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The stone walls ______ the farmer's cows from joining his neighbor's cows.
A．conserve
B．restrain
C．keep
D．protect
答案
更多“The stone walls ______ the farmer's cows from joining his neighbor's cows.A．conserveB．rest”相关的问题
第1题
The house is called "White House" because ______ .
A．it's covered with snow
B．the house is very clean
C．the stone walls of the house were painted white
第2题
According to the conversation which statement about the name of the White House is True？
A．It became official before President Theodore Roosevelt had it engraved upon his stationery.
B．It derives the name from the color of the building.
C．The building was restored after being burned in 1814, so the smoke - stained gray stone walls were painted white.
D．Actually the cognomen "White House" was applied to the building some time before it was painte
第3题
A. defensive
B. offensive
C. primitive
第4题
A. grounds
B. reasons
C. causes
D. purposes
第5题
第三节 短文理解2
阅读下列短文，从[A]、[B]、[C]三个选项中选择一个正确答案。
Do you know what the White House is？ Perhaps some of you do, while others don't.
The White House is a house in Washington. The president of the U. S. A. lives in it. It's really white. But do you know why the White House is white？ The story happened in 1812. That year England was at war with America. The British army got to Washington and set the president's house on fire. In 1814, in order to hide the marks of the fire, the stone walls of the president's house were painted white and it has been the "White House" ever since.
White House is a house for ______ .
A．the American people
B．the soldiers of the U. S. A.
C．the president of the U. S. A.
第6题
The word "principal" in the passage is closest in meaning to
DIRECTIONS: READ THE PASSAG
E. THEN ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. GIVE YOURSELF 20 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THIS PRACTICE SET. CAVE ART IN EUROPE THE EARLIEST DISCOVERED TRACES OF ART ARE BEADS AND CARVINGS, AND THEN PAINTINGS, FROM SITES DATING BACK TO THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIO
D. WE MIGHT EXPECT THAT EARLY ARTISTIC EFFORTS WOULD BE CRUDE, BUT THE CAVE PAINTINGS OF SPAIN AND SOUTHERN FRANCE SHOW A MARKED DEGREE OF SKILL. SO DO THE NATURALISTIC PAINTINGS ON SLABS OF STONE EXCAVATED IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. SOME OF THOSE SLABS APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN PAINTED AS MUCH AS 28,000 YEARS AGO, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT PAINTING IN AFRICA IS AS OLD AS PAINTING IN EUROP
E. BUT PAINTING MAY BE EVEN OLDER THAN THAT. THE EARLY AUSTRALIANS MAY HAVE PAINTED ON THE WALLS OF ROCK SHELTERS AND CLIFF FACES AT LEAST 30,000 YEARS AGO, AND MAYBE AS MUCH AS 60,000 YEARS AGO. THE RESEARCHERS PETER UCKO AND ANDREE ROSENFELD IDENTIFIED THREE PRINCIPAL LOCATIONS OF PAINTINGS IN THE CAVES OF WESTERN EUROPE:(1)IN OBVIOUSLY INHABITED ROCK SHELTERS AND CAVE ENTRANCES;(2)IN GALLERIES IMMEDIATELY OFF THE INHABITED AREAS OF CAVES; AND(3)IN THE INNER REACHES OF CAVES, WHOSE DIFFICULTY OF ACCESS HAS BEEN INTERPRETED BY SOME AS A SIGN THAT MAGICAL-RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES WERE PERFORMED THER
E. THE SUBJECTS OF THE PAINTINGS ARE MOSTLY ANIMALS. THE PAINTINGS REST ON BARE WALLS, WITH NO BACKDROPS OR ENVIRONMENTAL TRAPPINGS. PERHAPS, LIKE MANY CONTEMPORARY PEOPLES, UPPER PALEOLITHIC MEN AND WOMEN BELIEVED THAT THE DRAWING OF A HUMAN IMAGE COULD CAUSE DEATH OR INJURY, AND IF THAT WERE INDEED THEIR BELIEF, IT MIGHT EXPLAIN WHY HUMAN FIGURES ARE RARELY DEPICTED IN CAVE ART. ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR THE FOCUS ON ANIMALS MIGHT BE THAT THESE PEOPLE SOUGHT TO IMPROVE THEIR LUCK AT HUNTIN
