were amazed. Why had they not been taken off to some museum? Dated, labelled... or stolen even?
一開始我們非常訝異。為什麼這些東西沒有被移到某個博物館?定年、歸類...或甚至是被竊取?
But the more we looked, we realised there were just so many, they were ordinary, just part of the land.
但是當我們看多了，我們也就了解這樣的東西實在是太多了，而且平凡無奇，那不過是大地的一部份罷了。
When two boys - hard and tough as men - drove their handful of sheep through the city, they did not waste a glance on the pots. Why would they?
身段結實強壯有如男人的兩個男孩，趕著幾隻羊行經這座城市，他們對這些鍋碗瓢盆看也不看一眼。他們怎麼會想看呢?
Foreigners though, now that was interesting; they spend the rest of the day following shyly and smiling.
現在，還是那些遠到而來的外籍人士令他們感興趣；他們把剩餘的時間都用在羞怯怯地跟在後頭和微笑。
Security
Kampyr-Tepe was a fortified city in Alexander's time, and remains a military base to this day for a reason as old as the land - its special position at this crossing between central and south Asia.
Kampyr-Tepe在亞歷山大的時代是座構築有防禦工事的城市，至今還留有一座軍事基地，原因跟這片土地一樣古老 – 它介於中亞與南亞之間特殊的地理位置。
It is patrolled by the army of modern Uzbekistan.
現在，這裡有現代化的烏茲別克軍隊巡邏。
Special permission to visit can only be granted by the government in Tashkent.
唯有得到位於首都Tashkent(塔什干)政府所授予的特殊許可證才得已參觀。
The way in is through a military checkpoint, at the time specified.
進到此處要先通過一個軍事檢查站，而且有時間的限制。
Turn up late and the soldiers will bar the way and you will never see Kampyr-Tepe, just the plain around pitted with pill-boxes and fenced with barbed wire.
太晚到的話，士兵會將道路封鎖，你就看不到Kampyr-Tepe，只能看見被一座座碉堡佔據和鐵絲網圍住的平原。
The deep south of Central Asia has a feel all its own.
中亞的南方深處彷彿遺世獨立一般。
It has a special stillness and a scent of new bread from the intense sun beating on the straw, that, mixed with mud, is the building material used 1,000 years ago... and now.
這裡有種特殊的靜謐，混著泥土的稻草，是自一千年至今都被當成建築的材料，在炙熱的陽光照射下，散發出新鮮麵包的芳香。
Buried treasure
It wears its past casually. Kampyr-Tepe is just one of its treasures.
一如往昔的，Kampyr-Tepe還是老樣子，Kampyr-Tepe只是這裡其中一項寶藏。
There are sights here, in this quiet and private place, that almost anywhere in the world would have bus-loads of visitors trooping to and fro, buying souvenirs and cups of tea.
在這個僻靜的地方有好幾處景點，換成世上任何像這樣的地方一定會有一車車的觀光客成群結隊地來來去去，買買紀念品或者幾杯茶。
"You see that big pit there," said an old farmer, Hamrah Baba, living on the plains to the north of Kampyr-Tepe.
"你看那座坑，" Hamrah Baba，住在Kampyr-Tepe北邊平原的老農夫說。
"When I was a boy, we used to lower each other down there in turns, hanging on a rope. We did not think it was special.
"小時候，我們常用繩子輪流把對方垂吊下去。我們從來不認為它有什麼特別。"
"Then, these men came from Tashkent and found all sorts of things. They found gold and those chessmen."
"接著，這些從Tashkent來的人發現各式各樣的東西。他們找到了黃金和那些棋子。"
The gold was 35kg of solid gold jewellery, set with turquoises. The chess pieces may be the oldest on earth.
黃金是重達35公斤的純金首飾，上面鑲嵌著綠松石。而那一組棋子可能是世上最古老的。
The pit where Hamrah Baba once played is in the citadel of Dalverzin-Tepe. Capital of the Kushan empire, it was one of the richest on the planet.
Hamrah Baba昔日玩耍的這座坑正位在Dalverzin-Tepe的堡壘內。這個Kushan帝國的首都，曾擁有全世界最傲人的財富。
There was not a sound but the starlings, wheeling and flocking, wheeling and turning over the edge of Afghanistan.
那裡一點聲音也沒有，只有歐掠鳥成群在阿富汗邊際來來回回盤旋。
Unearthed
There are secrets buried with the past... long dead secrets, and recent political secrets.
有許多秘密和古老的過去被一同深深的埋藏著......逝去已久的秘密，以及近代政治上的機密。
One night in the Soviet time, archaeologists got a call at their dig at a sunken palace right on the Afghan frontier by the river Amu, that some people call Oxus.
