To be nearer to their stars, and also to see them better in a misty land,

为了离他们的星星近一点，也为了在这个多雾的地方看星星看得更清楚些，

the Babylonians, and the Sumerians before them, erected strange buildings with a wonderful name: ziggurats.

巴比伦人和早先的苏美尔人，都已经建造了奇特建筑物，它们有个优美的名字：金字形神塔。

These are tall, broad towers made up of terraces piled one on top of another, with formidable ramps and steep, narrow staircases.

这些又高又宽的塔由几个硕大的平台垒成，有巨大的扶墙和高耸的陡梯。

Right at the very top was a temple dedicated to the moon, or one of the other planets.

塔顶处才是祭祀月亮或行星的神庙。

People came from far and wide to ask the priests to read their fortunes in the stars, and brought offerings of great value.

人们远道而来，听祭司按星星预言自己的命运，他们带来昂贵的献祭品。

These half-ruined ziggurats can still be seen today, poking out of the rubble mounds,

这些梯级塔的断垣残壁至今还凸出于废墟之上，

with inscriptions telling how this or that king built or restored them.

人们找到了国王们讲述他们如何建造或修复它们的铭文。

The earliest kings in this region lived as long ago as 3,000 BC, and the last around 550 BC.

这个地区的头几个国王也许生活在公元前3000年，最后几个国王大约生活在公元前550年。