G. THIS THEORY IS SUGGESTED BY EVIDENCE OF CHIPS IN THE PAINTED FIGURES, PERHAPS MADE BY SPEARS THROWN AT THE DRAWINGS. BUT IF IMPROVING THEIR HUNTING LUCK WAS THE CHIEF MOTIVATION FOR THE PAINTINGS, IT IS DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN WHY ONLY A FEW SHOW SIGNS OF HAVING BEEN SPEARE
D. PERHAPS THE PAINTINGS WERE INSPIRED BY THE NEED TO INCREASE THE SUPPLY OF ANIMALS. CAVE ART SEEMS TO HAVE REACHED A PEAK TOWARD THE END OF THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD, WHEN THE HERDS OF GAME WERE DECREASIN
G. THE PARTICULAR SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CAVE PAINTINGS IN SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE IS MORE EXPLICITLY REVEALED, PERHAPS, BY THE RESULTS OF A STUDY CONDUCTED BY RESEARCHERS PATRICIA RICE AND ANN PATERSO
N. THE DATA THEY PRESENT SUGGEST THAT THE ANIMALS PORTRAYED IN THE CAVE PAINTINGS WERE MOSTLY THE ONES THAT THE PAINTERS PREFERRED FOR MEAT AND FOR MATERIALS SUCH AS HIDES. FOR EXAMPLE, WILD CATTLE(BOVINES)AND HORSES ARE PORTRAYED MORE OFTEN THAN WE WOULD EXPECT BY CHANCE, PROBABLY BECAUSE THEY WERE LARGER AND HEAVIER(MEATIER)THAN OTHER ANIMALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT. IN ADDITION, THE PAINTINGS MOSTLY PORTRAY ANIMALS THAT THE PAINTERS MAY HAVE FEARED THE MOST BECAUSE OF THEIR SIZE, SPEED, NATURAL WEAPONS SUCH AS TUSKS AND HORNS, AND THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THEIR BEHAVIOR. THAT IS, MAMMOTHS, BOVINES, AND HORSES ARE PORTRAYED MORE OFTEN THAN DEER AND REINDEER. THUS, THE PAINTINGS ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE IDEA THAT THE ART IS RELATED TO THE IMPORTANCE OF HUNTING IN THE ECONOMY OF UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPL
E. CONSISTENT WITH THIS IDEA, ACCORDING TO THE INVESTIGATORS, IS THE FACT THAT THE ART OF THE CULTURAL PERIOD THAT FOLLOWED THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC ALSO SEEMS TO REFLECT HOW PEOPLE GOT THEIR FOO
D. BUT IN THAT PERIOD, WHEN GETTING FOOD NO LONGER DEPENDED ON HUNTING LARGE GAME ANIMALS(BECAUSE THEY WERE BECOMING EXTINCT), THE ART CEASED TO FOCUS ON PORTRAYALS OF ANIMALS. UPPER PALEOLITHIC ART WAS NOT CONFINED TO CAVE PAINTINGS. MANY SHAFTS OF SPEARS AND SIMILAR OBJECTS WERE DECORATED WITH FIGURES OF ANIMALS. THE ANTHROPOLOGIST ALEXANDER MARSHACK HAS AN INTERESTING INTERPRETATION OF SOME OF THE ENGRAVINGS MADE DURING THE UPPER PALEOLITHI
C. HE BELIEVES THAT AS FAR BACK AS 30,000
B.
C., HUNTERS MAY HAVE USED A SYSTEM OF NOTATION, ENGRAVED ON BONE AND STONE, TO MARK PHASES OF THE MOO
N. IF THIS IS TRUE, IT WOULD MEAN THAT UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPLE WERE CAPABLE OF COMPLEX THOUGHT AND WERE CONSCIOUSLY AWARE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT. IN ADDITION TO OTHER ARTWORKS, FIGURINES REPRESENTING THE HUMAN FEMALE IN EXAGGERATED FORM. HAVE ALSO BEEN FOUND AT UPPER PALEOLITHIC SITES. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT THESE FIGURINES WERE AN IDEAL TYPE OR AN EXPRESSION OF A DESIRE FOR FERTILITY. DIRECTIONS: NOW ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. THE EARLIEST DISCOVERED TRACES OF ART ARE BEADS AND CARVINGS, AND THEN PAINTINGS, FROM SITES DATING BACK TO THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIO
D. WE MIGHT EXPECT THAT EARLY ARTISTIC EFFORTS WOULD BE CRUDE, BUT THE CAVE PAINTINGS OF SPAIN AND SOUTHERN FRANCE SHOW A MARKED DEGREE OF SKILL. SO DO THE NATURALISTIC PAINTINGS ON SLABS OF STONE EXCAVATED IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. SOME OF THOSE SLABS APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN PAINTED AS MUCH AS 28,000 YEARS AGO, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT PAINTING IN AFRICA IS AS OLD AS PAINTING IN EUROP
E. BUT PAINTING MAY BE EVEN OLDER THAN THAT. THE EARLY AUSTRALIANS MAY HAVE PAINTED ON THE WALLS OF ROCK SHELTERS AND CLIFF FACES AT LEAST 30,000 YEARS AGO, AND MAYBE AS MUCH AS 60,000 YEARS AGO.
