在人類悠久璀璨的歷史長河中，奇觀絕景比比皆是。古巴比倫王國的空中花園便是一例，不妨隨本文一起走近這聞名遐邇的世界奇跡，一同領(lǐng)略其景觀，探索其奧秘！

The city of Babylon， under King Nebuchadnezzar II， must have been a wonder to ancient travelers'''' eyes. \"In addition to its size，\" wrote Herodotus， a Greek historian in 450 BC， \"Babylon surpasses1) in splendor any city in the known world.\" He claimed the outer walls were wide enough to allow two four-horse chariots2) to pass each other and the inner walls were \"not so thick as the first， but hardly less strong\". Inside these double walls were fortresses and temples containing immense statues of solid gold. Rising above the city was the famous Tower of Babel that seemed to reach to the heavens. Strangely however， one of the city''''s most spectacular sites is not even mentioned by Herodotus: The Hanging Gardens of Babylon， one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

在古代游客的眼中，尼布甲尼撒二世統(tǒng)治下的巴比倫城一定是一個(gè)奇跡?！俺怂拿娣e，”希臘歷史學(xué)家希羅多德在公元前450年曾描述道，“巴比倫的壯觀讓已知世界中的任何一座城市都望塵莫及?！彼暦Q，巴比倫城的外墻寬到足以讓兩輛四馬戰(zhàn)車迎面驅(qū)行，內(nèi)墻“雖沒有外墻那么厚實(shí)，卻也一樣牢固”。而在這雙層城墻保護(hù)之內(nèi)的則是一個(gè)個(gè)堡壘和一座座擺放有巨型純金雕像的寺廟。高聳于城市上空的是有名的通天塔，看似直逼云霄。然而，奇怪的是，希羅多德竟只字未提巴比倫城最壯觀的景點(diǎn)之一：古代世界七大奇觀之一的巴比倫空中花園。

Gift for a Homesick Wife

Accounts indicate that the gardens were built by King Nebuchadnezzar， who ruled the city for 43 years starting in 605 BC. According to accounts， the gardens were built to cheer up Nebuchadnezzar''''s homesick wife， Amyitis. Amyitis， daughter of the king of the Medes， was married to Nebuchadnezzar to create an alliance3) between the two nations. The land she came from， though， was green， rugged4) and mountainous， and she found the flat， sun-baked5) terrain6) of Mesopotamia depressing. The king decided to relieve her depression by recreating her homeland through the building of an artificial mountain with rooftop gardens.

Gardens'''' Construction

The Hanging Gardens probably did not really \"hang\" in the sense of being suspended from cables or ropes. The name comes from an inexact translation of the Greek word \"kremastos\"， or the Latin word \"pensilis\"， which means not just \"hanging\"， but \"overhanging\" as in the case of a terrace7) or balcony.

The Greek geographer Strabo， who described the gardens in first century BC， wrote， \"It consists of vaulted8) terraces raised one above another， and resting upon cube-shaped pillars9). These are hollow10) and filled with earth to allow trees of the largest size to be planted. The pillars， the vaults， and terraces are constructed of baked brick and asphalt11).\"

Diodorus Siculus， a Greek historian， stated that the platforms on which the gardens stood consisted of huge slabs12) of stone， covered with layers of reed， asphalt and tiles. Over this was put \"a covering with sheets of lead， that the wet (編注：見左下說明) which drenched13) through the earth might not rot the foundation. Upon all these was laid earth of a convenient depth， sufficient for the growth of the greatest trees. When the soil was laid even and smooth， it was planted with all sorts of trees， which both for greatness and beauty that might delight the spectators\".

How big were the gardens? Diodorus told us they were about 400 feet wide by 400 feet long and more than 80 feet high. Other accounts indicate the height was equal to the outer city walls， which Herodotus said were 320 feet high.

