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To pacify the forces of nature, the Aztecs turn not just to the gods but to their own sophisticated technology. They had seen the eagle land on a saltwater lake, 32 miles long. To build a city here and sustain its people would require a radical transformation of the landscape. This was their first major challenge. They were able to dam and drain some of the salt water and channel fresh water in its place. They transformed the swampland on the outskirts of the city, building islands known as chinampas, or floating gardens.
Nowadays there's a dwindling number of farmers here. But they still use traditional methods which have hardly changed since the Aztec times. Dredging mud from the bottom of the lake, the farmers build up layers of rich fertile soil and plant willow trees with roots to stabilize the garden platform. Five hundred years ago these plots of land were the bread basket of the Aztec capital, supplying its inhabitants with much of their food. If the rainy season was late, the crops would fail. To make sure this didn't happen, the Aztecs turned to their gods. They believed that they could influence the gods by creating idealized replicas of the natural world. It was this belief that inspired all their temples, from the smallest shrine in the countryside to the largest pyramids in the capital. But it's not just the shared inspiration which connects the shrine with the city. It was carefully positioned to form a continuous line of sacred sites, joining the rain-producing mountains to the heart of the Aztec capital. The Aztecs believed that this connection would ensure that the season stayed in balance. The rain fell and their city and empire flourished.
Great mountains, the miniature of rock mountains then the hill that of artistical single, and then ultimately the pyramid...great pyramid of Tenochtitllan, they all form part of the symbolic continuum that take the thoughts and the prayers of the city dwellers out to the remote parts of their world.
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dredge: v. 挖掘
willow: n. 柳树
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