第7题
DIRECTIONS: READ THE PASSAG
E. THEN ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. GIVE YOURSELF 20 MINUTES TO COMPLETE THIS PRACTICE SET. CAVE ART IN EUROPE THE EARLIEST DISCOVERED TRACES OF ART ARE BEADS AND CARVINGS, AND THEN PAINTINGS, FROM SITES DATING BACK TO THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIO
D. WE MIGHT EXPECT THAT EARLY ARTISTIC EFFORTS WOULD BE CRUDE, BUT THE CAVE PAINTINGS OF SPAIN AND SOUTHERN FRANCE SHOW A MARKED DEGREE OF SKILL. SO DO THE NATURALISTIC PAINTINGS ON SLABS OF STONE EXCAVATED IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. SOME OF THOSE SLABS APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN PAINTED AS MUCH AS 28,000 YEARS AGO, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT PAINTING IN AFRICA IS AS OLD AS PAINTING IN EUROP
E. BUT PAINTING MAY BE EVEN OLDER THAN THAT. THE EARLY AUSTRALIANS MAY HAVE PAINTED ON THE WALLS OF ROCK SHELTERS AND CLIFF FACES AT LEAST 30,000 YEARS AGO, AND MAYBE AS MUCH AS 60,000 YEARS AGO. THE RESEARCHERS PETER UCKO AND ANDREE ROSENFELD IDENTIFIED THREE PRINCIPAL LOCATIONS OF PAINTINGS IN THE CAVES OF WESTERN EUROPE:(1)IN OBVIOUSLY INHABITED ROCK SHELTERS AND CAVE ENTRANCES;(2)IN GALLERIES IMMEDIATELY OFF THE INHABITED AREAS OF CAVES; AND(3)IN THE INNER REACHES OF CAVES, WHOSE DIFFICULTY OF ACCESS HAS BEEN INTERPRETED BY SOME AS A SIGN THAT MAGICAL-RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES WERE PERFORMED THER
E. THE SUBJECTS OF THE PAINTINGS ARE MOSTLY ANIMALS. THE PAINTINGS REST ON BARE WALLS, WITH NO BACKDROPS OR ENVIRONMENTAL TRAPPINGS. PERHAPS, LIKE MANY CONTEMPORARY PEOPLES, UPPER PALEOLITHIC MEN AND WOMEN BELIEVED THAT THE DRAWING OF A HUMAN IMAGE COULD CAUSE DEATH OR INJURY, AND IF THAT WERE INDEED THEIR BELIEF, IT MIGHT EXPLAIN WHY HUMAN FIGURES ARE RARELY DEPICTED IN CAVE ART. ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR THE FOCUS ON ANIMALS MIGHT BE THAT THESE PEOPLE SOUGHT TO IMPROVE THEIR LUCK AT HUNTIN
G. THIS THEORY IS SUGGESTED BY EVIDENCE OF CHIPS IN THE PAINTED FIGURES, PERHAPS MADE BY SPEARS THROWN AT THE DRAWINGS. BUT IF IMPROVING THEIR HUNTING LUCK WAS THE CHIEF MOTIVATION FOR THE PAINTINGS, IT IS DIFFICULT TO EXPLAIN WHY ONLY A FEW SHOW SIGNS OF HAVING BEEN SPEARE
D. PERHAPS THE PAINTINGS WERE INSPIRED BY THE NEED TO INCREASE THE SUPPLY OF ANIMALS. CAVE ART SEEMS TO HAVE REACHED A PEAK TOWARD THE END OF THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIOD, WHEN THE HERDS OF GAME WERE DECREASIN
G. THE PARTICULAR SYMBOLIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CAVE PAINTINGS IN SOUTHWESTERN FRANCE IS MORE EXPLICITLY REVEALED, PERHAPS, BY THE RESULTS OF A STUDY CONDUCTED BY RESEARCHERS PATRICIA RICE AND ANN PATERSO