Real or Fictional

In any case the gardens were an amazing sight: A green， leafy， artificial mountain rising off the plain. But did it actually exist? Some historians argue that the gardens were only a fictional creation because they do not appear in a list of Babylonian monuments composed during the period. Either that or they were mixed up with another set of gardens built by King Sennacherib in the city of Nineveh around 700 BC. Is it possible that Greek scholars who wrote the accounts about the Babylon site several centuries later confused these two different locations? If the gardens really were in Babylon， can the remains be found to prove their existence?

If they did exist， what happened to the gardens? There is a report that they were destroyed by an earthquake in the second century BC. If so， the jumbled14) remains， mostly made of mud-brick， probably slowly eroded15) away with the infrequent rains.

Whatever the fate of the gardens were， we can only wonder if Queen Amyitis was happy with her fantastic present， or if she continued to pine for16) the green mountains of her distant homeland.

給思鄉(xiāng)心切的妻子的禮物

各種記載表明，空中花園是由尼布甲尼撒王建造而成的，他從公元前605年開始統(tǒng)治巴比倫城，執(zhí)政長達(dá)43年。根據(jù)記載，尼布甲尼撒王建造這座花園是為了安慰他思鄉(xiāng)心切的妻子安美依迪絲。安美依迪絲是米底王國國王的女兒，她嫁給了尼布甲尼撒，以促使兩個(gè)王國結(jié)盟。然而，安美依迪絲的家鄉(xiāng)綠草叢生、地勢崎嶇、重巒疊嶂，美索不達(dá)米亞平原一馬平川、日光曝曬的地貌讓她覺得十分沮喪。于是，尼布甲尼撒王決定建造一座頂部帶有許多花園的人造山，再現(xiàn)她家鄉(xiāng)的面貌，以排解她的憂愁。

花園構(gòu)造

空中花園很可能并不是真正意義上的被纜索或繩索“懸掛”在空中。這個(gè)名字源于人們對希臘語“kremastos”或拉丁文“pensilis”的不準(zhǔn)確翻譯，其意思不僅指“懸掛”，還指“突出”，就像一個(gè)平臺或是陽臺一樣。

希臘地理學(xué)家斯特拉博在公元前1世紀(jì)描述空中花園時(shí)寫道：“它由拱形平臺組成，層層相疊，坐落于立方狀的柱子之上。這些平臺都是空心的，里面填滿了泥土，可種植最粗大的樹木。那些柱子、拱頂和平臺都是由瀝青和燒制的磚建成的?！?/p>

希臘歷史學(xué)家狄奧多羅斯·西庫魯斯說過，空中花園的一層層地臺是由覆蓋著層層蘆葦、瀝青和瓷磚的巨型石塊組成。在這之上放著“一層由鉛板制成的覆蓋物，這樣一來從土壤里滲透下去的水可能就不至于腐爛地基。在所有這些東西的上面鋪著一層厚度適中的泥土，足夠最粗大的樹木生長。這層泥被鋪平抹勻之后，上面會種上各種各樣的樹，這樣做不僅顯得壯觀，而且也很美觀，可能會令游客覺得賞心悅目”。

空中花園有多大呢？狄奧多羅斯告訴我們這一花園群大約有400英尺寬、400英尺長、80多英尺高。其他記載指出空中花園的高度和外城墻一樣，而據(jù)希羅多德所述，巴比倫城的外城墻高達(dá)320英尺。

真實(shí)還是虛構(gòu)

不管怎樣，空中花園都是一個(gè)神奇的景觀：一座綠意盎然、樹葉茂盛的人造山聳立于平原之上。但是它真的存在過嗎？一些歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為空中花園只是一個(gè)虛構(gòu)物，因其未出現(xiàn)在那個(gè)時(shí)期的巴比倫遺跡名單上?；蛟S是這樣，也或許是人們把空中花園和另一處由辛那赫里布國王(編注：圣經(jīng)中譯作西拿基立，是亞述帝國的國王)在公元前700年左右建于尼尼微城的花園混為了一談。有沒有可能是希臘學(xué)者在幾個(gè)世紀(jì)后記載這處巴比倫的景觀時(shí)把這兩處不同的地點(diǎn)混淆了？如果空中花園真的在巴比倫，能不能找到遺跡來證明其存在過呢？

