大學六級英語美文賞析
美文的閱讀與欣賞對于學生人文素質(zhì)的提升具有不可忽視的作用。下面小編整理了大學六級英語美文,希望大家喜歡!
大學六級英語美文摘抄
Babylon Hanging Garden
巴比倫空間中花園
The Babylonian kingdom flourished under the rule of the famous King, Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). It was not until the reign of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian civilization reached its ultimate glory. Nebuchadnezzar II (604 -562 BC) is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens. It is said that the Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife or concubine who had been "brought up in Media and had a passion for mountain surroundings".
古巴比倫王國在著名的國王漢誤拉比(公元前1792-1750)的統(tǒng)治下曾經(jīng)繁榮一時。但是直到新巴比倫王朝,美索不達米亞文明才達到了它的鼎盛時期。人們相信傳說中的空中花園是由尼布甲尼撒二世(公元前 604年-562年)建造的。據(jù)傳,尼布甲尼撒為了取悅于其在米底亞長大并對山景懷有深厚感情的王后或者是妃子而建造了空中花園。
While the most descriptive accounts of the Gardens come from Greek historians such as Berossus and Diodorus Siculus, Babylonian records stay silent on the matter. Tablets from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the Hanging Gardens, although descriptions of his palace, the city of Babylon, and the walls are found. Even the historians who give detailed descriptions of the Hanging Gardens never saw them. Modern historians argue that when Alexander's soldiers reached the fertile land of Mesopotamia and saw Babylon, they were impressed. When they later returned to their rugged. homeland, they had stories to tell about the amazing gardens and palm trees at Mesopotamia... About the palace of Nebuchadnezzar... About the Tower of Babel and the ziggurats. And it was the imagination of poets and ancient historians that blended all these elements together to produce one of the World Wonders.
雖然對花園最詳盡的記述走出自 Berossus和 Diodorus Siculus等希臘歷史學家筆下,但巴比倫的歷史記錄卻對此事 只字未提。盡管在尼布甲足,撒時期存留下的各種書寫板上發(fā)現(xiàn)了對他的宮殿、巴比倫城以及巴比倫的城墻的種種描述,但這些書寫板上卻沒有一處捉到過空中花園。甚至那些對空中花園進行過詳細描述的歷史學家們也從沒有親眼目睹過它們?,F(xiàn)代歷史學家爭論說:當亞力山大的士兵們到達了富饒的美索不達米亞地區(qū)并看到了巴比倫時,他們深為(眼前的美景)所震撼。當他們后來回到崎嶇不平的家鄉(xiāng)時,帶回了有關(guān)美索不達米亞的令人驚嘆的花園和椰子樹…有關(guān)尼布甲尼撒的宮殿…以及有關(guān)巳別塔和金字型神塔的各種故事。是詩人和古代歷史學家的想象力把這所有的元素混合在一起制造出了世界奇觀之一。
It wasn't until the twentieth century that some of the mysteries surrounding the Hanging Gardens were revealed. Archaeologists are still struggling to gather enough evidence before reaching the final conclusions about the location of the Gardens, their irrigation system, and their true appearance.
直到二十世紀,圍繞著空中花園的一些不解之迷才被揭示出來。在得到關(guān)于花園的地理位置、灌溉系統(tǒng),和真正面目的最終結(jié)論之前,考古學家們?nèi)栽谂Φ厥占銐虻淖C據(jù)。
大學六級英語美文鑒賞
The Pyramids
古埃及金字塔
Built 4,000 years ago, the three great pyramids at Giza, in the Egy ptian desert remain themost colossal buildings over constructed.The pyramids were built by Egyptians under theorders of the Egyptian leader, whose title was Pharaoh. There was a sequence of Pharaohsculminating around 2615 B.C., with the Pharaoh Cheops who built the biggest thing ever built,the Great Pyramid, also known as Khu fu. Cheops built a pyramid 770 feet on one side and481 feet tall. How ancient builders managed to build these massive structures has never beenfully answered but the effort clearly required brains and brown.
