THE kingf Babyln had beaten Nineveh. But he didn"t stp with that. He wanted his Babyln t be as great as Nineveh had been. He wentn cnqueringther lands t the left and right until Babyln， in its turn， became the leader and rulerfther cuntries. Was Babyln， als， in its turn， t fall， as Nineveh had fallen？
When at last the kingf Babyln died， he left his vast empire t his sn. Nw， the king"s sn was nt called Jhnr Jamesr Charlesr anything simple like that. It was-Nebuchadnezzar， and I wnder if his father called him by that lng namer shrtened it t a nickname like Neb， fr instance，r Chad，r perhaps Nezzar. This is the way Nebuchadnezzar wrte his name， fr he used cuneifrm writing. Hw wuld yu like t write yur name in such an unusual way？
Namef Nebuchadnezzar in cuneifrm writing用象形文字书写的尼布甲尼撒的名字Nebuchadnezzar set t wrk and made the cityf Babyln the largest， the mst magnificent， and the mst wnderful city in the wrld. He made the city in the shapef a square and surrunded it with a wall fifty times as high as a man-fifty times-whew！-and s brad that a charit culd be driven alng the tp， and in this wall he madene hundred huge brass gates. The Euphrates River flwed under the wall， acrss the city， andut under the wall at thether side.
Nebuchadnezzar culd nt find anyne in Babyln wh was beautiful t be his queen. The Babylnian wmen must have felt pretty bad-r mad-abut that. He went t Media， the cuntry that had helped his father cnquer Nineveh. There he fund a lvely princess， and s he married her and brught her hme t Babyln.
Nw， Media was a landf hills and muntains， whilst Babyln wasn level grund and withut even a hill in sight. Nebuchadnezzar"s queen fundBabylnia s flat and uninteresting that she became hmesick， and she lnged fr herwn cuntry with its wild muntain scenery. Just t please her and keep her cntented， Nebuchadnezzar set t wrk and built a hill fr her， but the strange thing was he built itn tpf the rff his palace！n the sidesf this hill he made beautiful gardens， and these gardens he planted ntnly with flwers but als with trees， s that his queen might sit in the shade and enjy herself. These were called Hanging Gardens. The Hanging Gardens and the tremendus walls were knwn far and wide asnef the Seven Wndersf the Wrld.
Wuld yu like t knw what thether Wnders were？
Well， the pyramids in Egypt werene； the magnificent statuef Zeus atlympia， where thelympic Games were held， was anther-s thse tw plus the Hanging Gardens make three.
Nebuchadnezzar believed in many gds， like thenes the Phenicians wrshiped. The Jews awayff in Jerusalem believed inne Gd. Nebuchadnezzar wanted the Jews t wrship his gds， but they wuld nt. He als wanted them t pay him taxes， and they wuld nt. S he sent his armies t Jerusalem， destryed the city， burnt the beautiful Temple that Slmn had built， and brught the Jews and all their belngings t Babyln. There in Babyln Nebuchadnezzar kept the Jews prisners， and there in Babyln the Jews remained prisners fr fifty years.
Babyln had becme ntnly the mst magnificent city in the wrld； it had becme als the mst wicked. The peplef Babyln gave themselves up t the wildest pleasures. Theirnly thught seemed t be， "Let"s eat， drink， and be merry"； they thught nthingf the mrrw； the mre wicked the pleasure the mre they liked it.
But althugh Nebuchadnezzar seemed able t d and able t have everything in the wrld he wanted， he finally went crazy. He thught he was a bull， and he used t get dwnn his hands and knees and eat grass， imagining he was a beastf the field.
And Babyln， in spitef its tremendus walls and brass gates， was dmed. Babyln was t be cnquered. It didn"t seem pssible. Hw culd it be cnquered， and wh was t d the cnquering？ Yu wuld prbably never guess.
