美国学生人类历史第28期:苏美尔人(3)

 　　The sun was originally a plain circle (Here is a picture of a plain circle)and became(a picture with four trangiles,and the third with certain square).

　　太阳最初是一个平面的圆圈，后来变为。

　　If we were using the Sumerian script today we would make an(here is a picture of a shape)look like(and here is a picture of a more stylist shape).

　　如果我们现在仍然使用苏美尔人的写法；

　　This system of writing down our ideas looks rather complicated,

　　一条船看起来就会是这种记录思想的文字系统看上去相当复杂，

　　but for more than thirty centuries it was used by the Sumerians and the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the Persians and all the different races which forced their way into the fertile valley.

　　可在3000多年的时间里，苏美尔人、亚述人、巴比伦人、波斯人以及所有那些曾进占两河之间富饶土地的种族，无一例外地使用过这种文字。

　　The story of Mesopotamia is one of endless warfare¹ and conquest.

　　美索不达米亚的故事交织着连绵不断的征战与杀伐。

　　First the Sumerians came from the North.

　　最早，苏美尔人从北部来到这里，

　　They were a white People who had lived in the mountains.

　　他们是住在山区的白种人，

　　They had been accustomed to worship their Gods on the tops of hills.

　　惯于在山顶之上祭祖他们的众神。

　　After they had entered the plain they constructed artificial little hills on top of which they built their altars.

　　进入平原地区后，他们开始堆造人工的山丘，并在山丘顶上修建祭坛。

　　They did not know how to build stairs and they therefore surrounded their towers with sloping galleries.

　　他们不会建造楼梯，因此用环绕高塔的倾斜长廊代之。

　　Our engineers have borrowed this idea, as you may see in our big railroad stations where ascending² galleries lead from one floor to another.

　　现代的工程师借用了这个创意，正如我们今天的大火车站，由上升的回廊与楼层之间连接起来的。

　　We may have borrowed other ideas from the Sumerians but we do not know it.

　　我们可能还借用过苏美尔人的其它创意，只是不自知而已。

　　The Sumerians were entirely³ absorbed by those races that entered the fertile valley at a later date.

　　后来。苏美尔人被占领两河流域的其他种族同化，再也找不到踪迹，

1 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

2 ascending   

adj.上升的，向上的

参考例句：

• Now draw or trace ten dinosaurs in ascending order of size.现在按照体型由小到大的顺序画出或是临摹出10只恐龙。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。