This is an outsized land for outsized legends. No roads, no permanent buildings; just unfurling sky, tufted dry grass and streaming wind. We stopped to drink salted milk tea in nomads’ round ger tents and to snap pictures of roaming horses and goats. Sometimes we stopped just for the sake of stopping ‒ Ömnögovi Province, Mongolia, is endless by car. I couldn’t imagine tackling it on a horse.
这是一片流传着众多传说的广袤大地。这里没有道路，没有经久的建筑，只有一览无遗的天空、干枯的草丛，以及不断刮过的大风。我们停下来，进到游牧人的蒙古包中喝喝咸奶茶，再对着随意走动的马匹和山羊拍拍照。有时候我们停止前行，只是单纯的想停下来，因为蒙古的南戈壁省即便是坐汽车也走不完，我很难想象如果骑在马上会是怎样一番场景。
But this is the country of Genghis Khan, the warrior who conquered the world on horseback. His story is full of kidnappings, bloodshed, love and revenge.
这是一个曾经由成吉思汗——一个骑在马背上征服了全世界的战士——统治的国家。有关他的故事里满是绑架、杀戮、爱与复仇。
That’s just history. The legend begins with his death.
这都只是些历史，而有关成吉思汗的传说则要从他死亡以后开始。
Genghis Khan (known in Mongolia as Chinggis Khaan) once ruled everything between the Pacific Ocean and the Caspian Sea. Upon his death he asked to be buried in secret. A grieving army carried his body home, killing anyone it met to hide the route. When the emperor was finally laid to rest, his soldiers rode 1,000 horses over his grave to destroy any remaining trace.
成吉思汗（蒙古语为Chinggis Khaan）曾经统治过的疆域从太平洋一直到里海。临死时他要求葬在一个隐秘的地方。他的士兵们悲痛欲绝，他们将其遗体带回国，为了隐藏行踪路线，他们一路上杀掉了所有沿途碰到的人。当这位帝王最终被安葬后，他的士兵们骑着1000匹马在坟墓上来回走踏，毁掉了留在地面上的所有痕迹。
In the 800 years since Genghis Khan’s death, no-one has found his tomb.
自成吉思汗死亡至今的800年间，没有一个人找到过他的墓地。
Foreign-led expeditions have pursued the grave through historical texts, across the landscape and even from space ‒ National Geographic’s Valley of the Khans Project used satellite imagery in a mass hunt for the gravesite. But most interest in locating the tomb is international; Mongolians don’t want it found.
以外国人为首的探险队依据史料，在陆地上、甚至从天上搜寻着成吉思汗的古墓——美国国家地理频道的可汗峡谷节目组就曾经通过卫星图像来大范围搜寻墓地。但是对成吉思汗墓最感兴趣的是外国人，蒙古人并不希望这座墓被找到。
It’s not that Genghis Khan isn’t significant in his homeland ‒ quite the reverse. His face is on the money and on the vodka; he probably hasn’t been this popular since his death in 1227. So it can be difficult for outsiders to understand why it’s considered taboo to seek his grave.
这并不意味着成吉思汗在蒙古无足轻重，事实刚好相反：他的头像印在钞票和伏特加酒瓶上。自1227年死后，成吉思汗还从未像今天这样备受关注，所以外国人很难理解为什么寻找他的墓地是一种禁忌。
The reluctance is often romanticised by foreign media as a curse, a belief that the world will end if Genghis Khan’s tomb is discovered. This echoes the legend of Tamarlane, a 14th-Century Turkic-Mongolian king whose tomb was opened in 1941 by Soviet archaeologists. Immediately following the tomb’s disturbance, Nazi soldiers invaded the Soviet Union, launching World War II’s bloody Eastern Front. Superstitious people might call that cause and effect.
