Mexico's international reputation isn't exactly the greatest. Plagued by drug violence, hampered by poverty, and constantly getting bashed by US politicians, it can seem like a scary, far-away place where bad things happen. Even in the carefree days before the drug war, lots of Americans just saw it as the land of tequila, siestas and rowdy spring breakers.
墨西哥在国际上并不是特别有名。它充满毒品暴力，贫困，还不断被美国政治家攻击，似乎是一个可怕而遥远的滋生坏事的摇篮。即使是在毒品战争前无忧无虑的日子，很多的美国人也认为这个国家只有龙舌兰酒、午睡和喧闹的春假。
Well, we're here to tell you that there's a lot more to Mexico than its popular reputation suggests. A lot more. Stretching over nearly 2m km2, and with a history that goes back to the Aztecs and ancient Mayans, Mexico is a place of endless fascination. It has dozens of indigenous peoples. Its capital has more museums than any other city on Earth. It's a place of culture, history, and great, historic achievements. Here are ten fascinating facts about North America's only Spanish-speaking nation that you rarely hear north of the border:
那么，我们就要告诉你，除了这些，墨西哥还有很多很多。墨西哥魅力无穷，国土面积近2000平方公里，历史可以追溯到阿兹特克和玛雅人。这里有很多土著民族，首都的博物馆比地球上其他任何城市都多。这个地方充满文化、历史和伟大的历史成就。下面就是十个关于这个北美洲唯一西语国家的、你在边境以北都极少耳闻的有趣事实：
10. It Used to be the 5th Biggest Nation on Earth
10．曾是地球上第五大国
Modern Mexico is a big place. While it might pale beside Canada and the USA, it dwarfs the nations of Europe, and is bigger than all but one of Africa's countries. Ranked, it would be the 13th biggest nation on Earth. But that's just modern Mexico. The Mexico of the 19th century used to be much, much bigger. Go back to 1821, and you'd find yourself standing in one of the biggest countries in the world.
今天的墨西哥很大。虽然在加拿大和美国面前可能相形见绌，但对欧洲国家来说它已经很大了，整个非洲也只有一个国家比它大。它是地球上第13大的国家。但这只是现在。19世纪的墨西哥还要大得多。在1821年，它是世界上最大的国家之一。
That map there is independent Mexico at its fullest extent. As you probably remember from history class, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada and California were all once part of the US's southern neighbor. But Mexican territory extended further south, too. Modern Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize, Costa Rica and Nicaragua were all part of Mexico. Taken altogether, the Mexico that existed at independence was larger than the entire European Union. If it existed today, it would be the 5th largest nation on Earth.
地图上的墨西哥是所有独立了的地区。如果你还记得历史课，德克萨斯、亚利桑那、新墨西哥、犹他州、内华达和加州都曾是美国这个南部邻居的一部分。但往南去，墨西哥的领土也比现在大。危地马拉、洪都拉斯、萨尔瓦多、伯利兹、哥斯达黎加和尼加拉瓜都曾是墨西哥的一部分。全都算上的话，刚独立时的墨西哥独立比整个欧盟都大。如果持续到今天，它将是世界上第五大国家。
This super-Mexico didn't last long. Before the 1820s were out, it had lost most of the nations that now make up Central America. About 25 years after that, the Mexican-American War eliminated its territory in the modern US.
巨无霸墨西哥并没有存在多久。在19世纪20年代结束之前，它已经失去了现在中美洲的大部分国家。25年后，美墨战争更使美国夺走了它在今天属于美国的领土。
9. It Has the Oldest University in North America
9．北美最古老的大学
Quick, what's the oldest university in North America? A good number of you just yelled 'Harvard!' at your tablet screens. Sure, Harvard is pretty old; it was founded in 1636. But even that august institution is a baby compared to its Mexican equivalent. The National Autonomous University of Mexico, based in Mexico City, was opened in 1553.
