知识点–百日百篇第48天–2012年2月3日北美考试机经阅读翻译–苏美尔文明.docxVIP

第48天2012年2月3日北美考试机经阅读翻译Sumerian Civilization①The word Mesopotamia means literally “between the rivers”, but it is generally used to denote the whole plain between and on either side of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The plain was bordered to the north and east by mountain ranges, in whose foothills agriculture was first practiced. Each year the two great rivers were swollen with the winter snows of the northern mountains, and each year at flood stage they spread a thick layer of immensely fertile silt across the flood plain where they approached the Persian Gulf. It was in this delta, a land of swamp rich in fish, wildlife, and date palms, that agricultural settlers created the rich city-states of Sumer between 3500 and 3000 B. C. The delta could only be made habitable by large-scale irrigation and flood control, which was managed first by a priestly class and then by godlike kings. ②Little is known about the origins of the Sumerian people, who spoke a language totally distinct from that of the Semitic inhabitants of the valleys to the north. The Sumerians probably moved down into the swamps of the delta under pressure of over-population of the foothills after 3900 B. C. Although at first they formed small agricultural villages, they soon found not only that the richness of the alluvial land permitted greater density of settlement but also that the vast engineering works in canals and dikes necessary to harness the annual floods required work forces of hundreds of men. Moreover, the layout and clearing of the canals required expert planning, while the division of the irrigated land, the water, and the crops demanded political control. By 3000 B. C. the Sumerians had solved this problem by forming “temple-communities”.③All Sumerian cities recognized a number of gods in common. Each city moreover had its own god, who was considered literally to inhabit the temple and who was in theory the owner of all property within the city. Hence the priests who interpreted the w