在前蘇聯統治時期的一個夜裡，考古學家們接到一個命令，當時他們正在Amu河畔的阿富汗邊陲地帶，挖掘一處陷落的宮殿，一些人稱這裡為Oxus。
It was an urgent order from Moscow. "Move fast," they said. "Get the stuff out, now."
這是來自莫斯科當局下的緊急命令。"趕快離開，"他們說。"現在就把東西帶走。"
They dug as fast as they could, grabbing from the ground a frieze of marble musicians, and a hoard of daggers - relics of an army that had once passed that way.
他們盡所能的趕快挖掘，匆匆從土裡攫取刻有樂師的大理石橫飾帶、還有一大堆的匕首 – 大概是昔日某個曾行經此處的軍隊所遺留下來的。
They were right to feel that something was up.
他們的預感是正確的，有大事要發生了。
It was the winter of 1979 and a few days later, Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan, across the palace, crunching what was left.
1979年的冬天，也就是在幾天之後，前蘇聯的坦克開進了阿富汗，穿越了宮殿，碾過了被遺留在當地的一切。
Inhabitants
Long before the Arabs came here with their new religion of Islam, Buddhist monks lived in Central Asia, the conduit through which Buddhism travelled from India to the East.
早在阿拉伯人帶著他們新的伊斯蘭信仰來此處之前，佛教的僧侶就已經居住在中亞，成了佛教由印度傳到東方的通道。
The giant Buddha statues at Bamian in Afghanistan lay on the same road.
阿富汗巴米安巨大的佛像躺臥在相同的道路上。
They have been destroyed, but a wonderful sleeping Buddha, 16m long, still lies peacefully in Tajikistan.
這些佛像現在已經遭到毀壞，但是有一尊16公尺長保存極好的臥佛像仍安詳地平放在塔吉克。
And near Kampyr-Tepe, we were invited to the site of a Buddhist lamasery, where the mendicant monks lived underground in a labyrinth, to protect them from the terrible heat and cold of the plain.
鄰近Kampyr-Tepe的地方，我們受邀走訪一處佛教的喇嘛寺，托缽的僧侶曾經住在一座地下的迷宮中，以保護他們免受平原的炙熱與嚴寒之苦。
One could almost feel their soft steps in their sunken corridors and imagine them rinsing their begged rice at the stone bowl that still stands in their kitchen.
任何來到此地的人都似乎可以感受到他們在陷落的迴廊中踩著輕柔的步伐，以及想像他們用石製的大碗清洗他們托缽來的米，那石碗至今仍佇立在他們廚房裡。
They left no gardens, no orchards, no grand palaces.
他們沒有留下任何的花園、果園或是宏偉的宮殿。
What they left was something simpler.
他們留下了更為單純的東西。
"They left some very special papers," said our guide excitedly. "We found them in sealed jars."
"他們留了一些非常特殊的文件，" 我們的嚮導興高彩烈的說。"我們是在幾個密封的罐子裡找到的。"
"What did they say?" I asked.
"裡面講述些什麼呢?" 我好奇的問他。
"Oh they said that we too lived here."
"喔~他們說他們還住在這裡。"
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3630167.stm
Published: 2004/04/18 05:02:38 GMT
© BBC MMVII
By Monica Whitlock
BBC Correspondent, Uzbekistan
Kampyr-Tepe, in southern Uzbekistan, was built at the time of Alexander the Great's empire and occupied for about 500 years until it fell into decline.
位於烏茲別克南方的Kampyr-Tepe(tepe: 源自土耳其語，即山丘Hill之意)是建於亞歷山大大帝在位的帝國時期，前後總共被佔據了約有500年的時間，直到帝國逐漸勢微。
Since it was discovered, a generation ago, it has been closed to the public because it stands in a sensitive and tightly guarded military zone, right on the Afghan border.
Kampyr-Tepe的發現大約是在一個世代以前的事了，由於地處一個敏感及高度警戒的軍事區域，正巧就在阿富汗的邊界，因此目前已不對外開放。
The city perched on a high shelf of land - cut into clay walls that dropped sheer into the plains below.
這座切割成一道道黏土牆的城市，高高的盤踞在一塊突出地表的岩石上，垂直深入下方的平原。
Caught in the light of a winter afternoon, an entire city spread as far as we could see, the dun-coloured dust touched with gold.
冬日午後的光線照射下來，整座城市延伸至我們眼目所及之處，暗褐色的塵土綴上點點金黃。
It was here that Alexander raised his capital more than 2,000 years ago. This was the furthest conquest, then, of the Greeks in Asia.
