本文节选自《5 Steps to a 5 AP World History, 2008-2009 Edition》，讲述的是公元前4000年到公元前900年的美索不达米亚历史
The world’s earliest civilization arose in the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in an area the Greeks called Mesopotamia (“Land Between the Rivers”). The cultural achievements of Mesopotamia represented independent innovation, achievements that it passed on to other river valley civilizations in Egypt and, especially, the Indus valley. Around 4000 B.C.E., the inhabitants of Mesopotamia used bronze and copper. By this time they had already invented the wheel and developed irrigation canals to farm the lands.
世界上最早的文明起源于底格里斯河和幼发拉底河流域，希腊人称之为美索不达米亚(“河流之间的土地”)。美索不达米亚的文化成就代表着自主创新，并将这些成就传给了其他河谷文明，包括埃及，尤其是印度河流域。公元前4000年左右，美索不达米亚的居民使用青铜和铜。那时，他们已经发明了车轮，开发了灌溉运河来耕种土地。
About 3500 B.C.E., a group of invaders called the Sumerians settled in the southern-most portion of Mesopotamia. The Sumerians developed the first example of writing. Called cuneiform, it involved pictures pressed into clay using a wedge-shaped pen. The symbols initially stood for objects, but later were refined to represent sounds. The Sumerians also developed a number system based on 60 and studied the movement of heavenly bodies. In architecture, the Sumerians expressed the glories of their civilization and of the many gods of nature that they worshipped by building towers called ziggurats. They are credited with relating the first epic in world history, The Epic of Gilgamesh, which includes a story of a great flood similar to that of the Bible.
大约公元前3500年，一群叫做苏美尔人的入侵者在美索不达米亚的最南端定居下来。苏美尔人发展了第一个书写的例子。它被称为楔形文字，就是用楔形笔把图画压在粘土上。这些符号最初代表物体，但后来被改进为代表声音。苏美尔人也发展了一个以60为基础的数字系统，并研究了天体的运动。在建筑方面，苏美尔人通过建造称为金字神塔的建筑来表达他们文明的荣耀和他们崇拜的许多自然神。他们被认为讲述了世界历史上第一部史诗——《吉尔伽美什史诗》，其中有一个类似于《圣经》中大洪水的故事。
The Tigris and Euphrates rivers were noted for their unpredictable and often violent flooding. Irrigation systems to control flooding and channel water for agricultural use required the cooperation of Mesopotamia’s settlements. This need promoted the beginnings of government. Early Mesopotamian government was in the form of city-states, with a city government also controlling surrounding territory.
底格里斯河和幼发拉底河以其不可预测和经常猛烈的洪水而闻名。灌溉系统能够控制洪水以及引水用于农业，但需要美索不达米亚平原上各定居点的合作才能发挥作用。这种需要促进了政府的成立。早期的美索不达米亚政府以城邦的形式存在，城邦政府也控制着周围的领土。
A social structure headed by rulers and elite classes controlled the land, which was farmed by slaves. Slaves could sometimes purchase their freedom. In Sumerian soceity, men dominated family and public life. Men had the authority to sell their wives and children into slavery to pay their debts. By the sixteenth century B.C.E., Mesopotamian women had begun to wear the veil in public. In spite of these restrictions, Mesopotamian women could sometimes gain influence in the courts, serve as priestesses, or act as scribes for the government. Some worked in small businesses.
由统治者和精英阶层领导的社会结构控制着由奴隶耕种的土地。奴隶有时可以用金钱换取自由。在苏美尔社会中，男性主导着家庭和公共生活。男人有权把自己的妻子和孩子卖为奴隶来偿还债务。到公元前16世纪，美索不达米亚的妇女已经开始在公共场合戴面纱。尽管有这些限制，美索不达米亚妇女有时可以作为女祭司，或作为政府的抄写员，在宫廷里获得影响力。一些妇女在小作坊工作。
A lack of natural protective barriers made Mesopotamia vulnerable to invasion by out-siders; most cities in the region constructed defensive walls. Frequent conflicts among local Sumerian kings over water and property rights weakened the city-states. The Sumerian culture later fell to conquest by the Akkadians and the Babylonians, both of whom spread Sumerian culture. The Babylonian king Hammurabi devised a code of laws that regulated daily life and also provided harsh “an eye for an eye” punishments for criminal offenses. After 900 B.C.E., Assyrians and Persians dominated Mesopotamia.
由于缺乏自然保护屏障，美索不达米亚很容易受到外来者的入侵；该地区的大多数城市都建造了防御墙。各苏美尔国王之间频繁的关于水和财产权的冲突削弱了城邦。苏美尔文化后来被阿卡德人和巴比伦人征服，他们都传播了苏美尔文化。巴比伦国王汉谟拉比(Hammurabi)制定了一套法典，规范人们的日常生活，并对犯罪行为提供了严厉的“以眼还眼”的惩罚。公元前900年以后，亚述人和波斯人统治了美索不达米亚。