星空瞰华夏（2020）

And it's thought they could be used by scouts sent out
人们曾认为 被派遣去侦查敌人的侦查兵
to spy on the enemy.
可以使用这些拱门
But the data are revealing something else.
但数据揭露出不同的结果
The ragged edge revealed in this scan
此扫描图像中参差不齐的边缘
isn't a decayed doorway,
并不是衰败的门廊
but the entrance to a hidden tunnel that was once bricked up,
而是曾被砖块封上的隐蔽隧♥道♥的入口
before being smashed open.
它后来被击碎而打开了
This looks really cool.
这看起来真的很酷
This new discovery is completely different from
这一新发现与李哲所发现的
any of the other openings Li Zhe has found,
其他任何一个开口都完全不一样
potentially a way of launching a sudden attack.
它有可能被用来发动一场突击
Smashing open this thin layer of bricks
击破这薄薄的一层砖块
allowed the Ming forces to ambush the enemy.
使得明朝军队能够伏击敌人
Before Li Zhe's discovery,
在李哲发现之前
experts had no idea these hidden tunnels even existed.
专家们都不知道这些隐蔽隧♥道♥是存在的
It's an incredible find.
这是一个了不起的发现
The latest technology is revealing that
最新的技术显示出
the Wall is far more than a simple barrier.
长城远远不只是一道简单的屏障
It's a complex military system.
它是一个复杂的军事体系
The big question is, just how far does it stretch?
一个宏大的问题是 它延伸到多远
Using satellite images, we can reconstruct
通过使用卫星图像 我们便能重建出
how the Ming Wall extends far to the west.
明长城是如何向西延伸很远的
From mountain ranges,
从山脉开始
through wild grasslands
穿过大草原
and into barren desert.
进入贫瘠的沙漠
Right to its end, where the Ming stopped building.
来到终点 明朝在这里停止修建长城
Here, at the very furthest reaches of their empire...
在这明朝帝国最偏远的领地
a huge construction,
出现了一个巨大的建筑物
far greater than any of the thousands of towers along the way.
比一路上所建的数千个塔楼都恢弘许多
What is it? And what was it for?
它是什么 是用来做什么的
To find out, I'm going to follow the Wall
为了找到答案 我要跟随长城
to a far-flung corner of Western China.
抵达中国西部最遥远的角落
I'm investigating the secrets of
我正在调查世界上最伟大的
one of the world's greatest ancient icons.
一个古代象征物所隐藏的秘密
Using satellite data, I've tracked the Great Wall all the way
我利用卫星图像一路追踪了长城
from the mountains east of Beijing to the Gobi Desert,
从北♥京♥东边的山脉 到戈壁沙漠
a 500,000 square mile expanse in the far Northwest of China.
覆盖了中国西北部129万平方千米的区域
Just over here I can see sections of the Wall.
我在这儿就能看到长城的片段
The feat of engineering required
在如此遥远的地方建造东西
to build something so far out here,
所需要的工程技艺
in just this barren desolate environment,
在如此贫瘠荒凉的环境中进行建造
just kind of boggles the mind.
这技艺让人难以想象
After hours following the Wall,
在追随长城数小时后
something massive emerges from the desert haze.
某个巨大的东西浮现于沙漠的雾霭中
A mighty fortress.
一座宏大的堡垒
Today, the modern city of Jiayuguan is nearby,
如今 现代城市嘉峪关就位于附近
but 600 years ago this fortress would have stood alone
但是六百年前这座堡垒却独自矗立在
in a desolate wilderness.
荒凉的野外
I never imagined I'd ever see something like this
我从未想象过在中国西部的这一片区域
all the way out here in Western China.
我会看见这样的建筑
The Great Wall terminates in the mountains
就在这里再往南几千米
just a few miles south of here,
长城在山峦中走到了终点
making this incredible structure the Wall's final gateway,
这一宏伟建筑便成为了长城最后的门道
the last fortress at the furthest edge of
它是明朝辽阔帝国中
the Ming Dynasty's vast empire.
最偏僻的边界上最后一座堡垒
Look at how massive this is.
瞧瞧这是多么宏伟
This rivals any gate or battlement anywhere
这能媲美当今世界上任何地方的
in the world at this time.
任何一扇大门或城垛
Here, you really get a sense of the ambition,
在这儿 你真的能感受到明朝的野心
the engineering and the immense power of the Ming.
工程造诣以及巨大实力
A deep moat, walls up to 36 feet high,
深深的壕沟 高达11米的城墙
and watchtowers on every corner form three layers of defense.
和位于每个角落的暸望塔形成了三层防御
And even if the enemy does make it inside;
即使敌人得以侵入内部
there are traps designed to create devastating kill zones.
