This ancient city is known to the world as Angkor Wat(吴哥窟)
after its most beautiful temple, but the true wonder is the city
itself, that is actually called Angkor. 1. ______
The first temples were completed in eighth century by early 2. ______
Khmer king Jayavarman and his heirs kept building on his legacy.
The whole of Angkor was built on a period of about 100 years. It 3. ______
never stopped. It was to recreate in Hindu mythology the Mount
Mira, the Hindu Heaven. And the kings wanted to elevate
themselves to a god-like status and progressive kings enlarged
upon it. And so it just grew and grew. Each king wanted to build
other temple. They were trying to create Heaven on Earth. 4. ______
The luxurious jungle paradise they created inevitably caught
the attention of the neighboring kingdom of Siam now is known as 5. ______
Thailand. After one hundred years of off-and-on battle, the Thai
armies began to get the up hand. At the end of it, the Cambodian 6. ______
people were exhausting. Their resources had run out. The Thais 7. ______
had a relatively easy victory when they finally sacked Angkor in
1431. But a mystery surrounds their victory. Without warning the
Thai armies abandoned Angkor as suddenly as they conquered
them and to this day no one knows why. 8. ______
The Royal Court just literally walked away from Angkor
completely. The couple of temples was maintained and visited 9. ______
from time to time. But basically they just turned their back on it.
And the magnificent city became lost in the mists of time. Over
one hundred years later, the world is also beginning to understand
the glory of Angkor. For being a heaven city that transcends time, 10. ______
Angkor ascends to number three on our list.