N. THE DATA THEY PRESENT SUGGEST THAT THE ANIMALS PORTRAYED IN THE CAVE PAINTINGS WERE MOSTLY THE ONES THAT THE PAINTERS PREFERRED FOR MEAT AND FOR MATERIALS SUCH AS HIDES. FOR EXAMPLE, WILD CATTLE(BOVINES)AND HORSES ARE PORTRAYED MORE OFTEN THAN WE WOULD EXPECT BY CHANCE, PROBABLY BECAUSE THEY WERE LARGER AND HEAVIER(MEATIER)THAN OTHER ANIMALS IN THE ENVIRONMENT. IN ADDITION, THE PAINTINGS MOSTLY PORTRAY ANIMALS THAT THE PAINTERS MAY HAVE FEARED THE MOST BECAUSE OF THEIR SIZE, SPEED, NATURAL WEAPONS SUCH AS TUSKS AND HORNS, AND THE UNPREDICTABILITY OF THEIR BEHAVIOR. THAT IS, MAMMOTHS, BOVINES, AND HORSES ARE PORTRAYED MORE OFTEN THAN DEER AND REINDEER. THUS, THE PAINTINGS ARE CONSISTENT WITH THE IDEA THAT THE ART IS RELATED TO THE IMPORTANCE OF HUNTING IN THE ECONOMY OF UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPL
E. CONSISTENT WITH THIS IDEA, ACCORDING TO THE INVESTIGATORS, IS THE FACT THAT THE ART OF THE CULTURAL PERIOD THAT FOLLOWED THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC ALSO SEEMS TO REFLECT HOW PEOPLE GOT THEIR FOO
D. BUT IN THAT PERIOD, WHEN GETTING FOOD NO LONGER DEPENDED ON HUNTING LARGE GAME ANIMALS(BECAUSE THEY WERE BECOMING EXTINCT), THE ART CEASED TO FOCUS ON PORTRAYALS OF ANIMALS. UPPER PALEOLITHIC ART WAS NOT CONFINED TO CAVE PAINTINGS. MANY SHAFTS OF SPEARS AND SIMILAR OBJECTS WERE DECORATED WITH FIGURES OF ANIMALS. THE ANTHROPOLOGIST ALEXANDER MARSHACK HAS AN INTERESTING INTERPRETATION OF SOME OF THE ENGRAVINGS MADE DURING THE UPPER PALEOLITHI
C. HE BELIEVES THAT AS FAR BACK AS 30,000
B.
C., HUNTERS MAY HAVE USED A SYSTEM OF NOTATION, ENGRAVED ON BONE AND STONE, TO MARK PHASES OF THE MOO
N. IF THIS IS TRUE, IT WOULD MEAN THAT UPPER PALEOLITHIC PEOPLE WERE CAPABLE OF COMPLEX THOUGHT AND WERE CONSCIOUSLY AWARE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT. IN ADDITION TO OTHER ARTWORKS, FIGURINES REPRESENTING THE HUMAN FEMALE IN EXAGGERATED FORM. HAVE ALSO BEEN FOUND AT UPPER PALEOLITHIC SITES. IT HAS BEEN SUGGESTED THAT THESE FIGURINES WERE AN IDEAL TYPE OR AN EXPRESSION OF A DESIRE FOR FERTILITY. DIRECTIONS: NOW ANSWER THE QUESTIONS. THE EARLIEST DISCOVERED TRACES OF ART ARE BEADS AND CARVINGS, AND THEN PAINTINGS, FROM SITES DATING BACK TO THE UPPER PALEOLITHIC PERIO
D. WE MIGHT EXPECT THAT EARLY ARTISTIC EFFORTS WOULD BE CRUDE, BUT THE CAVE PAINTINGS OF SPAIN AND SOUTHERN FRANCE SHOW A MARKED DEGREE OF SKILL. SO DO THE NATURALISTIC PAINTINGS ON SLABS OF STONE EXCAVATED IN SOUTHERN AFRICA. SOME OF THOSE SLABS APPEAR TO HAVE BEEN PAINTED AS MUCH AS 28,000 YEARS AGO, WHICH SUGGESTS THAT PAINTING IN AFRICA IS AS OLD AS PAINTING IN EUROP
E. BUT PAINTING MAY BE EVEN OLDER THAN THAT. THE EARLY AUSTRALIANS MAY HAVE PAINTED ON THE WALLS OF ROCK SHELTERS AND CLIFF FACES AT LEAST 30,000 YEARS AGO, AND MAYBE AS MUCH AS 60,000 YEARS AGO.