如果空中花園真的存在過，那后來發(fā)生了什么？有報(bào)道稱空中花園在公元前2世紀(jì)被一場地震摧毀了。如果是這樣的話，那些大部分由泥磚構(gòu)成的雜亂遺跡或許早已被不常有的降雨慢慢地侵蝕而蕩然無存了。

不管空中花園的命運(yùn)如何，我們只能去猜想，安美依迪絲王后是滿足于她這個(gè)奇妙的禮物，還是依然對遠(yuǎn)方那個(gè)山巒疊翠的家鄉(xiāng)望眼欲穿？

Arcadia：現(xiàn)代版“空中樓閣”

Arcadia是新加坡一些老一輩人的私人公寓，于1983年建成。其設(shè)計(jì)者為當(dāng)?shù)亟ㄖ煵碳衣暎瑩?jù)他稱，Arcadia是受古巴比倫“空中花園”的啟發(fā)而建。Arcadia一共有三個(gè)樓群，每個(gè)樓群包含四個(gè)側(cè)樓，呈十字形排列。這種獨(dú)特的設(shè)計(jì)可使每所公寓至少三面采光通風(fēng)，其中兩面朝外，一面朝里。此外，兩個(gè)樓群的樓板面稍稍向中間露天園景區(qū)偏置，并于第七層聚合，形成一個(gè)緊縮的圓環(huán)。而七層以上的樓層則均是垂直建造，不再向內(nèi)偏置。這種與“空中花園”類似的階梯狀排列的建筑風(fēng)格，使得Arcadia堪稱為一個(gè)現(xiàn)代版“空中樓閣”。

the wet

古巴比倫天氣較為干燥，很少下雨。為了解決花園灌溉問題，建造者發(fā)明了“鏈泵”這一傳輸工具。兩個(gè)齒輪用鏈條連接起來，一個(gè)在上一個(gè)在下，下面的齒輪安在一個(gè)軸上，同時(shí)裝有手柄。齒輪的下面是水池，鏈條上懸掛有水桶。當(dāng)轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)下面的齒輪時(shí)，水桶沒入水池裝水，而后被鏈條運(yùn)送到上一層，上面的齒輪轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)使水桶傾斜，水便流入該層的水池中，空的水桶則再被運(yùn)送下去，如此不斷重復(fù)，直至水運(yùn)達(dá)最頂層。當(dāng)最頂層的水池放水時(shí)，水便可沿著渠道流入一層層的花園中。這雖然解決了灌溉問題，但是由于那時(shí)的建筑大多由粘土和稿稈制成的磚塊建成，長期的水流自然避免不了造成磚塊腐爛，破壞地基。

1.surpass [s??pɑ?s] vt. 超過，勝過

2.chariot [?t??ri?t] n. (古代的)雙輪戰(zhàn)車

3.alliance [??la??ns] n. 聯(lián)盟；聯(lián)姻

4.rugged [?r?ɡ?d] adj. 高低不平的

5.sun-baked: 日曬的；曬干的

6.terrain [t??re?n] n. 地形

7.terrace [?ter?s] n. 梯田；露臺

8.vaulted [?v??lt?d] adj. 拱狀的

9.pillar [?p?l?(r)] n. 【建】柱子

10.hollow [?h?l??] adj. 空的

11.asphalt [??sf?lt] n. 天然瀝青

12.slab [sl?b] n. 厚片

13.drench [drent?] v. 濕透；浸透

14.jumble [?d??mbl] vt. 使混亂

15.erode [??r??d] vi. 遭侵蝕

16.pine for: 渴望