国外媒体极尽想象之所能，将这说成是一种诅咒：一旦成吉思汗的墓被找到，世界就会毁灭。这个诅咒类似于有关帖木儿的传说。这是14世纪突厥国的一位皇帝，其陵墓在1941年被前苏联考古学家开启，随即就发生了纳粹对前苏联的侵略，由此二战中的东部战线陷入一片血腥。迷信的人认为这是一种因果报应。
But Uelun, my translator, was having none of it. A young Mongolian with a degree in international relations from Buryat State University in Ulan-Ude, Russia, she did not seem superstitious. In her opinion, it is about respect. Genghis Khan did not want to be found.
不过我的翻译Uelun并不这样认为。作为一位毕业于俄罗斯Ulan-Ude Buryat国立大学并且拥有国际关系学位的蒙古青年，Uelun并不迷信。她认为蒙古人不愿意找成吉思汗的墓是出自一种尊重，因为成吉思汗并不希望自己的墓地被人找到。
“They went through all that effort to hide his tomb,” she pointed out. Opening it now would violate his wishes.
“士兵们努力将墓藏起来，”她指出这点，如果把墓地开启将会违背成吉思汗的愿望。
This was a common sentiment. Mongolia is a country of long traditions and deep pride. Many families hang tapestries or portraits of the Grand Khan. Some identify themselves as ‘Golden Descendants’, tracing their ancestry to the royal family. Throughout Mongolia, the warrior remains a powerful icon.
这是一种普遍存在的观点。蒙古是一个具有悠久传统和深度自豪感的民族。许多人家里挂着有成吉思汗图像的毛毯或画像。一些人甚至认为自己是“黄金家族的后人”，自己的祖先来自于皇室。在整个蒙古国，成吉思汗是权力的象征。
Beyond cultural pressures to honour Genghis Khan’s dying wish for secrecy, a host of technical problems hinder the search for his tomb. Mongolia is huge and underdeveloped ‒ more than seven times the size of Great Britain with only 2% of its roads. The population density is so low that only Greenland and a few remote islands can beat it. As such, every view is epic wilderness. Humanity, it seems, is just there to provide scale: the distant, white curve of a herdsman’s ger, or a rock shrine fluttering with prayer flags. Such a landscape holds on to its secrets.
人们之所以不去寻找墓地，除了出于文化方面的压力尊重成吉思汗临死前的愿望外，技术层面存在的不少问题也是原因之一。蒙古国土辽阔，发达程度低下——虽然面积是大不列颠的七倍多，但只拥有后者2%的道路；人口密度也很低，只比格陵兰岛和一些偏远的岛屿高出一些，因此目之所及尽是一片荒野,人类活动的存在意义似乎只是为了衬托出土地的广袤无垠：例如远方那牧羊人白色的蒙古包，或者被鼓起来的经幡包围着的岩石寺。这片土地执着的守护着它的秘密。
Dr Diimaajav Erdenebaatar has made a career overcoming such challenges in pursuit of archaeology. Head of the Department of Archaeology at Ulaanbaatar State University in Mongolia’s capital city, Dr Erdenebaatar was part of the first joint expedition to find the tomb. The Japanese-Mongolian project called Gurvan Gol (meaning ‘Three Rivers’) focused on Genghis Khan’s birthplace in Khentii Province where the Onon, Kherlen and Tuul rivers flow. That was in 1990, the same year as the Mongolian Democratic Revolution......It also rejected the search for Genghis Khan, and public protests halted the Gurvan Gol project.
Diimaajav Erdenebaatar博士曾经有过一次克服了以上困难的考古经历。作为蒙古首都Ulaanbaatar国立大学的考古系主任，Erdenebaatar博士曾经加入过一支寻找成吉思汗墓的联合考察队。这个叫做Gurvan Gol（意为“三条河”）的日蒙项目着重于考察成吉思汗位于Khentii省的出生地，此地有三条河流经过：Onon、Kherlen和Tuul。当时是在1990年，同年蒙古爆发了民主革命......寻找成吉思汗墓也被禁止，民众的抗议活动导致了Gurvan Gol项目的终止。
Uelun and I met Dr Erdenebaatar at Ulaanbaatar State University to talk tombs ‒ specifically similarities between his current project and the resting place of Genghis Khan. Since 2001 Dr Erdenebaatar has been excavating a 2,000-year-old cemetery of Xiongnu kings in central Mongolia’s Arkhangai Province. Dr Erdenebaatar believes the Xiongnu were ancestors of the Mongols ‒ a theory Genghis Khan himself shared. This could mean similar burial practices, and the Xiongnu graves may illustrate what Genghis Khan’s tomb looked like.
