美国学生人类历史第30期:苏美尔人(5)

 　　They in turn were vanquished¹ by the followers² of the great desert God, Ashur, who called themselves Assyrians

　　没过多久，他们被同样信仰沙漠大神阿舒尔的亚述人所征服。亚述人以首都尼尼微为中心，

　　and who made the city of Nineveh the center of a vast and terrible empire which conquered all of western Asia and Egypt and gathered taxes from countless³ subject races

　　建立了一个囊括全部西亚与埃及的恐怖帝国，并向统治下的无数种族征收赋税。

　　until the end of the seventh century before the birth of Christ when the Chaldeans, also a Semitic tribe, re-established Babylon and made that city the most important capital of that day.

　　到公元前7世纪，同为闪米特部族的迎勒底人重建了巴比伦，使它成为当时世界上最重要的首都。

　　Nebuchadnezzar, the best known of their Kings, encouraged the study of science,

　　迦勒底人最著名的国王尼布甲尼撒鼓励科学研究，

　　and our modern knowledge of astronomy and mathematics is all based upon certain first principles which were discovered by the Chaldeans.

　　我们当代的天文学和数学就是从沙勒底人发现的最基本的原理中发展而来的。

　　In the year 538 B.C., a crude tribe of Persian shepherds invaded this old land and overthrew⁴ the empire of the Chaldeans.

　　公元前538年，一支野蛮的波斯游牧部落侵占了这块古老的土地，推翻了迦勒底人的帝国。

　　Two hundred years later, they in turn were overthrown⁵ by Alexander the Great, who turned the Fertile Valley, the old melting-pot of so many Semitic races, into a Greek province.

　　200年后，亚历山大大帝击败了他们，把这块富饶的河谷、众多闪米特部族的大熔炉，变成了马其顿的一个行省。

　　Next came the Romans and after the Romans, the Turks,

　　随后又来了罗马人，罗马人之后是土耳其人。

　　and Mesopotamia, the second centre of the world's civilisation⁶, became a vast wilderness⁷ where huge mounds⁸ of earth told a story of ancient glory.

　　而美索不达米亚，这个世界文明的第二中心，终于沦为了一片广漠的荒原。只有那些巨大的土丘，在述说着这块古老土地昔日的光荣与沧桑。

1 vanquished   

v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 )；战胜；克服；抑制

参考例句：

• She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战，挫败过很多对手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I vanquished her coldness with my assiduity. 我对她关心照顾从而消除了她的冷淡。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

3 countless   

adj.无数的，多得不计其数的

参考例句：

• In the war countless innocent people lost their lives.在这场战争中无数无辜的人丧失了性命。
• I've told you countless times.我已经告诉你无数遍了。

4 overthrew   

overthrow的过去式

参考例句：

• The people finally rose up and overthrew the reactionary regime. 人们终于起来把反动的政权推翻了。
• They overthrew their King. 他们推翻了国王。

5 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。

6 civilisation   

n.文明，文化，开化，教化

参考例句：

• Energy and ideas are the twin bases of our civilisation.能源和思想是我们文明的两大基石。
• This opera is one of the cultural totems of Western civilisation.这部歌剧是西方文明的文化标志物之一。

7 wilderness   

n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠

参考例句：

• She drove the herd of cattle through the wilderness.她赶着牛群穿过荒野。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。

8 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？