2022年11月08日 VOA慢速英语：在阿联酋发现的可能比伊斯兰教更古老的基督教修道院

 

An ancient Christian site has been discovered on an island off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, officials announced recently. The religious complex, a monastery, could date to a time before the spread of Islam across the Arabian Peninsula.
官员们最近宣布，在阿拉伯联合酋长国海岸附近的一个岛上发现了一个古老的基督教遗址。这座宗教建筑群是一座修道院，可以追溯到伊斯兰教在阿拉伯半岛传播之前的一段时间。
 
The monastery is providing researchers a lot of information about early Christianity in the Persian Gulf area. It is the second such monastery found in the Emirates, dating back as many as 1,400 years.
该修道院为研究人员提供了大量有关波斯湾地区早期基督教的信息。这是在阿联酋发现的第二座此类修道院，其历史可追溯至 1,400 年前。
 
The two monasteries became lost to history in the sands of time.
两座寺院在岁月的流逝中消失在历史的长河中。
 
As Islam spread in the area, experts believe Christians slowly became Muslim. Today, Christians remain a minority across the wider Middle East.
随着伊斯兰教在该地区的传播，专家认为基督徒慢慢成为穆斯林。今天，在整个中东地区，基督徒仍然是少数。
 
Timothy Power of the United Arab Emirates University described the UAE today as a "melting pot of nations."
阿拉伯联合酋长国大学的 Timothy Power 今天将阿联酋描述为“国家的大熔炉”。
 
Power helped investigate the newly discovered monastery.
权力帮助调查了新发现的修道院。
 
He added, "The fact that something similar was happening here ... 1,000 years ago is really remarkable and this is a story that deserves to be told."
他补充说：“1000 年前这里也发生过类似的事情，这一事​​实非常了不起，这是一个值得讲述的故事。”
 
The monastery sits on Siniyah Island in Umm al-Quwain, an emirate some 50 kilometers northeast of Dubai. The island has a series of sandy areas coming off of it like fingers. On one, to the island's northeast, researchers discovered the monastery.
修道院坐落在迪拜东北约 50 公里的酋长国乌姆盖万的西尼亚岛上。岛上有一系列像手指一样的沙地。一方面，在该岛的东北部，研究人员发现了这座修道院。
 
Samples found in the monastery's foundation date between 534 and 656. Islam's Prophet Muhammad was born around 570 and died in 632.
在修道院的创建中发现的样本可追溯到 534 年至 656 年。伊斯兰教的先知穆罕默德出生于 570 年左右，死于 632 年。
 
Seen from above, the monastery's floor plan suggests early Christian worshippers prayed within a small church. Rooms within the monastery appear to hold a baptismal area, as well as an oven for baking bread or wafers for communion rites. Another area also likely held an altar and an installation for communion wine.
从上面看，修道院的平面图表明早期的基督教信徒在一个小教堂内祈祷。修道院内的房间似乎设有洗礼区，以及用于烘烤面包或薄饼以进行圣餐仪式的烤箱。另一个区域也可能有一个祭坛和一个圣餐酒装置。
 
Next to the monastery sits a second building with four rooms, likely around an open area known as a courtyard. This was possibly the home of an early church leader such as an abbot or even a bishop.
修道院旁边是第二座有四个房间的建筑，可能围绕着一个被称为庭院的开放区域。这可能是早期教会领袖的家，例如方丈甚至主教。
 
The monastery recently saw a visit from Noura bint Mohammed al-Kaabi, the country's culture and youth minister, as well as Sheikh Majid bin Saud Al Mualla, the head of the Umm al-Quwain's Tourism and Archaeology Department and a son of the emirate's ruler.
该修道院最近接待了该国文化和青年部长 Noura bint Mohammed al-Kaabi 以及乌姆盖万旅游和考古部门负责人、酋长国统治者之子 Sheikh Majid bin Saud Al Mualla 的访问.
 
The UAE's Culture Ministry has also supported the dig, which is ongoing. Just hundreds of meters away from the church, there is a collection of buildings that archaeologists believe belongs to a pre-Islamic village.
阿联酋文化部也支持正在进行的挖掘工作。距离教堂仅数百米的地方，有考古学家认为属于前伊斯兰村庄的建筑群。
 
Nearby also sits a village that the British bombed in 1820 before the area became part of what was known as the Trucial States, an early form of the modern UAE. That village's destruction brought about the creation of the modern-day settlement of Umm al-Quwain on the mainland.
附近还有一个村庄，英国人在 1820 年轰炸了该地区，之后该地区成为所谓的 Trucial States 的一部分，这是现代阿联酋的早期形式。那个村庄的毁灭导致了现代乌姆盖万大陆定居点的建立。
 
Historians say early churches and monasteries spread along the Persian Gulf to the coasts of present-day Oman and all the way to India. Archaeologists have found other similar churches and monasteries in Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
历史学家说，早期的教堂和修道院沿着波斯湾延伸到今天的阿曼海岸，一直到印度。考古学家在巴林、伊拉克、伊朗、科威特和沙特阿拉伯发现了其他类似的教堂和修道院。
 
In the early 1990s, archaeologists discovered the first Christian monastery in the UAE, on Sir Bani Yas Island, today a protected natural area and site of luxury hotels. It similarly dates back to the same period as the new find in Umm al-Quwain.
1990 年代初期，考古学家在巴尼亚斯爵士岛发现了阿联酋第一座基督教修道院，如今这里是受保护的自然区域和豪华酒店所在地。它与乌姆盖万的新发现同样可以追溯到同一时期。
 
However, evidence of early life along the Khor al-Beida area in Umm al-Quwain dates as far back as the Neolithic period. This evidence suggests continuous human presence in the area for at least 10,000 years, Power said.
然而，Umm al-Quwain 的 Khor al-Beida 地区早期生活的证据可以追溯到新石器时代。鲍尔说，这一证据表明，该地区至少有 10,000 年的时间都在持续存在人类。
 
Power said that building developments led to the archaeological work that discovered the monastery. The area will be fenced off and protected, he said, though it remains unclear what other secrets of the past remain hidden just under a thin layer of sand on the island.
鲍尔说，建筑发展导致了发现修道院的考古工作。他说，该地区将被围起来并受到保护，尽管目前尚不清楚岛上一层薄薄的沙子下还隐藏着哪些过去的秘密。
 
"It's a really fascinating discovery because in some ways it's hidden history — it's not something that's widely known," Power said.
“这是一个非常有趣的发现，因为在某些方面它是隐藏的历史——它不是广为人知的东西，”鲍尔说。