這裡就是亞歷山大在兩千多年前所建立的都市。是當時希臘人在亞洲最遙遠的佔領地。
From our vantage point, we could see why. Far below, beneath a swirl of starlings, we could see the plains melt into those of Afghanistan, Alexander's route here from Persia.
從我們所在優越的地理位置來看，我們就可以理解為什麼選擇這樣一個地方。遠在歐掠鳥盤旋之處的下方，我們窺見平原逐漸隱沒融入遠方，最終變成阿富汗平原，那是亞歷山大從波斯來此的征服之路。
At our feet spread the whole of the south.
從我們的腳邊向整個南方的天際延伸。
Relics
There was not a sound but the birds flocking and turning across the precipice, wheeling and turning back.
除了鳥兒成群在絕壁間來回盤旋的聲音之外，四周一片寂寥。
The small houses were in the nearest part of the city. Square rooms opened on to a grid of narrow passages, criss-crossing to make streets.
矮小的房舍座落在離城市最近的一部份。方正的房間通往有如格子狀的狹小的通道，交織成密密的街道。
Stacks of pots and plates sat outside, as though the people of Kampyr-Tepe had left the washing up one evening after dinner.
被堆在門外的鍋碗瓢盆，彷彿是Kampyr-Tepe的人們在一個夜晚飽餐過後忘了洗滌似的。
Great round platters and bowls, made of the same ochre dust as the plain.
大大的圓形餐盤和碗，都是用與整座平原相同的赭土所製成。
At first we were amazed. Why had they not been taken off to some museum? Dated, labelled... or stolen even?
一開始我們非常訝異。為什麼這些東西沒有被移到某個博物館?定年、歸類...或甚至是被竊取?
But the more we looked, we realised there were just so many, they were ordinary, just part of the land.
但是當我們看多了，我們也就了解這樣的東西實在是太多了，而且平凡無奇，那不過是大地的一部份罷了。
When two boys - hard and tough as men - drove their handful of sheep through the city, they did not waste a glance on the pots. Why would they?
身段結實強壯有如男人的兩個男孩，趕著幾隻羊行經這座城市，他們對這些鍋碗瓢盆看也不看一眼。他們怎麼會想看呢?
Foreigners though, now that was interesting; they spend the rest of the day following shyly and smiling.
現在，還是那些遠到而來的外籍人士令他們感興趣；他們把剩餘的時間都用在羞怯怯地跟在後頭和微笑。
Security
Kampyr-Tepe was a fortified city in Alexander's time, and remains a military base to this day for a reason as old as the land - its special position at this crossing between central and south Asia.
Kampyr-Tepe在亞歷山大的時代是座構築有防禦工事的城市，至今還留有一座軍事基地，原因跟這片土地一樣古老 – 它介於中亞與南亞之間特殊的地理位置。
It is patrolled by the army of modern Uzbekistan.
現在，這裡有現代化的烏茲別克軍隊巡邏。
Special permission to visit can only be granted by the government in Tashkent.
唯有得到位於首都Tashkent(塔什干)政府所授予的特殊許可證才得已參觀。
The way in is through a military checkpoint, at the time specified.
進到此處要先通過一個軍事檢查站，而且有時間的限制。
Turn up late and the soldiers will bar the way and you will never see Kampyr-Tepe, just the plain around pitted with pill-boxes and fenced with barbed wire.
太晚到的話，士兵會將道路封鎖，你就看不到Kampyr-Tepe，只能看見被一座座碉堡佔據和鐵絲網圍住的平原。
The deep south of Central Asia has a feel all its own.
中亞的南方深處彷彿遺世獨立一般。
It has a special stillness and a scent of new bread from the intense sun beating on the straw, that, mixed with mud, is the building material used 1,000 years ago... and now.
這裡有種特殊的靜謐，混著泥土的稻草，是自一千年至今都被當成建築的材料，在炙熱的陽光照射下，散發出新鮮麵包的芳香。
Buried treasure
It wears its past casually. Kampyr-Tepe is just one of its treasures.
一如往昔的，Kampyr-Tepe還是老樣子，Kampyr-Tepe只是這裡其中一項寶藏。
There are sights here, in this quiet and private place, that almost anywhere in the world would have bus-loads of visitors trooping to and fro, buying souvenirs and cups of tea.
在這個僻靜的地方有好幾處景點，換成世上任何像這樣的地方一定會有一車車的觀光客成群結隊地來來去去，買買紀念品或者幾杯茶。
"You see that big pit there," said an old farmer, Hamrah Baba, living on the plains to the north of Kampyr-Tepe.
"你看那座坑，" Hamrah Baba，住在Kampyr-Tepe北邊平原的老農夫說。
"When I was a boy, we used to lower each other down there in turns, hanging on a rope. We did not think it was special.
