When-I-was-a-boy I thought that when I was old enough to travel I should like to go and see it for myself. 小时候，我就想，长大了，能去旅游了，我要去伊甸园亲眼看看。

I should like to see whether or not the angels with fiery swords were still there. 我想看看手执能发出火焰的剑的天使是不是还在那儿。

So I asked my Sunday school teacher where the Garden of Eden was. 于是，我问主日学校的老师伊甸园在哪里，

"It's in the Bible," said she. That didn't help me much. 她说，“在《圣经》里。”这个答案对我并没有多大帮助。

But grown-up people have been looking for the Garden of Eden for a great many years and some say they have found it, 但是，很多年以来，大人们一直在寻找伊甸园，而且，有些人说找到了；

or rather that they have found the place where it once was, for it does not look like a garden now, much less like a Paradise. 更确切地说，找到了伊甸园曾经的那个地方，因为那里现在看上去一点都不像一个花园，更不用说像天堂了。

If you were in Damascus and asked a man on the street, "How do you get to the Garden of Eden?" 如果你在大马士革，问大街上的一个人，“到伊甸园怎么走？”

he might think you were crazy, or maybe he might say, “I'm a stranger here myself.” 对方也许会认为你疯了，或者，也许会这样回答你，“我是外地人，对这里不熟悉。”

But if he did know the way, he would point to the east and say, You cross the desert and keep going straight ahead toward the rising sun. 但是，如果他确实知道去伊甸园的路，他会指着东边说，穿过沙漠，朝着太阳升起的方向，一直向前走。

In about a month, if you are going by camel, or in a couple of days, if you are going by automobile, you will come to a muddy river. 骑骆驼大概要走一个月；开车大概几天就到了。你会来到一条浑浊的河边，

This river is called the Euphrates. 这条河叫幼发拉底河。

Cross the Euphrates and go on a short distance and you will come to a second muddy river. 穿过幼发拉底河，再走一会。你就会来到第二条浑浊的河边，

This second muddy river is called the Tigris. 这条河叫底格里斯河。

These two rivers flow into each other, and near the place where the two rivers join, 这两条河彼此交汇，离交汇处不远，

there you'll find the Garden of Eden. You can't miss it. 就是你要找的伊甸园，错不了。

There is no garden there now and you may wonder how there ever could have been a garden there, 那里现在根本没有花园。你也许还会感到奇怪，那儿过去怎么可能有花园呢？

for most of it is now mud, and, when there has been no rain for a long time, 因为那里大部分是泥浆。如果长时间不下雨，

just baked mud ground, which looks as little like a Garden of Eden as you could possibly imagine. 就只有被太阳晒成硬邦邦的地面，看起来一点也不像你想象中的伊甸园。