随着科学技术的发展，在美国，通过基因分析来了解自己的祖先已经成为一种时尚。随之而来的，就是去自己的祖籍地走一走看一看。
Getting back to the roots
by Kristen V. Brown
Millions of Americans have plopped their spit in the mail in hopes of shedding light on how their ancestors wound up here. But what happens after you find out you're 32 percent Scandinavian, 11 percent Middle Eastern and 1 percent Ashkenazi Jew? For a growing number of people, the next step is to take a trip to see where their ancestors are from.
plop /plɒp/ v. （发出噗的一声）落下
spit /spɪt/ n. 唾液
in hopes of 寄希望于
shed light on 阐明、使（事情）清楚
ancestor /ˈænsestə(r)/ n. 祖先
wind /waɪnd/ up 以…告终（wound是wind的过去式）
step /step/ n. 步骤
Many ancestry tourists have spent hours painstakingly combing through physical and digital records to piece together the puzzle of their ancestry. For the more casual family historians, though, tracing their heritage amounts mostly to shipping their DNA to a company like 23andMe.
ancestry /ˈænsestri/ n. 列祖列宗、世系
painstakingly /ˈpeɪnzˌteɪkɪŋli/ adv. 费力地
comb /kəʊm/ v. 梳理、搜寻
physical /ˈfɪzɪk(ə)l/ adj. 看得见摸得着的
record /ˈrekɔːd/ n. 记录
piece together 拼凑、拼在一起
puzzle /ˈpʌz(ə)l/ n. 谜团
casual /ˈkæʒuəl/ adj. 不太在意的
historian /hɪˈstɔːriən/ n. 历史学家
trace /treɪs/ v. 追根溯源
heritage /ˈherɪtɪdʒ/ n. 文化遗产、文化传承
amount to 相当于、实际上是
ship /ʃɪp/ v. 运送
DNA testing alone doesn't always result in an exactly accurate picture of a person's heritage, but then again, that isn't really the point. Most people are looking to feel special and to find a connection to the past.
result in 导致
accurate /ˈækjurət/ adj. 精确的、准确的
picture /ˈpɪktʃə(r)/ n. 情形、状况
connection /kəˈnekʃ(ə)n/ n. 联系
"This form of tourism is growing rapidly and is increasingly popular as western societies age," said Dallen Timothy, an editor of the ****Journal**** of Heritage Tourism. "People want to get back to their roots, the simpler ways of life they tend to associate with their ancestors. It's a way of stepping back in time."
form /fɔːm/ n. 形式
increasingly /ɪnˈkriːsɪŋli/ adv. 越来越
age /eɪdʒ/ v. 变老
editor /ˈedɪtə(r)/ n. 编辑
journal /ˈdʒɜːn(ə)l/ n. 期刊
root /ruːt/ n. 起源
tend /tend/ v. 倾向于
associate /əˈsəʊsieɪt/ v. 联系
step back in time 回到过去、时光倒流
Last fall, Ancestry.com joined the smattering（少量） of smaller tour outfits like European Focus that offer genealogy-themed vacations when it launched its Guided Ancestry Tours program in partnership with Go Ahead Tours. In October, a professional Ancestry genealogist（家谱学家） led 28 people on a tour of Ireland. The tour was such a success that Ancestry is expanding the program to four more locations, including Italy and Germany.
outfit /ˈaʊtfɪt/ n. 团队、一队人
genealogy /ˌdʒiːniˈælədʒi/ n. 家谱、宗谱
themed /θiːmd/ adj. 以…为主题的
launch /lɔːntʃ/ v. 启动、使开始
program /ˈprəʊɡræm/ n. 计划、方案
partnership /ˈpɑːtnəʃɪp/ n. 合作关系
Ireland /ˈaɪələnd/ n. 爱尔兰（西欧国家）
expand /ɪkˈspænd/ v. 扩大、扩张
"People have a deep, yearning need to know where they come from, and why their ancestors emigrated（移居国外） away from home," said James Derheim of European Focus. "For many, genealogy is not just a hobby, it borders on an obsession."
yearn /jɜːn/ v. 渴求
border on 接近于、几乎是
obsession /əbˈseʃ(ə)n/ n. 痴迷
Derheim said that ancestry travel first became popular when Alex Haley's TV series "Roots," about a man's enslavement（为奴） in West Africa and generations of his family's life in America, hit the airwaves way back in 1977. Since then, the explosion of websites like Ancestry and 23andMe that link people to family tree data online have resulted in another boom in popularity.
series /ˈsɪəriːz/ n. 系列剧（单数和复数都是series）
generation /ˌdʒenəˈreɪʃ(ə)n/ n. 一代人
hit /hɪt/ v. 到达
airwaves /ˈeəweɪvz/ n. （广播电台和电视台播送节目的）电波
way /weɪ/ adv. 远远（表示强调）
explosion /ɪkˈspləʊʒ(ə)n/ n. 爆炸、急速发展
link /lɪŋk/ v. 连接、联系
data /ˈdeɪtə/ n. 数据
boom /buːm/ n. 繁荣、增长
popularity /ˌpɒpjuˈlærəti/ n. 流行、流行度（由popular加后缀-ity变成名词）
For Liza Lizarraga, a retired resident of the Los Angeles suburbs, traveling to her ancestral homelands isn't just about discovering new things about herself, but also about honoring her ancestors.
resident /ˈrezɪd(ə)nt/ n. 居民
Los Angeles /ˌlɒs ˈændʒəliːz/ 洛杉矶（美国城市）
suburb /ˈsʌbɜːb/ n. 郊区
ancestral /ænˈsestrəl/ adj. 祖先的
homeland /ˈhəʊmlænd/ n. 祖国
honor /ˈɒnə(r)/ v. 向…致敬
A few years ago, she visited a town in the French Alps where her ancestors once lived. She went to their church and their grave sites, and met distant cousins who were sheepherders（牧羊人） who still lived in the same cabin their grandparents had lived in.
grave /ɡreɪv/ n. 坟墓
distant /ˈdɪst(ə)nt/ adj. 遥远的、远房的
cabin /ˈkæbɪn/ n. 小木屋
"This might sound weird, but when I get there, I literally just want to sit on the ground and just feel the country," she said. " I just want to soak up everything about that country, because really the heart of who I am is in that land."
weird /wɪəd/ adj. 奇怪的
literally /ˈlɪt(ə)r(ə)li/ adv. （表示强调）
soak up 吸收、尽情体验
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