世界小史 第88期:世界的另一端

 And now let us go to the opposite end of the world.

现在让我们来到世界的另一端，

To India and then to China, so that we can find out what was going on in these vast lands at the time of the Persian wars.

来到印度，然后去中国，这样我们可以知道波斯战争时期，在这些广阔的土地上发生了什么事。

Like Mesopotamia, India also had a very ancient civilization, and at about the same time as the Sumerians were holding sway at Ur,

像美索不达米亚一样，印度也有非常古老的文化，大致在苏美尔人在乌尔城强大起来的同一时期,

that is, around 2,500 BC – there was a mighty¹ city in the valley of the Indus.

也就是在公元前2500年左右——在印度河谷有一座大城市。

The Indus is a great river which flows through what is Pakistan today.

印度河是一条大河，流经今天的巴基斯坦。

It had well-drained streets, canals, granaries and workshops, and was called Mohenjo Daro,

这座城市里有排水良好的街道、水渠、粮仓和工场，它叫摩亨佐·达罗，

and until its discovery in the 1920s nobody had even dreamt of its existence.

在19世纪20年代它没被发现之前，没有人想过它的存在。

When it was excavated², things came to light that were as remarkable³ as any found in the rubble⁴ mounds⁵ at Ur.

当它被挖掘出来时，大家才知道还有和覆盖了乌尔城的废墟一样奇特的地方。

1 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

2 excavated   

v.挖掘( excavate的过去式和过去分词 )；开凿；挖出；发掘

参考例句：

• The site has been excavated by archaeologists. 这个遗址已被考古学家发掘出来。
• The archaeologists excavated an ancient fortress. 考古学家们发掘出一个古堡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

4 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

5 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？