第8题
The Mystery of the Mayas
The ruins of once-beautiful cities in the forests of Central America tell scientists much about the amazing people who built them. But they do not tell why these cities were suddenly abandoned over one thousand years ago. Around A. D. 800, something mysterious happened to the Mayan civilization. Walls and foundations for new buildings were left unfinished. To modern archeologists, it looked as if the cities had been abandoned. What happened？ What is the possible explanation of this mystery？
Early Discoveries
In the late 1700's, a group of explorers cutting their way through a forest in Central America came upon the ruins of an ancient city. Under a tangle of trees and vines, they found large, well-de- signed stone buildings and handsome stone monuments. Some of the stones were covered with a strange kind of writing. Carvings on other stones showed that at least some of the people who lived in the area long before were highly advanced.
Questions Raised
In the next 150 years, more cities were discovered. They seemed to be part of a great civilization stretching across 500 miles (about 800 kilometers) of forest. In 1881, an Englishman named Alfred Maudslay led the first big scientific expedition to study the ruins in the forest. Maudslay was an archeologist, a scientist who studies the remains of ancient communities for clues to how the people lived. Other expeditions followed, but at first they found more questions than answers: Who built the cities, and when the cities were built？ How had the people lived here in the middle of a rain forest？ Most puzzling of all, what happened to them？
Possible Answers
Gradually, some of the answers have been pieced together. Today, living in parts of Mexico and Guatemala, there are brown skinned Indian people called the Mayas. Scientists believe that the ancestors of these Indians built the cities and carved the stone monuments.
Dates carved on some monuments show that they were put up between A. D. 300 and 800, but bits of buried pottery tell us that the Mayas had lived in some of their cities for hundreds of years earlier. At the height of Mayan civilization, there must have been over two million people living in and around hundreds of beautiful towns and cities.
Archeologists digging in these cities have uncovered roads, a few water reservoirs, and temples built one on top of another. Handsome pictures made of sculptured plaster and painted in bright colors were found on the walls of buildings. Painted pots and pieces of carefully carved jewelry were discovered in tombs under the floors of temples. These pictures and objects showed much about the Mayas' life. There were scenes of people working, people at war, nobles holding court, priests in fantastic costumes, and Mayan gods.
Possible Errors
For a long time, archeologists worked only on uncovering large Mayan structures, such as temples, palaces, and ball courts. Little effort was made to find the remains of smaller buildings, such as houses. The seeming absence of houses led people to believe that the cities were only the homes of priests and rulers, who lived in the palaces. They thought the ordinary people probably lived in the countryside and came to the cities only for religious ceremonies.
New Evidence
In recent years, new evidence has been uncovered at a number of Mayan cities by different groups of archeologists. The University of Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia has just finished a twelve-year study of Tikal, the biggest of the Mayan cities. More than one hundred small houses varied, too. Some had many remains of finely decorated pottery. Others had fewer and plainer pieces. The houses were very close together, with little space to raise food, except in small gardens. Change of View
These new findings changed our picture of Mayan
A．Y
B．N
C．NG
第9题
Architecture
Architecture, the practice of building design and its resulting products; customary usage refers only to those designs and structures that are culturally significant. Architecture is to building as literature is to the printed word. One would say today that architecture must satisfy its intended uses, must be technically sound, and must convey aesthetic meaning. But the best buildings are often so well constructed that they go beyond their original use. They then survive not only as beautiful objects, but as documents of the history of cultures, achievements in architecture that testify to the nature of the society that produced them. These achievements are never wholly the work of individuals. Architecture is a social art.
Architectural form. is inevitably influenced by the technologies applied, but building technology is conservative and knowledge about it is cumulative (积累的). Precast (预制的) concrete, for instance, has not made brick out of date. Although design and construction have become highly sophisticated and are often computer directed, this complex apparatus (器械) rests on preindustrial traditions inherited from thousands of years during which most structures were lived in by the people who erected them. The technical demands on building remain the elemental ones-to exclude enemies, and to avoid discomforts caused by an excess of heat or cold or by the intrusion of rain, wind, or pests. This is no trivial assignment even with the best modem technology.
