新概念雙語：哥倫比亞發(fā)現(xiàn)藏寶沉船 揭開300年謎團

Cartagena (Colombia) (AFP) - Colombia says it has found the shipwreck of a storied Spanish galleon laden with gold， silver and precious stones， three centuries after it was sunk by the British in the Caribbean.

法新社-卡塔赫納(哥倫比亞)電—哥倫比亞聲稱發(fā)現(xiàn)了三個世紀前在加勒比海被英國擊沉的西班牙圣荷西號巨型遇難帆船，據(jù)悉這艘聞名歷史的帆船上載有大量的黃金、銀幣和寶石。

“This is the most valuable treasure that has been found in the history of humanity，” President Juan Manuel Santos declared on Saturday.

哥倫比亞總統(tǒng)桑托斯在周六公開說，“這是人類歷史上發(fā)現(xiàn)的最有價值的寶藏。”

He was speaking from the northern port city of Cartagena， close to where experts made the hugely valuable find.

他于北部的城市卡他赫納發(fā)布了這則消息，那里距老師發(fā)現(xiàn)巨大寶藏的地點很近。

Treasure hunters had searched for the ship for decades， described by some as the holy grail of shipwrecks.

尋寶獵人幾十年來都在尋找這艘被視為遇難船之圣杯的巨船。

The loot is estimated to be worth around $2 billion， its value having dropped significantly due to the falling price of silver， according to US-based company Sea Search Armada.

總部在紐約的海艘艦隊公司稱，這艘寶藏的價值估測為20億美元，但由于銀價跌落，它已顯著貶值。

SSA， whose subsidiary claimed in the early 1980s that it had found the galleon’s final resting place， was engaged in a long-running battle with the government of Colombia.

海艘艦隊公司的子公司早在20世紀80年代便表示已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了沉船的最終位置，但是卻陷于與哥倫比亞政府長期的爭執(zhí)中。

The find was not confirmed and a US court ultimately ruled it was Colombian property.

爭議一直沒有結(jié)果，最終美國法院宣布這艘帆船的所有權(quán)歸哥倫比亞。

The San Jose has long been the source of fascination and popular legends， and even figures in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Love in the Time of Cholera.”

這艘名為圣荷西號的帆船一直是魔力之源和民間神話，甚至被作家加西亞。馬爾克斯寫進他的故事《霍亂時期的愛情》里。

Mystery solved after centuries

歷經(jīng)世紀的謎底

Although they found plenty of other wrecks， the San Jose’s location had remained a mystery until now.

盡管人們已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)了大量的沉船殘骸，但圣荷西號的具體位置仍然是一個謎。

The San Jose was sunk in June 1708 near the Islas del Rosario， off Colombia’s Caribbean coast， during combat with British ships attempting to take its cargo， as part of the War of Spanish Succession.

圣荷西號1708年沉落在加勒比海岸的港口城市羅薩里奧附近，當時西班牙在與英國交戰(zhàn)，英國船隊企圖攔截西班牙貨物，這也是西班牙王室繼承戰(zhàn)的一部分。

The galleon was the main ship in a treasure fleet carrying gold， silver and other valuable items from Spain’s American colonies to King Philip V.

這艘帆船作為主船隊，載滿著金銀珠寶，從西班牙在南美的殖民地進獻給西班牙國王費利佩五世。

Only a handful of the ship’s crew of 600 survived when the San Jose sank。

圣荷西號沉沒的時候只有小部分600人的船員幸存。

A team of Colombian and foreign researchers， including a veteran of the group that discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985， studied winds and currents of the Caribbean 307 years ago and delved into colonial archives in Spain and Colombia searching for clues.

哥倫比亞河外國研究者的團隊，包括發(fā)現(xiàn)1985年泰坦尼克號殘骸的經(jīng)驗豐富的組織，為了找尋線索，研究了307年以前的哥倫比亞海風和洋流，鉆研了西班牙和哥倫比亞的殖民地歷史。

Experts confirmed that they found the San Jose on November 27 “in a place never before referenced by previous research，” Santos said.

桑托斯總統(tǒng)說，老師確認，他們是在11月27號發(fā)現(xiàn)的殘骸，并且是“在一個前任從未涉及的地域”。

At least five other major shipwrecks were discovered when searching the ocean floor.

而且，在搜尋大洋底時，至少有5艘其他沉船也“浮出水面”。

The experts confirmed that they located the San Jose， which was lying on its side， identifying it by its unique bronze cannons with engraved dolphins.

老師查明了圣荷西號的位置，帆船傾斜在那里。他們通過它獨特的附有海豚雕刻的青銅色大炮鑒別了出來。

“The amount and type of the material leave no doubt of the identity” of the shipwreck， said Ernesto Montenegro， head of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History.

哥倫比亞人類與歷史研究所主任Ernesto Montenegro說，“這些材料的數(shù)量和類型毫無疑問標志了這艘船的身份。”

There could be up to 1，000 shipwrecks off the Caribbean coast of Colombia， but of those only between six and 10 had a large cargo of treasures， anthropologist Fabian Sanabria told AFP.

哥倫比亞的加勒比海岸可能有多達1000艘沉船，但是僅僅6至10艘載有大量寶貨，人類學家Fabian Sanabria對法新社說。

The biggest find， and the most sought after， was the San Jose， he said.

而已發(fā)現(xiàn)最富價值最炙手可熱的便是圣荷西號，他這樣說。

The discovery “is an unprecedented event for the country，” said Cartagena Mayor Dionisio Velez.

這次重大發(fā)現(xiàn)，“在我國是史無前例的”，卡塔赫納市長Dionisio Velez說道。

On Twitter， the issue was trending under #GaleonSanJose， as users of the one-to-many social network debated whether to return the loot to Spain， and made various estimates about its current value.

這則消息已經(jīng)成為推特的熱門話題#圣荷西號，用戶可以在這個一對多的社交網(wǎng)絡上展開討論是否應該將戰(zhàn)利品歸還西班牙，并且來對它的現(xiàn)值來作各種各樣的估算。