如果抢答一个问题，北美最古老的大学是哪个？很多人马上就喊“哈佛！”哈佛当然很老，成立于1636年。但即使这样，它与墨西哥同行相比也只是婴儿。墨西哥国立自治大学NAUM位于墨西哥城，开放于1553年。
To demonstrate just how mind-blowingly old that is, consider this: NAUM was opened when Mexico was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. It was given its charter by Emperor Charles V, who headed both the Holy Roman Empire and the Spanish Empire (dynasty was a complicated thing back then). At that time, Shakespeare was still over a decade away from being born. Isaac Newton was over a century away. Right now, you are closer in time to George Washington's last breath than NAUM was at its founding.
想理解它到底有多老，想想看：NAUM成立时，墨西哥正被神圣罗马帝国统治。批准它的皇帝查理五世同时领导着神圣罗马帝国和西班牙帝国（当时的王朝很复杂）。当时离莎士比亚出生还有十多年，艾萨克·牛顿更是要到一个多世纪以后才出生。比起NAUM的诞生，乔治·华盛顿辞世的时间离你更近。
Not that it was called NAUM back then. It was the Royal and Pontifical University of New Spain. Unlike Harvard, it also hasn't been in continuous operation. The dictatorship closed it down in 1867, and it wasn't reopened until the Revolution.
那时NAUM还不叫这个名字，而是新西班牙皇家和主教大学。与哈佛大学不同的是，它没有一直运作，在1867年被独裁统治者关闭，直到革命时期才重新开放。
8. There are Over 60 Official Languages
8．60多种官方语言
Ask most people to name the official language of Mexico, and they'll say 'Spanish'. And they'd be right… to a degree. See, while Spanish is the most widely-spoken official language in Mexico, it's not the only one. Ever since the government enacted the Law of Linguistic Rights, over 60 indigenous tongues have been recognized as co-official languages.
大多数人都会说，墨西哥的官方语言是西班牙语。其实，也没错。不过西班牙语虽然是墨西哥使用最广泛的官方语言，却不是唯一。政府颁布语言权利法后，超过60种土著语言被承认为官方语言。
The largest of these is Nahuatal. About 1.3 million people speak the language, roughly equivalent to the entire population of New Hampshire. This is the language of the Aztec Empire, the language that once dominated the whole of Mexico. But it's far from being the only one. Over 700,000 people speak the Yucatec Maya language, and another half a million or so speak Mixtec. Over all, nearly 7 million Mexicans speak a language other than Spanish (although most are bilingual).
这其中，使用人数最多的是Nahuatal，大约有130万人，大致相当于整个新罕布什尔州人口。这是阿兹特克帝国的语言，曾经统治整个墨西哥。但它远不是唯一的一个。还有超过700000人说尤卡坦人玛雅语，以及50万左右的人说的Mixtec。总体来说，近700万墨西哥人使用西班牙语之外的语言（不过他们大多懂双语）。
Interestingly, not all co-official languages are so widely-spoken. While the next 30 most popular are all spoken by between 10,000 – 400,000 people, some like Aguacatec are spoken by less than 30.
有趣的是，并非所有官方语言都广泛使用。接下来的30种最常见语言的使用者都在10000 – 400000之间，而Aguacatec之类的语言，使用者不超过30。
7. They Had the Shortest Presidency in World History
7．世界历史上任期最短的总统
William Henry Harrison is famous in the US for his horrendously short presidency. The 9th President contracted pneumonia on Inauguration Day and died a single month later. But even WHH's reign lasted longer than that of Mexico's 34th president. By one count, it lasted nearly three thousand times longer. Pedro Jose Domingo de la Calzada Manuel María Lascurain Paredes was President of Mexico for anywhere from an hour to just 15 minutes. So basically he was president just long enough for someone to get through his name.
