Soon the towns became countryside, farmland marked off by stone walls. The terrain is varied considering the island is only 120 square miles. It has rugged ridges, deep valleys and a coastline that varies from beach to sheer cliffs.

很快车便来到郊外，农田被石墙隔开，虽然马耳他占地仅 120 平方英里，地貌特征却不尽相同。这里山势崎岖、峡谷幽深，沿岸景观从沙滩到陡峭的悬崖应有尽有。

Hagar Qim and Mnajdra are ancient stone temples on Malta's south coast: Hagar Qim high atop a cliff overlooking the sea, Mnajdra is more than 500 yards downhill. About 1,500 years after the island's first people arrived (probably from Sicily), using only stone tools, they began to carve temples with many circular chambers from the island's limestone, structures very large.

哈扎伊姆神庙与姆那拉神庙两座远古石寺坐落在马耳他南部沿海：哈扎伊姆神庙雄踞于一绝壁之上，眺望大海。姆那拉神庙的位置则要矮 500 多码。大约 1500 年前，第一批人来到此岛（可能来自西西里）时仅能使用石器，他们便用岛上的石灰石将许多圆形的洞穴雕刻成寺庙。

Malta's temples are unique. There was nothing like them before and there has never been anything like them since. Created before Stonehenge in England and the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt by more than 1,000 years, they are the world's oldest free-standing stone architecture.

马耳他的庙宇可谓独树一帜，前无古人，后无来者，比英国史前巨石阵以及埃及的吉萨大金字塔还要早上一千多年，是世界上最古老的独立式石器建筑。

My next stop: the Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, an underground temple for the dead once filled with the bones of thousands of people. The people who built it must have been remarkable but 1,600 years after the first temple was built they disappeared. No one is sure why. To protect the site, visits are limited and must be booked in advance - I asked for help. Fortunately for the tourists, almost everyone on the island speaks English. Maltese take pride in their politesse and will often ask if you think they're nice.

我的下一站：哈尔·萨夫列尼地下宫殿（世界文化遗产之一），这个地下寺庙为死者而建，一度容纳了上千人的尸骸。建造这个宫殿的人们一定不同凡响，但距第一座庙宇建成 1600 多年后，岛上的人们便消失得无影无踪。原因无人知晓。为了保护遗址，政府对游客人数予以限制，想参观的还得先预订——我是找人帮忙的。幸运的是，岛上几乎每个人都能讲英语，而马耳他人则对其彬彬有礼的举止引以为豪，常会问你他们是否够友善。

Over the next few days I continued to explore and enjoy Malta's long rich history. There is something about this dry, rocky island and its people that unexpectedly enchants, no matter why or how you first arrived. I think it's because no matter how often you visit, there will be something that surprises, something that will make you smile.

接下来的几天，我继续探究并享受着马耳他博大精深的历史。不管你第一次因何而来，如何到此，你都会为这个干燥、岩石林立的岛国及其人民而着迷，这是始料未及的。我想是因为不管你来多少次，总会有意想不到的事，令你笑逐颜开。

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