To the degree that peace talks with israel would ease mr assad ' s isolation ? and ingratiating himself with the west may well be the cynical extent of mr assad ' s intentions ? they might indeed complicate america ' s present strategic calculations in the middle east 考虑到与以色列举行和谈会缓解叙利亚的孤立状态，而且阿萨德这种迎合西方的举动，可能恰好展现出他意图中表里不一、愤世嫉俗的一面，因而和谈也许会搅乱美国目前在中东的战略考虑。
In time came other cities in other places : harappa and mohenjodaro in the indus valley , memphis and thebes in egypt , yin and shang cities in china , mycenae in greece , knossos in crete , ugarit in syria and , most spectacularly , rome , the first great metropolis , which boasted , at its zenith in the third century ad , a population of more than 1m people 历史到了特定时刻，其他区域的城邦不断涌现：印度河河谷的哈拉帕和摩罕达约、埃及的孟斐斯和底比斯、中国的殷商古城、希腊的迈锡尼、克利特岛的克诺萨斯、叙利亚的乌加列，还有最蔚为富丽的伟大都城罗马，在公元3实际的鼎盛时期，其自夸拥有超过一百万的人口。