【中文阅读】
巴比伦国王击败了尼尼微，但是他并没有就此停止。他希望他的巴比伦能像曾 经的尼尼微那样强大。他继续征服左右临近的国家，直到巴比伦城继尼尼微成为其 他国家的领导者和统治者。那么，巴比伦也会像尼尼微那样最终衰亡吗？
18 A Cityf Wnders and Wickedness 91在这位巴比伦国王死后，他把庞大的王国留给了自己的儿子。当时，这位国王 的儿子不是叫约翰、詹姆斯、查尔斯等等这么简单的名字。他的名字叫--尼布甲 尼撒，我不知道他父亲喊他是用这么长的全名，还是用简称，像"尼布"、"查德" 或"尼撒"那样的昵称。下面是尼布甲尼撒书写自己名字的字形（参见第 89 页图）， 他使用的是楔形文字。你喜欢用这种独特的方式书写自己的名字吗？
尼布甲尼撒继位后大展宏图，他把巴比伦建成了当时世界上最大、最宏伟、最 奇妙的城市。他将城市建成四方形，四面环墙，墙高足有人身高的五十倍--五十 倍--嚄！城墙也很宽，可以容下战车在上面行驶。在城墙上他还建了一百扇黄铜 大门。幼发拉底河在城墙下流入，穿过整个城市，再从另一边城墙下流出。
尼布甲尼撒觉得巴比伦的女人都不够美，不能做自己的王后。巴比伦的女人们 对此肯定感到难过--甚至--气得发疯。他去了米堤亚王国，这个国家曾帮助他 父亲征服了尼尼微。在那儿他找到了一位可爱的公主，于是娶她为妻，并把她带回 了巴比伦。
当时，米堤亚是个群山之国，而巴比伦却建在平地上，国内甚至连一座小山也 看不到。尼布甲尼撒的王后发现巴比伦太平坦了，感到很无趣，所以得了思乡病， 向往自己家乡那山峦起伏的天然景色。为了取悦她，使她甘愿留在巴比伦，尼布甲 尼撒用尽心思为她"造了"一座"小山"，但是奇怪的是他把这座小山建在自己王宫 的屋顶上！山坡上他还建了一些美丽的花园，花园里不仅栽花还种树，这样他的王 后就可以坐在树荫下享受美景了。这些花园叫做"空中花园"。 空中花园和巨大的城 墙作为世界七大奇迹之一而远近闻名。
你想知道其他几大奇迹是什么吗？ 让我告诉你吧，埃及的金字塔是一个，矗立在奥林匹亚的宏伟的宙斯神像是另一个，奥林匹亚就是举办奥林匹克运动会的地方--因此，这两个奇迹再加上空中 花园就是三个了。
尼布甲尼撒和腓尼基人一样信奉多神教，而远在耶路撒冷的犹太人只信仰一个 上帝。尼布甲尼撒希望犹太人能信奉他们的多神教，但是犹太人不愿意。他还想要 他们向他缴税，但是他们也不愿意。因此，他派军攻打耶路撒冷，毁灭了这座城市， 烧毁了所罗门修建的华美的圣殿，将犹太人和他们所有的财产都带回了巴比伦。尼 布甲尼撒将犹太人囚禁在巴比伦，而且这一囚禁就是五十年。
巴比伦不仅成为世界上最宏伟的城市，也成了最邪恶的地方。巴比伦城的居民 们纵情享受，生活放荡。他们似乎只想着"让我们尽量吃好、喝好、享受吧"；他们 从不为明天打算；生活越堕落，他们越开心。
尽管尼布甲尼撒好像能够为所欲为、想要什么就能得到什么，但是，最后他却 疯掉了。他认为自己是头公牛，总是四肢着地，啃青草吃，幻想自己就是地上的一 头野兽。
尽管有着巨大的城墙和黄铜做的城门，巴比伦还是灭亡了。巴比伦注定要被攻占。 这一点似乎不可能。它怎么会被攻占呢？又是谁来攻占它呢？你可能永远也猜不到。