精心设计的陷阱 构成毁灭性的歼灭区
You walk into this courtyard and if you're an invading army,
进入这个区域 倘若你是入侵者
they can close those doors,
他们可以关城门
close those iron doors there and you're trapped here,
关闭那些铁门 你将被禁闭于此
and all of a sudden they would just start raining down
突然 他们开始从上面投下火和箭
fire and arrows from above,
密集如雨
and your invading force is doomed.
入侵之师注定败北
This is an ingenious military strategy
真是独到的军事策略
all set and fixed in the design of this incredible fortress.
都融入这座令人惊叹的要塞设计之中
It's massive, but also meticulously built.
规模宏伟 但修建得一丝不苟
The precision of construction here is amazing and,
施工的细致令人叹为观止
you know, the emperor demanded that
当然这是皇帝的旨意
and there's this legend
还有这样一个传说
that says the architect told the emperor,
据说建筑师告诉皇帝
he said I can tell you the exact number of bricks it will
他能说出建造要塞所需要的砖头
take to build this fortress.
精确数量
He said it would be 99,999.
他说需要九万九千九百九十九块
And incredibly, at the end of construction there was just
神奇的是 修建完成之时
one brick left.
仅剩一块砖
And that brick is set over there on that little ledge,
那块砖置于那边的窄檐台上
as a kind of mini monument to the incredible precision and
作为超凡细致和要塞设计的
design of this fortress.
迷你丰碑
Its position, right at the end of the Ming Dynasty's Great Wall
这座要塞刚好位于明朝长城的尽头处
earned it the name "the first and greatest pass under heaven".
因此得名"天下第一关"
But this fortress is just one small part of a megastructure
可这座要塞仅是某个巨型结构的一小部分
like nothing else on earth.
这种结构 世间绝无仅有
Just one end of their Great Wall of China.
这只是中国长城的一端
Until we had images from space, experts didn't know
在获得太空照片之前 专家们并不了解
how massive the Ming Dynasty's Great Wall really was.
明朝长城究竟有多大规模
But now,
而如今
Chinese experts have calculated it's 5,500 miles long.
中国专家们计算出它长达八千八百千米
That's over 1500 miles more than previously thought
比先前估计多出超过两千四百千米
and long enough to stretch from New York to Los Angeles,
这个长度足以从纽约延伸至洛杉矶
and all the way back again.
并原路返回
But new technology is also unearthing secrets,
但新科技也在揭开秘密
that take us beyond the great empire of the Ming.
这些秘密将我们带往明朝以外的时期
1200 miles away, Sarah has set up a base camp
一千九百多千米之外 在长城庇荫之下
in the shadow of the Great Wall.
萨拉设立营地
We know the fortress of Jiayuguan marks the end of the
我们知道嘉峪关标志着明代长城的终点
Ming wall but the satellite data reveals something else.
但卫星数据揭示了其它信息
Chinese experts have told Sarah about
中国的专家们告诉萨拉
another section, even further into the desert.
另有一部分 延伸至沙漠
If I zoom in on the satellite imagery
放大卫星图片
I can see that this part of the wall is much more eroded than
可以看见墙的这一部分腐蚀程度
other parts of the wall.
远远超过其它部分
So that might suggest that it's older than the parts of
这可能意味着 与明朝所修的城墙相比
the wall built during the Ming Dynasty.
这一部分年份更久
This wall stretches far beyond the Ming fortress
这段城墙延至明朝要塞之外
continuing west for hundreds of miles.
向西延伸数百英里
The wall is completely straight in the middle of this desert.
沙漠中心处 城墙彻底呈直线
There is absolutely nothing else around here.
周围空无一物
I can't imagine why they would need to build a wall here.
无法想象 在这里修城墙目的为何
So what's going on?
究竟怎么回事
I'm heading west in search of answers.
我向西行驶 一探究竟
I want to know, just how old is this wall?
我想知道 这座城墙有多少年
Where does it go?
延至何处
And if the Ming didn't build it, who did?
若非明朝所建 是谁所建
I'm now more than 230 miles west of
我从嘉峪关西行
the fortress of Jiayuguan.
已超过三百七十千米
I'm here in the Kumtag Desert and it's one of
我现在位于库姆塔格沙漠 其环境恶劣
the harshest environments I've ever been in in my life.
在我一生体验中 堪称之最
You know, very little grows here,
寸草不生
the temperatures are literally below freezing.
温度不到零度
It's a hell of a place to imagine finding archaeology.
这种地方 居然能有考古发现
Sarah's guiding me to faint traces of
萨拉给我指出微弱的踪迹
what looks like an even older wall,
看上去像更年久的墙
that she's spotted on the satellite data.
她在卫星数据上的发现