Uelun和我在Ulaanbaatar国立大学见到了Erdenebaatar博士，我们一起谈了谈成吉思汗墓，尤其是他目前的科研项目与成吉思汗安息地的相似之处。自2001年以来，Erdenebaatar博士一直在从事一座位于蒙古Arkhangai省的具有2000年历史的匈奴皇帝坟墓的挖掘工作。他认为，匈奴人是蒙古人的祖先，这同时也是成吉思汗推行的观点。这样就意味着两者可能具有相似的安葬习俗，匈奴人的坟墓可能会透露成吉思汗墓的一些信息。
Xiongnu kings were buried more than 20m underground in log chambers, with the sites marked above ground with a square of stones. It took Dr Erdenebaatar 10 summers to excavate the first tomb, which had already been hit by robbers. Despite this, it contained a wealth of precious goods indicating the Xiongnu’s diplomatic reach: a Chinese chariot, Roman glassware and plenty of precious metals.
匈奴皇帝会被安葬在木棺中埋于地下20米深处，墓地上方的地面上会用石头围成一圈标示。Erdenebaatar博士花了10年时间挖掘第一座墓，这个墓早先已被盗墓贼光顾。尽管如此，墓里还是出土了大量珍贵的物件：一辆中国古战车，罗马玻璃杯，以及大量珍贵的金属制品，这些显示了匈奴人外交范围之广。
Dr Erdenebaatar took me to the university’s tiny archaeology museum to see the artefacts. Gold and silver ornaments were buried with the horses sacrificed at the gravesite. He pointed out leopards and unicorns within the designs ‒ royal imagery also used by Genghis Khan and his descendants.
Erdenebaatar博士带我去大学里的一个小型考古博物馆参观了这些工艺品。金银制的装饰物与陪葬的马屁一同埋在坟墓里。博士指出，皇室图纹中的豹和麒麟形象也被成吉思汗及其后人使用。
Many believe Genghis Khan’s tomb will be filled with similar treasures gathered from across the Mongol Empire. It’s one reason foreign interest remains strong. But if the Grand Khaan was buried in the Xiongnu style, it may be difficult ‒ if not impossible ‒ to know for sure. Such a tomb could be hidden by simply removing the marker stones. With the main chamber 20m down, it would be impossible to find in the vastness of Mongolia.
许多人认为成吉思汗墓里会堆满了从蒙古帝国各处搜刮来的各类珍宝，这也是外国人对此抱有浓烈兴趣的原因之一。但是人们很难弄清，或者根本就不可能搞明白成吉思汗是否就是按照匈奴的丧葬风俗埋葬的，因为只要稍微移动下地面的标志物就能把墓地隐藏掉。在国土广阔的蒙古要找到埋于地下20米的棺材几乎是不可能的。
When I asked Dr Erdenebaatar if he thought Genghis Khan would ever be found, he responded with a calm, almost indifferent, shrug. There already aren’t enough lifetimes for his work. History is too big.
当我问到是否有一天成吉思汗墓会被人们发现，Erdenebaatar博士淡淡的、毫不在意的耸了耸肩。历史的长河太悠久，博士已经没有那么多时间去完成这项工作了。
Folklore holds that Genghis Khan was buried on a peak in the Khentii Mountains called Burkhan Khaldun, roughly 160km north-east of Ulaanbaatar. He had hidden from enemies on that mountain as a young man and pledged to return there in death. Yet there’s dissent among scholars as to precisely where on the mountain he’d be ‒ if at all.
