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.

日前，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，发现了大片古老的城市。

Using ground penetrating¹ lasers, scientists, researchers came back with high definition images of 12th century cities.

通过使用地面穿透激光，科学家、研究人员传回了高清晰的十二世纪城市的图像。

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 dedicated² to the Hindu deity³, 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，是在高棉帝国的统治者苏利耶跋摩二世的授意下建造的，据估计共花费30年的时间建成。

The discovery of the earthen mounds⁴ 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 dome⁵ shaped earthen mounds, some of which were shaped into spirals. The mounds were placed on a grid⁶, showing an ancient street pattern. In all the lasers scanned 735 square miles of the Angkor region and the results revealed an entire cityscape.

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。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。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 thatch⁷ buildings which have rotted away over time. But thanks to the lasers attached to the helicopters, the team was able to discover more substantial and robust⁸ structures which have stood the test of 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。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.

该团队一名名叫达米安·埃文斯的考古学家表示：“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。”