世界小史 第47期:巴比伦

 But that isn't all the Bible has to say about ancient Babylon.

但是这不是《圣经》所讲述的有关巴比伦的唯一的一件事。

Do you know the story of the Tower of Babel,

你知道得巴别塔的故事吗？

when the people of a great city tried to build a tower that would reach up to heaven,

当一个大城市的人们试图造一座通向天空的塔时，

and God was angry at their pride and stopped them building any higher by making them all speak different languages so that they could no longer understand one another?

上帝对他们的自满非常生气，为了阻止他们，上帝使他们说不同的语言，这样他们就不再能明白对方说什么。

Well, Babel is Babylon.

巴别就是巴比伦。

So now you will be able to understand the story better.

你现在能够更好的理解这个故事了。

For, as you know, the Babylonians really did build gigantic towers "the top of which reached even to the heavens",

你知道，巴比伦人确实曾建造过巨大的塔，“塔尖直耸天空”，

and they built them so as to be nearer to the sun, the moon and the stars.

他们建造它们是为了离太阳、月亮和众星辰更近些。

The story of Noah and the Flood is also set in Mesopotamia.

诺亚和大洪水的故事也发生在美索不达米亚。

A number of clay tablets have been dug up, inscribed¹ with cuneiform script telling a story very similar to the one in the Bible.

人们在那里也多次挖掘出有楔形文字的泥板，它们所讲述的故事跟《圣经》里的故事十分相似。

One of Abraham of Ur's descendants (the Bible tells us) was Joseph,

乌尔城的亚伯拉罕的一个后裔（我们在《圣经》中这样读到）是约瑟，

son of Jacob, whose brothers took him to Egypt and sold him, despite which he became a counselor² and minister to the pharaoh.",

雅各的儿子，被他的兄长们卖到埃及，后来在埃及当了法老的顾问和大臣。

1 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 counselor   

n.顾问，法律顾问

参考例句：

• The counselor gave us some disinterested advice.顾问给了我们一些无私的忠告。
• Chinese commercial counselor's office in foreign countries.中国驻国外商务参赞处。