导读:考古学家近日宣布，借助航空三维激光雷达扫描技术，他们在柬埔寨吴哥窟附近发现多处地下城市遗迹。
An extensive network of ancient cities has been discovered in the Cambodian jungle around the ruins of Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world.
在全球最大的宗教纪念碑——吴哥窟遗迹附近的柬埔寨丛林里，大片古老的城市被发现。
Using ground penetrating lasers, scientists, researchers came back with high definition images of 12th century cities. Covering an extensive area.
使用地面穿透激光，科学家、研究人员传回高清晰的十二世纪城市的图像，覆盖了广阔的地区。
A Unesco World heritage site, Angkor Wat dates back to the first half of the 12 century. It is estimated that it took 30 years to build the temple dedicated to the Hindu deity, Vishnu, at the behest of King Suryavarman II, the ruler of the Khmer Empire
作为联合国教科文组织的世界遗产之一，吴哥窟可以追溯到12世纪的前半期。这座神殿专门供奉印度教的主神毗湿奴，它是在高棉帝国的统治者苏利耶跋摩二世的授意下建造，据估计花了30年建成。
The discovery of the earthen mounds by archaeologists who have been working in the area for years was reported by Livescience earlier this month.
考古学家们在该区域研究了数年的成果，于本月初发表在《生活科学》上。
With the aid of airborne laser-scanning equipment, the researchers found huge fields of dome shaped earthen mounds, some of which were shaped into spirals.
通过机载激光扫描设备的帮助，研究人员发现大片的圆顶形土丘，其中还有一些是螺旋状的。
The mounds were placed on a grid, showing an ancient street pattern.
这些土丘被安置在一个个格子里，看起来像是古代街道的样子。
In all the lasers scanned 735 square miles of the Angkor region and the results revealed an entire cityscape.
激光扫描了吴哥窟附近的735平方英里的区域，结果显示了整个古城市群。
Temples from the Khmer Empire were normally surrounded by wood and thatch buildings which have rotted away over time.
高棉帝国的庙宇通常被杂草所包围，这些建筑会随着时间的推移而破败。
But thanks to the lasers attached to the helicopters, the team was able to discover more substantial and robust structures which have stood the test of time.
不过，多亏有了机载激光，该团队能够发现这些经受住时间考验的更坚固、更稳定的建筑。
“It turned out we’d been walking and flying right over the top of this stuff for ten years and not even noticing it because of the vegetation,” Damian Evans, one of the archaeologists said.
该团队一考古学家达米安.埃文斯说，“十年来，我们在这个城市群上面走过、飞过，却由于浓密的植被而一直未曾注意到它们。”
