Inscriptions found on two Mayan tablets have been interpreted by some as heralding a cataclysmic event on Dec 21, 2012.

cataclysmic event：災(zāi)難事件

The country's tourism agency, which stressed it does not itself believe the world will end, hopes to attract 52 million visitors to southeastern areas that were the heart of Mayan territory over the course of next year. The whole of the country usually attracts 22 million visitors annually.

More than 500 Mayan-themed events have been planned including ceremonies with Mayan priests performing rituals, burning incense and chanting.

In the jungle near Cancun messages and photographs will be placed in a "time capsule" and buried.

time capsule：時(shí)間囊

The town of Chiapas, on the Guatemalan border, is installing an 8ft digital clock in its main park which will count down to the much anticipated date.

Experts including archaeologists at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology say Mayan thinking has been misinterpreted and the world will not end. They say the Maya saw time as a series of cycles and 2012 merely marks the end of one of those cycles.

But suggestions of an apocalypse have been fuelled by the Hollywood blockbuster film "2012," which in turn has helped Mexico become more intriguing for tourists.

intriguing：迷人的

Yeanet Zaldo, a tourism spokeswoman for the state of Quintana Roo, which includes Cancun, said: "People who still live in Mayan villages will host rites and burn incense for us to go back in time and try to understand the Mayan wisdom."

The Mayan calendar begins in 3,114BC and splits time into 394-year periods known as Baktuns. The 13th Baktun ends around Dec 21, 2012.

split …into：將…分成

According to a 1,300-year-old stone tablet Bolon Yokte, a Mayan god associated with both war and creation, will "descend from the sky" at that time.

Archaeologists revealed recently that they had found a second possible reference to the date on a brick fragment.

But Miss Zaldo said she was confident tourism would continue into 2013. She said: "The world will not end. It is an era."

【新聞快訊】瑪雅文化的“末日預(yù)言”讓世界上很多人都認(rèn)為，隨著12月21日的來臨，世界將陷入無限黑暗。不過對(duì)于墨西哥的瑪雅文化遺址而言，這倒是促進(jìn)了當(dāng)?shù)芈糜螛I(yè)的大發(fā)展。英國廣播公司12月20日?qǐng)?bào)道說，對(duì)于瑪雅帝國“皇冠之珠”的奇琴伊察城邦而言，這里是古代瑪雅文明最杰出代表之一。奇琴伊察城邦位于墨西哥東南部尤卡坦半島，是被聯(lián)合國科教文組織認(rèn)定的世界文化遺址，每年都有超過100萬的游客前來參觀，而今年游客數(shù)目更是會(huì)達(dá)到記錄水平，很多人都想到此一睹瑪雅文化所遺留的廢墟。

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