Kelly 自言自语：马丘比丘在秘鲁，“远远观望马丘比丘便可轻易被其壮观所震撼，而我走进它的石墙里，穿过一道又一道的门，心里产生更多的疑问：印加人究竟如何将这些石头搬运上山？为何要在隐秘的山里建造城市？我问了当地导游，也找遍了网络资料，就连书籍都没有一个准确的答案。答案都是被推测出来的，我想，这些推测造就了马丘比丘的神秘。印加文明没有文字，马丘比丘相信会是一座永远的迷城。”这是一段去过那里的人的描述，我也觉得不可思议这些石头如何搬运到如此的高山的，而且石头间连一个刀片都放不进去，这样精准的粘度在几百年前就可以做到，真的是不可思议。
Despite this, the stones fit together so well that 500 years later, you can't fit a knife blade between them.
Machu Picchu
It's been called the Lost City of the Incas.
Machu Picchu, hidden atop a mountain in the Andes Mountains of Peru, lay abandoned for centuries before its rediscovery in 1911.
Today, Machu Picchu has been voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.
Machu Picchu was constructed at the height of the Inca Empire, some time around 1450, and represents one of the greatest achievements of architecture and engineering in the history of the Inca civilization.
It stands 7,970 feet or 2,430 meters above sea level, in the middle of a tropical mountain forest.
The site is made up of more than 600 terraces and over 3,000 stone steps, with approximately 200 structures including temples, tombs, palaces, plazas, fountains, and even an astronomical observatory.
Archaeologists believe that Machu Picchu was built for the Inca emperor, as a religious site high in the mountains that the Inca worshiped, but also as a retreat from the hustle and bustle of the capital city, Cusco, only 50 miles or 80 kilometers away.
At one point, between 500 and 1000 people likely lived there.
Although the Inca had no written language, the city they built was well-planned and very sophisticated.
They constructed terraces on the hillsides, a detail which served the double duty of providing flat land for farming and stabilizing the mountainside to guard against erosion and landslides.
They channeled water from mountain springs into stone-lined canals that fed a series of fountains down the levels of the city, ensuring that clean fresh water was available to all.
The city was built using hundreds of thousands of stones:
for the most part, placed without any kind of mortar holding them together, and all shaped without the use of iron tools.
Despite this, the stones fit together so well that 500 years later, you can't fit a knife blade between them.
The lack of mortar allows the stones to move slightly, protecting the structures from earthquake damage.
Although Machu Picchu was cleverly designed, it was not inhabited for very long.
Just over 100 years after its construction, the Inca city in the clouds began to be deserted.
Archaeologists do not know exactly what caused the Inca to leave their mountain city:
there is no evidence that the conquering Spanish attacked or ever even found the settlement.
It is possible that sickness brought by the Europeans, like smallpox, killed the inhabitants and forced the abandonment of the site.
Once the people had gone, it did not take very long at all for the jungle to overtake the city and hide it from the passing years.
It was not until 1911 when the American archaeologist Hiram Bingham visited the site that it became known to the wider world.
Machu Picchu immediately became a sensation, and thousands flocked to see the lost city.
Today Machu Picchu is the most famous tourist attraction in Peru, drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.
It was declared a World Heritage Site in 1983 and one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in 2007.
Machu Picchu is the best preserved Inca archaeological site in Peru and gives an unparalleled look into Inca civilization, technology and daily life.
tropical热带的 forest 森林 jungle 丛林，密林；丛林的，垃圾的
terrace 阶地；阳台；门廊；
approximately 近似地，大约
temple寺庙； plaza露天广场；购物中心
fountain来源；喷水；喷泉；人工喷泉
archaeologist 考古学
worshiped 崇拜；礼拜；尊敬
retreat撤退，撤离，退却，后退；
hustle赶紧；硬挤过去；拼命挣钱；催促；硬挤，乱推；硬逼，逼使；强夺；忙碌，奔忙；挤，推；拥挤喧嚷
bustle喧闹；忙乱，奔忙；腰垫；喧闹，熙攘；奔走，奔忙
sophisticated老于世故的，老练的；（仪器）精密的，复杂的
erosion腐蚀；磨损；削弱；减少
landslides滑坡 blade刀刃，刀锋；桨叶
sensation感觉；知觉；轰动
unparalleled无比的，无双的，空前的
它被称为印加的失落之城。
马丘比丘位于秘鲁安第斯山脉的一座山上，在1911年重新发现之前，它被遗弃了几个世纪。
今天，马丘比丘已被评选为世界七大奇迹之一。
Machu Picchu是在印加帝国的鼎盛时期建造的，大约在1450年左右，代表了印加文明历史上最伟大的建筑和工程成就之一。
它位于海拔7,970英尺或2430米的海拔高度，位于热带山地森林的中央。
该遗址由超过600个阶梯和3000多个石阶组成，有大约200个建筑，包括庙宇、古墓、宫殿、广场、喷泉，甚至还有一个天文台。
考古学家认为，Machu Picchu是为印加皇帝建造的，作为印加人崇拜的山区的一个宗教场所，但也作为一个远离首都的城市，库斯科，距离50英里或80公里远的地方。
在某一时刻，可能有500到1000人居住在那里。
尽管印加人没有书面语言，但他们建造的这座城市是精心规划的，非常复杂。
他们在山坡上搭建了梯田，这是为耕种提供平坦土地和稳定山坡以防止水土流失和山体滑坡的双重职责。
他们把从山泉的水引到石砌的运河里，在城市的水位上提供了一系列的喷泉，确保所有人都能得到干净的淡水。
这座城市是用成千上万的石头建造的:
在大多数情况下，没有任何一种灰泥把它们放在一起，并且所有的形状都没有使用铁工具。
尽管如此，这些石块还是合在一起的，500年后，你无法在它们之间安装一个刀片。
水泥土的缺乏使得这些石头可以轻微移动，保护建筑物免受地震破坏。
尽管Machu Picchu的设计很巧妙，但它并没有人居住很长时间。
在它建造的100多年后，这座印加城市开始被遗弃。
考古学家不知道是什么原因导致印加人离开了他们的山城:
没有证据表明西班牙人的征服曾经攻击过，甚至也没发现有定居。
有可能是欧洲人带来的疾病，比如天花，会导致居民死亡，并迫使他们放弃这个地点。
一旦人们走了，丛林就不需要太长时间，就会超过城市，并在过去的岁月里把它藏起来。
直到1911年，美国考古学家Hiram Bingham来到这个地方，它才被广泛的世界所知。
Machu Picchu立即成为了一种轰动的感觉，成千上万的人涌向这座失去的城市。
今天，Machu Picchu是秘鲁最著名的旅游景点，每年吸引成千上万的游客。
它于1983年被宣布为世界遗产，2007年成为世界新七大奇迹之一。
马丘比丘是秘鲁保存最完好的印加考古遗址，并对印加文明、科技和日常生活给予了前所未有的关注。