威廉·亨利·哈里森因为极短暂的任期闻名美国。这名第9任总统在就职日感染肺炎，一个月后就死了。但他的统治时间还是比墨西哥的第34任总统长。据统计，持续时间长了近3000倍。佩德罗·何塞·多明戈·德·拉·卡尔萨达·曼努埃尔·玛丽亚·拉斯喀瑞·裴瑞兹当墨西哥总统仅15分钟。基本上他当总统的时间，只够别人读一遍他的名字。
The reason for this was the crazy politics of Revolution-era Mexico. General Victoriano Huerta had just overthrown President Madero in a coup. Under Mexico's constitution, power of a deposed president automatically passed to either his vice-president, attorney general, foreign minister or interior minister. At the time, Lascurain was foreign minister. To make his coup look less like a coup, Huerta convinced the government to appoint Lascurain president. The two men then cut a deal, and he moment he was sworn in Lascurain appointed Huerta his interior minister and then resigned. Power automatically, and legally, passed onto Huerta.
这只会发生在大革命时代墨西哥的疯狂政治中。Huerta将军刚刚在一次政变中推翻Madero总统。根据墨西哥宪法，总统被罢免后，他的权力就自动传递给副总统、司法部长、外交部长或内政部长。当时拉斯喀瑞是外交部长。为了让政变看起来不那么像政变，Huerta说服政府任命拉斯喀瑞为总统。两人达成协议，拉斯喀瑞宣誓就职时，任命Huerta为内政部长，然后辞职。权力就自动合法地传递给了Huerta。
To date, no other world leader has ruled for such a short time. The closest is Diosdado Cabello, who ruled Venezuela for around six hours in 2002. His reign was still over twenty times longer than Lascurain's.
到目前为止，再没有其他世界领袖只统治了这么短时间。最接近的是Diosdado Cabello，2002年统治委内瑞拉6小时左右。他的统治时间仍比拉斯喀瑞长了二十倍。
6. In Some States, There are Three Genders
6．一些州有3种性别
Mexico's relationships with LGBT rights is… complicated, to say the least. While drugs gangs have been known to shoot up gay bars in some states, places like Mexico City have legalized same-sex marriage. Then there's Oaxaca. The southern state has an approach to trans-people that is possibly unique in North America. Among the indigenous Zapotec people, they're legally recognized as a third gender.
墨西哥和LGBT（（女同（Lesbians）、男同（Gays）、双性恋者（Bisexuals）与跨性别者（Transgender））权利的关系，至少可以说很复杂。虽然一些州有贩毒团伙攻击同性恋酒吧，墨西哥城之类地方已经宣布同性婚姻合法。还有南部的瓦哈卡州，他们对变性人的一种态度可能全北美独有。在土著Zapotec人中，他们被法律承认为第三性别。
Known as Muxes (Moo-Shays), the third gender are people born as men, who choose to live instead as women. Concentrated around the town of Juchitan, they're treated as a fact of life, in the same way men and women are. They own businesses, are admired for their cookery skills, and even have a yearly ball which the mayor of Juchitan attends. For American readers, this might seem like PC gone mad. But the Muxes are far from a modern invention. They've been around as long as the Zapotec themselves.
这个性别称为mux（Moo-Shays），出生时是男性，但是选择作为女性生活。他们集中在Juchitan镇，被视为生命的事实，和男人女人一样。他们有自己的生意，做饭很好吃，甚至每年还有一场镇长都会参加的舞会。在美国读者看来，似乎是电脑发疯了。但mux远不是现代发明。他们和Zapotec本身一样古老。
Pre-Columbian societies in Mexico tended to have a third gender of men who lived as women. While most traditions died off with the coming of the Spanish, among the Zapotec it thrived. In short, the Muxes have been around since long before anyone could say what the acronym LGBT stood for.
哥伦布发现美洲大陆前，墨西哥社会倾向于承认第三性别，即生为男性却作为女性生活。虽然西班牙人来后大多数传统消亡了，Zapotec人中它却蓬勃发展。简而言之，在有人知道LGBT是什么的缩写之前，mux已经存在了很久很久。
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