转眼功夫，我们来到了2012年的年底，我们似乎还没有看到那个世界末日来临的迹象。地球人都知道关于2012世界末日的说法来自玛雅历法，既然末日不来，那我们去看看这个玛雅历法到底是怎么说的。
Tourists flock to this place year round to enjoy the sun, the stunning beaches and nearby Mayan ruins. This year the “end of days”1)hoopla is an added attraction. A stone calendar said to predict the end of days is in the ruined Mayan city of Coba.
Reporter Jake Warga travelled to the area to experience its mix of tourist 2)decadence and doomsday scenario.
Jake: I wanted to see for myself the actual 3)stela or Mayan calendar that predicts the end of the world. It’s deep in the forests of Coba, outside of Cancun.
Erica Mitunaga (Cancun Tourism Board):We are right here in front of the stela where they found 4)inscription that talk about the ending and the beginning of this era basically. This is exactly where was found and this is the original stela.
一年四季都有大量游客涌到这个地方，享受这里美丽的阳光、迷人的海滩，以及参观附近的玛雅文化遗址，今年闹得沸沸扬扬的“世界末日说”更为这里平添了几分吸引力。在玛雅文化遗址科巴城里有一块据说预言了世界末日的历法石碑。
记者杰克·瓦尔加前往该地区，去体验游客疯狂的腐败与堕落，以及世界末日到来的情景。
杰克：我想亲眼看看这块预测世界末日的石碑或玛雅历法的真面目。它在坎昆城外，深藏于科巴城的森林中。
埃里卡·米坦纳迦（坎昆旅游局）：我们来到了这个石碑的前面，他们正是在这块石碑上发现了描述这个时代的终结及起源的铭文。这里正是发现石碑的地方，这也正是那块石碑的原物。
Jake: The tourism bureau has been trying all year to convince people that it is not, in fact, the end of the world.
Erica: What we’re really celebrating here in Mexico is the beginning of a new era. It’s the ending of one era just like we end, every year we end one year. But we celebrate the coming of a new year. We all say, in Cancun Tourist Board, that there is no better place in the world to be this year than Cancun and this area.
Jake: Just to be sure, I talked with an archaeologist.
Carmen Rojas: The 2012 ending of the world is mathematic, is probably based on the 5)Mesoamerican traditions, where the world was created several times for the 6)Nahuatl Aztecs, like, five times, and for the Mayans, three times. I am an archaeologist from the National Institute of Anthropology and History, but all the cultures in the world has [have] this mythology: the world is created and is destroyed.
Jake: I asked Carmen if they’re really sure it’s not December, 2012.
Carmen: No, they never matched that ending of the world with the 2012. Definitely. They never matched that. They don’t have stelas or 7)glyphs saying, after this the world is going to collapse. They never said that.
Jake: Ancient Mayans built temples overlooking the beach, watching as traders, and their eventual 8)demise, came by sea. Today, in Cancun, the beach is dense with modern temples, inclusive resorts actually, like cruise ships that beached and never left. If you truly believe the world is going to end, then you’re not likely to start, say, 9)an annual food and wine festival.
杰克：整年以来，旅游局都在试图说服人们，今年实际上并不是世界末日。
埃里卡：在墨西哥，我们真正庆祝的是一个新时代的开始。一个时代的结束只不过像我们每一年结束一样，但我们会同时庆祝新一年的到来。在坎昆旅游局，我们都说今年无论呆在世界上哪儿都没有比呆在坎昆及附近这一带更合适的了。
杰克：为了保险起见，我与一名考古学家谈过这个话题。
卡门·罗哈斯：2012年世界末日是数学问题，它可能是基于古中美洲人的传统，那里的那瓦特阿兹特克人相信，世界被创造了几次，比如说五次，而玛雅人相信是三次——我是墨西哥国家人类学和历史研究所的考古学家——（我知道）世界上各种文化都有类似的神话：世界被创造，又遭毁灭。
杰克：我问卡门，他们是否肯定世界末日不是在2012年12月。
卡门：不是，他们从来没有明确地将世界末日与2012年联系在一起，他们也从来没有将两者相提并论。他们没有遗留下石碑或象形文字说明从此之后世界会崩溃，他们从没这样说过。
杰克：古代玛雅人建造了俯瞰海滩的寺庙，见证着商人从海上来，以及玛雅人最终的灭亡。今天的坎昆，海滩上挤满了现代寺庙，事实上还包括度假村，还有靠岸后再也不离开的游船。如果你真的相信世界末日将至，那么你大概不会想去举办什么活动，比如一年一度的美食与美酒节。
Paula Gomez: All of Cancun is embracing 2012. It’s a time of happiness and of celebration and the beginning of a new era, so, yes, of course, everybody here is really excited.
