美国学生人类历史第21期:尼罗河流域(4)

 　　Originally these graves had been dug into the rocks of the western mountains

　　最初，这些坟墓是建在西部山脉的岩石里面，

　　but as the Egyptians moved northward¹ they were obliged to build their cemeteries² in the desert.

　　随着埃及人向北 迁移，他们不得不在沙漠里为死者建造坟墓。

　　The desert however is full of wild animals and equally wild robbers

　　不过，沙漠里充斥着凶险的野兽和同样凶险的盗墓贼。

　　and they broke into the graves and disturbed the mummy or stole the jewelry³ that had been buried with the body.

　　他们闯进墓室，搬动木乃伊，窃走随葬的珠宝。

　　To prevent such unholy desecration⁴ the Egyptians used to build small mounds⁶ of stones on top of the graves.

　　为防止这种亵读死者的行为发生，古埃及人在死者的坟墓之上建起小石冢。

　　These little mounds gradually grew in size,

　　石冢被越建越高，

　　because the rich people built higher mounds than the poor and there was a good deal of competition to see who could make the highest hill of stones.

　　后来，随着富人们相互攀比，大家都争着要建最高的石冢。

　　The record was made by King Khufu, whom the Greeks called Cheops and who lived thirty centuries before our era.

　　创造最高纪录的是公元前13世纪的埃及国王胡夫法老，也就是希腊人所说的芝奥普斯王。

　　His mound⁵, which the Greeks called a pyramid (because the Egyptian word for high was pir-em-us) was over five hundred feet high.

　　他的皇陵被希腊人称为金字塔（在古埃及文里，“高”为pir- ern－us），高达500多英尺。

　　It covered more than thirteen acres of desert which is three times as much space as that occupied by the church of St. Peter, the largest edifice⁷ of the Christian⁸ world.

　　胡夫金字塔占地13英亩，其占地面积相当于基督教最大建筑圣彼得教堂的3倍。

　　During twenty years, over a hundred thousand men were busy carrying the necessary stones from the other side of the river-ferrying them across the Nile

　　在 20多年的漫长时间里， 10余万奴隶马不停蹄地从尼罗河对岸搬运石材，将其运过河

　　(how they ever managed to do this, we do not understand), dragging them in many instances a long distance across the desert and finally hoisting⁹ them into their correct position.

　　（他们是怎样完成这项不可思议的工作的，我们仍不知道），再有条不紊地将巨石拖过宽阔的沙漠，最后将其吊装到适当的位置。

　　But so well did the King's architects and engineers perform their task

　　胡夫法老的建筑师和工程师们异常出色地完成了工作。

　　that the narrow passage-way which leads to the royal tomb in the heart of the stone monster has never yet been pushed out of shape by the weight of those thousands of tons of stone which press upon it from all sides.

　　一直到今天，虽然几千吨巨石从各个方向经历了长达数千年的重压，但是通往造老陵墓中心的狭长过道丝毫未曾变形。

1 northward   

adv.向北；n.北方的地区

参考例句：

• He pointed his boat northward.他将船驶向北方。
• I would have a chance to head northward quickly.我就很快有机会去北方了。

2 cemeteries   

n.（非教堂的）墓地，公墓( cemetery的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It's morbid to dwell on cemeteries and such like. 不厌其烦地谈论墓地以及诸如此类的事是一种病态。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• In other districts the proximity of cemeteries seemed to aggravate the disease. 在其它地区里，邻近墓地的地方，时疫大概都要严重些。 来自辞典例句

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 desecration   

n. 亵渎神圣, 污辱

参考例句：

• Desecration, and so forth, and lectured you on dignity and sanctity. 比如亵渎神圣等。想用尊严和神圣不可侵犯之类的话来打动你们。
• Desecration: will no longer break stealth. 亵渎：不再消除潜行。

5 mound   

n.土墩，堤，小山；v.筑堤，用土堆防卫

参考例句：

• The explorers climbed a mound to survey the land around them.勘探者爬上土丘去勘测周围的土地。
• The mound can be used as our screen.这个土丘可做我们的掩蔽物。

6 mounds   

土堆，土丘( mound的名词复数 )； 一大堆

参考例句：

• We had mounds of tasteless rice. 我们有成堆成堆的淡而无味的米饭。
• Ah! and there's the cemetery' - cemetery, he must have meant. 'You see the mounds? 啊，这就是同墓，”——我想他要说的一定是公墓，“看到那些土墩了吗？

7 edifice   

n.宏伟的建筑物(如宫殿，教室)

参考例句：

• The American consulate was a magnificent edifice in the centre of Bordeaux.美国领事馆是位于波尔多市中心的一座宏伟的大厦。
• There is a huge Victorian edifice in the area.该地区有一幢维多利亚式的庞大建筑物。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 hoisting   

起重，提升

参考例句：

• The hoisting capacity of that gin pole (girder pole, guy derrick) is sixty tons. 那个起重抱杆（格状抱杆、转盘抱杆）的起重能力为60吨。 来自口语例句
• We must use mechanical hoisting to load the goods. 我们必须用起重机来装载货物。