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大學(xué)英語自學(xué)教程(上冊) unit 18
18-A. Why Are Maps Drawn with North at the Top?
Now it is hard to visualize a map that does not feature north at the top, but this was not always so.
The oldest known map in the accepted sense of the word was drawn about 3, 800 BC, and represents the river Euphrates flowing through northern Mesopotamia, Iraq. This, and others that followed it, were little more than rough sketches of localized features; it was not until many centuries later that the ancient Greeks placed the science of map-making on a sound footing.
At the forefront of the pioneers in the field was the Greek mathematician and philosopher Claudius Ptolemaeus (c. AD 90 ?168), more popularly known to history as Ptolemy. The last great scientist of the classical period, he was the first to draw a map that was based on all available knowledge, rather than guess or imagination. Earlier, the Bahylonians had attempted to map the world, but they presented it in the form of a flattened disc rather than a sphere, which was the form adopted by Ptolemy.
Given the state of knowledge of those times, he got things wrong; for example, his estimate of China and the Atlantic Ocean was far from being accurate. Nevertheless, it was a useful effort, and the map remained a work of reference for over a thousand years. In fact, Christopher Columbus used a version of it when he set sail in search of the New World - which caused him some navigational problems, since Ptolemy had calculated wrongly the size of the Atlantic and was unaware that the Pacific Ocean existed.
The really important thing about Ptolemy's map was that north was at the top. The reason for this was that he decided to orientate the map in the direction of the Vole Star since Polaris was the immovable guiding light in which the voyagers of that era placed their trust.
North at the top remained the accepted arrangement until the early Middle Ages, when the Church began to interfere seriously with the advance of science. In accordance with the orders of the Church, maps were still produced in accordance with Ptolemy's principles ?but now Jerusalem was the central feature, as it was held to be the center of the Christian faith, and east was moved to the top.
These maps are often called "T" Maps because they show only three continents - Europe, Asia and Africa - separated by the "T" formed by the Mediterranean Sea and the River Nile. From a navigational point of view, they were almost useless.
More accurate maps began to appear in the 14th century, with the spread of trade and increasing reliance on the compass. Once again, north assumed its rightful place at the top of maps.
【課文譯文】
為什么地圖以北為上
今天，人們難以想像地圖的上方指的不是北方。但過去并不總是這樣的。
現(xiàn)在已知的最古老的被人們認(rèn)可的地圖是于大約公元前3800年繪制的。地圖描繪的是流經(jīng)伊拉克美索不達(dá)米亞北部的幼發(fā)拉底河。這幅地圖以及隨后出現(xiàn)的一些地圖無非都是些局部地貌的草圖。直到許多世紀(jì)以后，古希臘人才把地圖繪制學(xué)置于堅(jiān)實(shí)的基礎(chǔ)上。
這一領(lǐng)域的先驅(qū)中最早的是希臘數(shù)學(xué)家和哲學(xué)家克勞迪?托勒密(約公元90年～168年)，歷史上多稱他托勒密。作為古典文化藝術(shù)時期的最后一位偉大的科學(xué)家，他是把地圖繪制建立在當(dāng)時所有可獲得的知識上，而不是建立在猜想或想像之上的第一人。在這之前，巴比倫人曾試圖繪制世界地圖，但他們把它繪成平盤狀而不是托勒密采用的球體狀。
鑒于當(dāng)時人們的知識水平，他把一些事情搞錯了。例如，他對中國及大西洋的估計(jì)遠(yuǎn)不夠精確。盡管如此，這仍是一次有用的嘗試，這幅地圖一千年以來一直作為一種參考。其實(shí)，克里斯長弗?哥倫布當(dāng)時尋找新大陸時就使用該版本——這使他在航海中出了些問題，因?yàn)橥欣彰苠e誤地計(jì)算了大西洋的面積，而且不知道太平洋的存在。
關(guān)于托勒密的地圖最重要的一點(diǎn)是北方為上方。其原因是他決定以北極星的方向來確定地圖的方向，因?yàn)楸睒O星是固定不動的航燈，那時的航海者依賴它進(jìn)行航行。
在中世紀(jì)早期以前，人們一直接受北在上方的布局。此后，教會嚴(yán)重地妨礙了科學(xué)的發(fā)展。根據(jù)教會的命令，地圖仍然按托勒密的原則進(jìn)行繪制——但當(dāng)時是以耶路撒冷為中心，因?yàn)樗徽J(rèn)為是基督徒信仰的中心，所以東方成了地圖的上方。
這些地圖常被稱為“T”形地圖，因?yàn)樗鼈冎伙@示了三個大洲——?dú)W洲、亞洲和非洲——由地中海和尼羅河形成的“T”字形將它們分開，從航海的觀點(diǎn)看，這些地圖幾乎沒什么用處。
14世紀(jì)，隨著貿(mào)易的發(fā)展以及人們對指南針的日益依賴，出現(xiàn)了更精確的地圖。北方又一次恢復(fù)了它在地圖上方的正當(dāng)位置。
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