矗立在埃及沙漠中吉薩的三座大金字塔建于4,000年前,它們一直都是有史以來最宏大的建筑。金字塔是埃及人在他們的領(lǐng)袖——名為法老——的命令下建造的。在公元,前2615年左右,幾任法老相繼統(tǒng)治埃及,基奧普斯法老建造了有史以來最大的金字塔——大金字塔,也被稱為胡夫金字塔。胡夫金字塔每邊長 770美尺,高 481英尺。古代的建筑者是如何建造這些龐然大物的,這一直是個未解之謎,但很明顯它需要付出大量的腦力和體力。
Was there engineering genius involved? Yes, there was. For example, when you' re pulling theblock right at the top, how are you going to lug a block of stone that weighs several tons 480feet up a structure? How are you going to do it, and how are you going to do it without leavingscratches on all the rest of the structure? And how many people does it take to drag a blockweighing several tons 480 feet up into the sky? Approximately, 2.3 million blocks of stone werecut, transported and assembled to create the Great Pyramid.
有工程天才的參與嗎?是的,有。比如,當你要把一個石塊放在頂端時,你該如何把一個幾噸重的石塊提升到 480英尺的高度呢?應該怎樣做?怎么做才不至于在塔身留下刮痕?把幾噸重的石塊提舉到 480英尺的高處又需要多少人力呢?為了建造大金字塔,人們切割、運輸、壘砌了大約 230萬塊石頭。
The Pharaohs may have set out to build magnificent tombs for themselves, but in the end theycreated monuments to human potential. There's a universal message in the pyramids. Thepyramids belong to Egypt, but the pyramids also belong to the world. That' s why we can allidentify the pyramids as an early monument of human greatness.
法老們的初衷是為自己建造豪華的陵墓,而最終他們創(chuàng)建的卻是昭示人類潛能的紀念碑。金字塔蘊含著一種共同的信息,金字塔屬于埃及,但它也屬于世界。因此我們完全可以把金字塔作為展示人類偉大文明的早期紀念物。
For being a man-made wonder that has survived the sands of time, the pyramids rise to thenumber two spot.
由于歷經(jīng)歲月的滄桑,金字塔位列十大人工奇觀排行榜第 2名。
大學六級英語美文賞析
The Nile
尼羅河
The longest river in the world, the Nile, flows through the north-western area of Africa, andthen into the Mediterranean Sea.
世界上最長的河流尼羅河,流經(jīng)非洲西北部,最終匯入池中海。
Great civilizations have always flourished alongside rivers, bu t the Egyptian civilization, whichstarted on the Nile, is the most fascinating and mysterious in the history of mankind.
偉大的人類文明多發(fā)源于河流兩岸,但人類歷史上最為絢麗、神秘的是始于尼羅河的古埃及文明。
The Nile valley is a fertile one where there is an abundance of water and sun, elements whichthe ancient Egyptian believed were gods, they called the sun Amon and the Nile Apis.
足,羅河谷擁有充足的淡水與陽光,這二者被古埃及人奉為神靈,他們尊稱太陽為 AMON,稱尼羅河為APIS。
Memphis was the first great capital of Egypt, united as a single kingdom in the third millenniumB.C.. But the Nile burst its banks a few centuries ago, flooding the ancient capital.
孟菲斯是埃及第一個首都,公元前3000年,它建立為獨立王國。而若干世紀以前,尼羅河水泛濫,沖垮了古都。
The river however has given more than it has taken, enough to make Herodotus, the ancientGreek historian say: Egypt is a gift from the Nile.
但畢竟,尼羅河所賦予的遠大于它索取的。正如古希臘歷史學家希羅多德所言:埃及是尼羅河賜予的禮物。
The population on the Nile has grown at a dizzying rate, giving rise to a great metropolis ofthe size of Cairo the second most populous city in the world.
現(xiàn)在,尼羅河沿岸人口激增,首都開羅已經(jīng)是世界人口最多的第 2大城市。
To see the swarming crowds in the capital it would seem that the lesson of Ramese II, whosecolossal stature is located near Cairo' s Central Station, is still alive in Egypt. Ramses II hadmore than a hundred children and in Egypt today a baby is born every 20 seconds. Thepopulation is very young and half of its 54 million inhabitants are under 20 years old.
看著熙來攘往的人群,仿佛又看到了萊比西斯二世的故事重現(xiàn)。他的塑像平已矗立在開羅中央車站。萊比西斯二世有一百多個孩子,而今天的埃及每 20秒就有一個新生命誕生。當?shù)厝丝谀贻p化, 5千 4百萬人口中,有一半不滿 20歲。
These so I solemn slates are almost participants in modem life. You can almost find your ideasabout the Nile ref1ected in their eyes.
而肅穆的法老像似乎也在參與著后人的生活。也許,你能從他的眼中讀到關(guān)于尼羅河的種種證實。