"小時候，我們常用繩子輪流把對方垂吊下去。我們從來不認為它有什麼特別。"
"Then, these men came from Tashkent and found all sorts of things. They found gold and those chessmen."
"接著，這些從Tashkent來的人發現各式各樣的東西。他們找到了黃金和那些棋子。"
The gold was 35kg of solid gold jewellery, set with turquoises. The chess pieces may be the oldest on earth.
黃金是重達35公斤的純金首飾，上面鑲嵌著綠松石。而那一組棋子可能是世上最古老的。
The pit where Hamrah Baba once played is in the citadel of Dalverzin-Tepe. Capital of the Kushan empire, it was one of the richest on the planet.
Hamrah Baba昔日玩耍的這座坑正位在Dalverzin-Tepe的堡壘內。這個Kushan帝國的首都，曾擁有全世界最傲人的財富。
There was not a sound but the starlings, wheeling and flocking, wheeling and turning over the edge of Afghanistan.
那裡一點聲音也沒有，只有歐掠鳥成群在阿富汗邊際來來回回盤旋。
Unearthed
There are secrets buried with the past... long dead secrets, and recent political secrets.
有許多秘密和古老的過去被一同深深的埋藏著......逝去已久的秘密，以及近代政治上的機密。
One night in the Soviet time, archaeologists got a call at their dig at a sunken palace right on the Afghan frontier by the river Amu, that some people call Oxus.
在前蘇聯統治時期的一個夜裡，考古學家們接到一個命令，當時他們正在Amu河畔的阿富汗邊陲地帶，挖掘一處陷落的宮殿，一些人稱這裡為Oxus。
It was an urgent order from Moscow. "Move fast," they said. "Get the stuff out, now."
這是來自莫斯科當局下的緊急命令。"趕快離開，"他們說。"現在就把東西帶走。"
They dug as fast as they could, grabbing from the ground a frieze of marble musicians, and a hoard of daggers - relics of an army that had once passed that way.
他們盡所能的趕快挖掘，匆匆從土裡攫取刻有樂師的大理石橫飾帶、還有一大堆的匕首 – 大概是昔日某個曾行經此處的軍隊所遺留下來的。
They were right to feel that something was up.
他們的預感是正確的，有大事要發生了。
It was the winter of 1979 and a few days later, Soviet tanks rolled into Afghanistan, across the palace, crunching what was left.
1979年的冬天，也就是在幾天之後，前蘇聯的坦克開進了阿富汗，穿越了宮殿，碾過了被遺留在當地的一切。
Inhabitants
Long before the Arabs came here with their new religion of Islam, Buddhist monks lived in Central Asia, the conduit through which Buddhism travelled from India to the East.
早在阿拉伯人帶著他們新的伊斯蘭信仰來此處之前，佛教的僧侶就已經居住在中亞，成了佛教由印度傳到東方的通道。
The giant Buddha statues at Bamian in Afghanistan lay on the same road.
阿富汗巴米安巨大的佛像躺臥在相同的道路上。
They have been destroyed, but a wonderful sleeping Buddha, 16m long, still lies peacefully in Tajikistan.
這些佛像現在已經遭到毀壞，但是有一尊16公尺長保存極好的臥佛像仍安詳地平放在塔吉克。
And near Kampyr-Tepe, we were invited to the site of a Buddhist lamasery, where the mendicant monks lived underground in a labyrinth, to protect them from the terrible heat and cold of the plain.
鄰近Kampyr-Tepe的地方，我們受邀走訪一處佛教的喇嘛寺，托缽的僧侶曾經住在一座地下的迷宮中，以保護他們免受平原的炙熱與嚴寒之苦。
One could almost feel their soft steps in their sunken corridors and imagine them rinsing their begged rice at the stone bowl that still stands in their kitchen.
任何來到此地的人都似乎可以感受到他們在陷落的迴廊中踩著輕柔的步伐，以及想像他們用石製的大碗清洗他們托缽來的米，那石碗至今仍佇立在他們廚房裡。
They left no gardens, no orchards, no grand palaces.
他們沒有留下任何的花園、果園或是宏偉的宮殿。
What they left was something simpler.
他們留下了更為單純的東西。
"They left some very special papers," said our guide excitedly. "We found them in sealed jars."
"他們留了一些非常特殊的文件，" 我們的嚮導興高彩烈的說。"我們是在幾個密封的罐子裡找到的。"
"What did they say?" I asked.
"裡面講述些什麼呢?" 我好奇的問他。
"Oh they said that we too lived here."
"喔~他們說他們還住在這裡。"
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/3630167.stm
Published: 2004/04/18 05:02:38 GMT
© BBC MMVII
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