The king of Babylon had beaten Nineveh. But he didn't stop with that. He wanted his Babylon to be as great as Nineveh had been. He went on conquering other lands to the left and right util Babylon, in its turn, became the leader and ruler of other countries. Was Babylon, also, in its turn, to fall, as Nineveh had fallen?
巴比伦国王攻占了尼尼微之后，并没有就此罢手。他希望巴比伦像曾经的尼尼微一样强盛。他左征右战，直到巴比伦也成了周边其他国家的王。 巴比伦还会重蹈尼尼微沦陷的覆辙么？
When at last the king of Babylon died, he left his vast empire to his son. Now, the king's son was not called John or James or Charles or anything simple like that. It was -- Nebuchadnezzar, and I wonder if his farther call him by that long name or shortened it to a nickname like Neb, for instance, or Chad, or perhaps Nezzar. This is the way Nebuchadnezzar wrote his name, for he used cuneiform writing. How would you like to write your name in such an unusual way?
巴比伦国王死后，把广袤的江山留给了他的儿子。这时候国王的儿子不再叫做约翰，詹姆斯或者查尔斯等简简单单的名字。 他叫做“尼布甲尼撒”（够拉风吧），我很想知道他父亲是否也会称呼他这么长的名字，还是叫像尼布（Neb），查德（Chad） 或 尼撒（Nezzar）这样简短的昵称呢？ 这是尼布甲尼撒书写他自己名字的方式，他使用的是楔形文。你喜欢用这种不同寻常的方式写自己的名字么？
Nebuchadnezzar set to work and made the city of Babylon the largest, the most magnificent, and the most wonderful city in the world. He made the city in the shape of a square and surrounded it with a wall fifty times as high as a man--fifty times--whew! --and so broad that a chariot could be driven along the top, and in this wall, he made one hundred huge brass gates. The Euphrates River flowed under the wall, across the city, and out under the wall at the other side.
尼布甲尼撒王着手让巴比伦变得更大，更壮观，成为世界上最伟大的城市。 他把城市规划为方形，在周边建立起了普通人身高50倍的城墙。五十倍呀！ 城墙非常宽阔，在城墙上面可以驾驶战车。在墙上，他建造了100个青铜铸成的城门，幼发拉底河从城墙下流过，流经巴比伦城，流向另一侧。
Nebuchadnezzar could not find anyone in Babylon who was beautiful to be his queen. Th Babylonian women must have felt pretty bad --or mad --about that. He went to Media, the country that had helped his father conquer Nineveh. There he found a lovely princess, and so he married her and brought her to Babylon.
尼布甲尼撒王在整个巴比伦都找不到一个漂亮的女孩作他的王妃。巴比伦的女性肯定会感到非常郁闷吧，简直要疯了。 他去拜访了米底，那个帮助他父亲战胜了尼尼微的小王国。在那里他遇到了一个可爱的公主，就跟公主结婚了，把她带回了巴比伦。
Now, Media was a land of hills and mountains, whilst Babylon was on level ground and without even a hill in sight. Nebuchadnezzar's queen found Babylonia so flat and uninteresting that she became homesick, and she longed for her own country with its wild mountain scenery. Just to please her and keep her contented, Nebuchadnezzar set to work and built a hill for her, but the strange thing was he built it on the top of the roof of his palace! On the sides of this hill, he made beautiful gardens, and these gardens he planted not only with flowers but also with trees, so that this queen might sit in the shade and enjoy herself. These were called Hanging Gardens. The Hanging Gardens and the tremendous walls were known far and wide as one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
那时候的米底到处都是山脉和丘陵，而巴比伦则是一望无际的平原，连一座小丘陵都看不到。尼布甲尼撒的王妃觉得巴比伦是如此的平坦无趣，她开始想念自己的家乡了。她渴望回到山川遍地的家乡。为了让王妃开心和满足，尼布甲尼撒开始命人建造假山。但奇怪的是，假山是修建在他宫殿的房顶上的。在假山的边上，他修建起了美丽的花园，花园里不仅有花草，还有树木。这样王妃就可以坐在树荫下享受了。这就是“空中花园”。这空中花园和巨大的城墙远近闻名，是世界七大奇迹之一。
空中花园
Would you like to know what the other Wonders were?
你想知道其他的奇迹是什么吗？
Well, the pyramids in Egypt were one; the magnificent statue of Zeus at Olympia, where the Olympic Games were held, was another --so those two plus the Hanging Gardens make three.
嗯， 埃及的金字塔是其中之一， 奥林匹亚（那个举办奥运会的地方）宏伟的宙斯神像是一个，再加上空中花园，就是三大奇迹了。
Nebuchadnezzar believed in many gods, like the ones the Phoenicians worshiped. The Jews away off in Jerusalem believed in one God. Nebuchadnezzar wanted the Jews to worship his gods, but they would not. So, he sent his armies to Jerusalem, destroyed the city, burnt the beautiful Temple that Solomon had built, and brought the Jews and all their belongings to Babylon. There in Babylon Nebuchadnezzar kept the Jews prisoners, and there in Babylon the Jews remained prisoners for fifty years.
尼布甲尼撒王是多神的信奉者，像腓尼基人那样。 在耶路撒冷的犹太人仅信仰一个真主。尼布甲尼撒王想让犹太人也信奉他们的众神，但是犹太人是不会这样做的。 因此，他大军压境，攻陷了耶路撒冷，烧毁了所罗门修建的庙宇，把犹太人连同他们的财务都带回了巴比伦。在巴比伦，尼布甲尼撒把犹太人投进了监狱，犹太人在监狱里待了足足有五十年。
Babylon had become not only the most magnificent city in the world; it had become also the most wicked. The people of Babylon gave themselves up to the wildest pleasures. Their only thought seemed to be, "Let's eat, drink, and be merry"; they thought nothing of the morrow; the more wicked the pleasure the more they liked it.
巴比伦不仅是世界上最壮观的城市，也成了世界上的最荒诞的地方。巴比伦的群众只顾享乐。他们考虑的问题貌似只有吃吃喝喝以及结婚生子。 他们从来不为将来打算。越是荒诞，他们越喜欢。
But although Nebuchadnezzar seemed able to do and able to have everything in the world he wanted, he finally went crazy. He thought he was a bull, and he used to get down on his hands and knees and eat grass, imagining he was a beast of the field.
尽管尼布甲尼撒大帝看起来他能做任何他想做的事，拥有任何他想要的东西，最后他疯掉了。 他认为自己是一头公牛， 他手脚并用在地上爬， 吃草， 想象着他是原野上的野兽。
尼布甲尼撒
And Babylon, in spite of its tremendous walls and brass gates, was doomed. Babylon was to be conquered. It didn't seem possible. How could it be conquered, and who was to do the conquering? You would probably never guess.
巴比伦尽管有高大的城墙和坚固的青铜城门，它却难逃覆灭的命运。 尽管看起来不可能，最终巴比伦还是沦陷了。巴比伦是怎么沦陷的，是谁攻克了它？ 你可能怎么都想不到。
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