The approach to the Garden sloped like a hillside and the several parts of the structure rose from one another tier on tier...On all this, the earth had been piled...and was thickly planted with trees of every kind that, by their great size and other charm, gave pleasure to the beholder...The water machines(raised) the water in great abundance from the river, although no one outside could see it. ——Diodorus Siculus
ruits and flowers... Waterfalls... Gardens hanging from the palace terraces... Exotic animals...This is the picture of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon in most people's minds.It may be surprising to know that they might have never existed except in the minds of Greek poets and historians!
Location
On the east bank of the River Euphrates, about 50 km south of Baghdad, Iraq.
History
The Babylonian kingdom flourished under the rule of the famous King, Hammurabi[2] (1792-1750 BC[3]).It was not until[4] the reign of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian [5] civilization reached its ultimate glory.Nebuchadnezzar II[6] (604-562 BC) is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens.It is said that the Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife or concubinewho had been "brought up in Media[7] and had a passion for mountain surroundings".
While the most descriptive accounts of the Gardens come from Greek historians such as Berossus and Diodorus Siculus,Babylonian records stay silent on the matter.Tablets from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the Hanging Gardens,although descriptions of his palace, the city of Babylon, and the walls are found.Even the historians who give detailed descriptions of the Hanging Gardens never saw them.Modern historians argue that when Alexander[8] 's soldiers reached the fertile land of Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were impressed.When they later returned to their rugged homeland, they had stories to tell about the amazing gardens and palm trees at Mesopotamia...About the palace of Nebuchadnezzar... About the Tower of Babel[9] and the ziggurats.And it was the imagination of poets and ancient historians that blended all these elements together to produce one of the World Wonders.
It wasn't until the twentieth century that some of the mysteries surrounding the Hanging Gardens were revealed.Archaeologists are still struggling to gather enough evidence before reaching the final conclusions about the location of the Gardens, their irrigation system, and their true appearance.
3．BC：BC是“公元前”、AD是“公元后”。你知道为什么有公元前和公元后之分吗？其实公元记年是由后来的一位知识渊博的大主教发明的，以基督（Christ）的出生为分界线来划分。BC 就是Before Christ；而AD来自拉丁文anno Domini(=Since Christ was born)。
4．It was not until...：这个句子看起来挺让人迷惑，其实这是...not ...unitil...（直到……才……）的强调句型。It is ...that...是英语的情调句型。比如：It's man that counts.（出自《实用英语语法》）起作用的是人。强调...not ...unitil...时，是把not和 until引导的从句放在that 前。
8．lexander the Great：亚历山大大帝（前356~前323）马其顿国王。前334年以无敌之师大举东进，入小亚细亚，转埃及，建立亚历山大城，挺进两河流域，入侵中亚细亚，南下印度。后因气候不适，士兵厌战而退兵巴比伦。前324年，建立了以亚历山大城为中心的东起印度河、西至尼罗河与巴尔干半岛领域的古代大帝国——亚历山大帝国。
9．the Tower of Babel：巴别塔，据《圣经·旧约》，诺亚在巴比伦的子孙想建造一座“塔顶通天”的塔以扬名，同时反抗上帝。上帝便变乱他们原来统一的语言，使之互不相通，结果塔未能建成，而人类分散到世界各地。