The availability of suitable materials fostered the crafts to exploit them and influenced the shapes of buildings. Large areas of the world were once forested, and their inhabitants developed carpentry (木工工作). Although it has become relatively scarce, timber remains an important building material.
Many kinds of stone lend themselves to building. Stone and marble were chosen for important monuments because they are fireproof and can be expected to endure. Stone is also a sculptural material; stone architecture was often integral with stone sculpture. The use of stone has declined, however, because a number of other materials are more adaptive to industrial use and assembly.
Some regions lack both timber and stone; their peoples used the earth itself, stuffing certain mixtures into walls or forming them into bricks to be dried in the sun. Later they baked those substances in kilns, producing a range of bricks and files with greater durability. Thus, early cultures used substances occurring in their environment and invented the tools, skills, and technologies to exploit a variety of materials, creating a legacy that continues to inform. more industrialized methods.
Building with stones or bricks is called masonry (石建筑或砖建筑). The elements join together through sheer gravity or the use of bonding materials, first composed of lime and sand. The Romans found natural cement that, combined with inert substances, and produced concrete. They usually faced this with materials that would give a better finish. In the early 19th century truly waterproof cement was developed, the key ingredient of modem concrete.
In the 19th century also, steel suddenly became abundant; rolling mills turned out shapes that could make structural frames stronger than the traditional wooden frames. Moreover, steel rods could be positioned in wet concrete so as to greatly improve the flexibility of that material, giving impetus early in the 20th century to new forms facilitated by reinforced concrete construction. The subsequent large quantity of aluminum provided cladding (surfacing) material that was lightweight and virtually maintenance free. In recent decades, elaborate systems for vertical transportation, the control of temperature and humidity, forced ventilation, artificial lighting, sanitation, control of fire, and the distribution of electricity and other services have been deve
A．Y
B．N
C．NG
第10题
The Babylonian kingdom flourished under the rule of the famous King, Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). It was not until the reign of Naboplashar (625-605 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty that the Mesopotamian civilization reached its ultimate glory. His son, Nebuchadnezzar Ⅱ (604-562 BC) is credited for building the legendary Hanging Gardens. It is said that the Gardens were built by Nebuchadnezzar to please his wife or concubine who had been "brought up in Media and had a passion for mountain surroundings".
Detailed descriptions of the Gardens come from ancient Greek sources, including the writings of Strabo and Philo of Byzantium. "The Hanging Garden has plants cultivated above ground level, and the roots of the trees are embedded in an upper terrace rather than in the earth. The whole mass is supported on stone columns... Streams of water emerging from elevated sources flow down sloping channels... These waters irrigate the whole garden saturating the most of plants and keeping the whole area moist... This is a work of art of royal luxury and its most striking feature is that the labor of cultivation is suspended above the heads of the spectators".
While the most descriptive accounts of the Gardens come from Greek historians such as Berossus and Diodorus Siculns, Babylonian records stay silent on the matter. Tablets from the time of Nebuchadnezzar do not have a single reference to the Hanging Gardens, although descriptions of his palace, the city of Babylon, and the walls are found. Even the historians who give detailed descriptions of the Hanging Gardens never saw them. Modern historians argue that it was the imagination of poets and ancient historians that blended all these elements together to produce one of the World Wonders.
It wasn't until the twentieth century that some of the mysteries surrounding the Hanging Gardens were revealed. Archaeologists are still struggling to gather enough evidence before reaching the final conclusions about the location of the Gardens, their irrigation system, and their true appearance. Some recent researchers even suggest that the Hanging Gardens were built by Senaherib, not by Nebuchadnezzar Ⅱ (ca. 100 years earlier). Other findings include the Vaulted Building with thick walls and an irrigation well near the southern palace. A group of archaeologists surveyed the area of the southern palace and reconstructed the Vaulted Building as the Hanging Gardens. However, the Greek historian Strabo had stated that the gardens were situated by the River Euphrates. So others argue that the site is too far from the Euphrates to support the theory since the Vaulted Building is several hundreds of meters away. They reconstructed the site of the palace and located the Gardens in the area stretching from the River to the Palace. On the fiver banks, recently discovered massive walls 25m thick may have been stepped to form. terraces--the ones described in Greek references.
The most spectacular feature of the Hanging Gardens is ______.
A．its shape
B．its plants
C．its decoration
D．its position