Folklore坚信成吉思汗埋在 Khentii 山里一个叫做Burkhan Khaldun的山峰上，此地在Ulaanbaatar东北方，距离大约160公里。成吉思汗年轻的时候曾为了躲避敌人爬上那座山，并祈祷能在死后回到那里。但众学者们意见不一，即便真有这回事，也不确定到底是在山上的哪一个地方。
“It is a sacred mountain,” acknowledged Dr Sodnom Tsolmon, professor of history at Ulaanbaatar State University with an expertise in 13th-Century Mongolian history. “It doesn’t mean he’s buried there.”
“这座山很神秘。” Ulaanbaatar国立大学历史系教授、研究13世纪蒙古历史的史学家Sodnom Tsolmon这样讲到，“但这并不意味着成吉思汗就葬在那里。”
Scholars use historical accounts to puzzle out the location of Genghis Khan’s tomb. Yet the pictures they create are often contradictory. The 1,000 running horses indicate a valley or plain, as at the Xiongnu graveyard. Yet his pledge pins it to a mountain. To complicate matters further, Mongolian ethnologist S Badamkhatan identified five mountains historically called Burkhan Khaldun (though he concluded that the modern Burkhan Khaldun is probably correct).
学者们通过史料推断出成吉思汗墓的地理位置，不过他们绘制出来的地理方位经常都是自相矛盾的。在匈奴葬制一说里，1000匹马跑来跑去意味着墓地是在峡谷或者平原，然而祈祷一说又指向山岭。让整件事变得更复杂的是，蒙古考古学家Badamkhatan找出了五座历史上曾经被叫做Burkhan Khaldun的山，尽管他认为现在被叫做Burkhan Khaldun的山可能性最大。
Neither Dr Tsolmon nor I could climb Burkhan Khaldun; women aren’t welcome on the sacred mountain. Even the surrounding area was once closed to everyone but royal family. Once known as the Ikh Khorig, or ‘Great Taboo’, is now the Khan Khentii Strictly Protected Area and a Unesco World Heritage site. Since achieving this designation, Burkhan Khaldun has been off-limits to researchers, which means any theories as to Genghis Khan’s whereabouts hang in unprovable limbo.
无论是 Tsolmon博士还是我都没办法爬上Burkhan Khaldun山，因为这座圣山是不欢迎女人的，甚至山周围的地方都曾经严禁外人进入，只对皇室开放。这里曾经作为Ikh Khorig（意为"大禁忌"）而为人熟知，现在却成为Khan Khentii严格保护的区域，并被联合国教科文组织列入世界遗产。自从得到这份殊荣， Burkhan Khaldun就禁止对研究学者们开放，这就意味着有关成吉思汗墓址的各种说法都无法得到证实。
With the tomb seemingly out of reach, why does it remain such a controversial issue in Mongolia?
看来成吉思汗墓是无法找到了，但为什么此事在蒙古国内仍旧极富争议呢？
Genghis Khan is simply Mongolia’s greatest hero. The West recalls only what he conquered, but Mongolians remember what he created. His empire connected East and West, allowing the Silk Road to flourish. His rule enshrined the concepts of diplomatic immunity and religious freedom. He established a reliable postal service and the use of paper money. Genghis Khan didn’t just conquer the world, he civilised it.
成吉思汗是蒙古最伟大的英雄。西方人记住的是他曾经征服过的地方，但是蒙古人铭记的是他所创造出来的东西。他的帝国连接起东西方，使丝绸之路走向辉煌；他推崇外交豁免及宗教自由，还制定了可靠的邮政服务体系以及纸钞的使用。成吉思汗不仅征服了世界，更是令世界走向文明。
He remains to this day a figure of enormous respect ‒ which is why Mongolians like Uelun want his tomb to remain undisturbed.
直至今天，成吉思汗仍旧广受尊敬，这也是为什么诸如Uelun的蒙古人不希望他的墓地被打扰的原因。
“If they’d wanted us to find it, they would have left some sign.”
That is her final word.
“如果成吉思汗希望我们找到他的墓，他总会留下一些标记的。”Uelun最后这样说道。
*原文来自BBC Travel频道。仅做翻译练习之用。*