Jake: Paula Gomez handles Cancun’s public relations. I met her at a more modern 10)Yucatan temple called the Beach Palace, during the wine and food festival.
Paula: The world is definitely not going to end.
Jake: In fact, many hotels and tourism operators are starting to offer end-of-the-world vacation packages. But I decided, just in case the end of the world is coming, to go for a 11)boutique cleanse. On the beach of the Westin Hotel, there’s a working 12)replica of a Mayan sweat lodge archaeologists found in Chichen Itza.
Margarita Rocca (Temazcal Specialist): My name is Margarita Rocca. Here we are in this beautiful place called Temazcal, which is a sweat lodge for native Americans.
Jake: We crawl into a stone dome with a fire pit inside, into the past. Hot rocks are dumped in the middle and the entrance sealed. I can only see glowing embers and wonder why on earth I’m in the same room as them, but Margarita sees more.
Margarita: They’re ancestors, so, for me, the stones represent spirits of grandmothers and grandfathers.
Jake: I only hear my grandparents laughing at me, but the steam overtakes me and I begin to feel the past and present coming together. It’s more or less agreed that a combination of population growth and 13)depletion of natural resources led the Mayans to abandoning the area. Some say the Mayans didn’t mean it was the end of the world, but a change in consciousness. I hope that 2012 isn’t the year the world ends, but rather the year we finally acknowledge that it’s at least changing.
葆拉·戈麦斯：坎昆全体人民都热情地迎接2012年，这是幸福的时刻，值得庆祝的时刻，也是新时代的开始。所以，的确是，这里的每一个人都很兴奋。
杰克：葆拉·戈麦斯负责坎昆的公关。我是在美食与美酒节期间，在一间名为海滩皇宫的比较现代的尤卡坦庙宇遇见她的。
葆拉：世界末日肯定不会来临。
杰克：事实上，很多旅店及旅行社都开始推出“世界末日”旅游套餐。但为防万一世界末日真的到来，我决定去做一次时尚精品级的清洗。在威斯汀酒店的海滩上，有一个使用中的玛雅人蒸气浴室复制品，它的原型是考古学家在奇琴伊察古城发现的。
玛格丽特·罗卡（特马斯克尔专家）：我叫玛格丽特·罗卡，我们现在来到的这个美丽的地方叫特马斯克尔，是美洲土著人用的一个蒸气浴室。
杰克：我们爬进里面有个火坑的石头圆顶屋，穿越到过去。滚烫的石头被倒在小屋中间，入口被封起来。我只能看到发红的石头，我不知道自己到底为了什么要像他们一样呆在这个室内，但玛格丽特有更多的感受。
玛格丽特：他们是我的祖先，所以，对我来说，这些石头代表了我祖父母们的灵魂。
杰克：而我只听到我的祖父母在嘲笑我，但我被蒸气熏迷糊了，开始感到过去与现在撞在了一起。人们或多或少认为，人口增长和自然资源枯竭这两者结合起来导致玛雅人遗弃了这个地区。有人说，玛雅人并非认为这是世界末日，而只是思考方式的重大转变。我希望2012年不是世界终结的年份，而是我们终于意识到世界至少在改变的一年。翻译：Wendy