The Maya are probably the best-known of the classical civilizations of Mesoamerica. Originating in the Yucatan around 2,600 B.C., they rose to prominence around A.D. 250 in present-day southern Mexico, Guatemala，northern Belize and western Honduras. While Europe was still in the midst of the Dark Ages，these amazing people had mapped the heavens and were masters of mathematics. Building on the inherited inventions and ideas of earlier civilizations, the Maya developed astronomy, calendrical systems and hieroglyphic (象形文字的) writing. Without metal tools, beasts of burden or even the wheel they were able to construct vast cities across a huge jungle landscape with an amazing degree of architectural perfection and variety. Their legacy in stone，which has survived in a spectacular fashion，lives on as do the seven million descendants (后裔) of the classic Mayan civilization．The Maya were skilled farmers，clearing large sections of tropical rain forest and, where groundwater was scarce，building sizable underground reservoirs for the storage of rainwater. The Maya were equally skilled as weavers and potters，and cleared routes through jungles and swamps to develop extensive trade networks with distant peoples. The Maya were noted as well for elaborate and highly decorated ceremonial architecture, including temple-pyramids, palaces and observatories，all built without metal too1s. The mysterious temples and pyramids (金字塔) of the Maya lie deep within the jungles of Mexico and Guatemala. The pyramids rise as high as twenty-story buildings，with impressive beauty and mystery that stirs the imagination and inspires the soul. This site is truly exceptional，and the surveying and construction skills of so-called primitive societies have been a great appeal. A1l of the buildings are aligned (与……成一条直线) with the stars and the Solar system from precise survey points in the nearby mountain range, using an advanced understanding of mathematics，geometry and astronomy. The Maya were a highly advanced society in religion，magic and art. Yet，unlike the art of other early American societies，Mayan art depicts only two gods: the earth goddess and the rain／sky god. The fact that Mayan art does not prominently portray many gods for worship supports the belief that the Maya communicated directly with their gods in the sun, the moon and the stars. What is the most striking characteristic of the pyramids of the Maya?