世界小史 第48期:富庶的埃及

 You may know how the story goes on: how there was a famine throughout the land, and how Joseph's brothers traveled to Egypt to buy corn.

你知道，这故事后来如何继续，一场大饥荒如何肆虐全国以及约瑟的兄长们如何进入富庶的埃及，想在那儿购买粮食。

At that time, the pyramids were already over 1,000 years old, and Joseph and his brothers must have marveled at them, just as we do today.

当时金字塔已存在了1000多年，约瑟和他的兄长们跟我们今天一样对它们感到惊异。

Rather than return to their own country, Joseph's brothers and their children settled in Egypt,

雅各的儿子们以及他们的孩子们随后就迁居到埃及，而不是回到自己的国家。

and before long had to toil¹ for the pharaoh as the Egyptians did at the time of the pyramids.

不久他们就不得不像金字塔时期的埃及人那样为法老做苦工。

In the first chapter of Exodus² we read: "And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor³: and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage⁴, in mortar⁵ and in brick..."

摩西第二经第一章记载着：“埃及人残忍地强迫以色列的子孙们做工并用艰辛的制陶土和砖瓦的工作使他们的日子过得十分艰难…”

In the end, Moses led them out of Egypt into the desert–probably in around 1,250 BC.

最后摩西带领犹太人离开埃及走进沙漠。这是在公元前1250年左右。

From there they tried to win back the promised land–that is, the land in which their ancestors had lived since the time of Abraham.

然后他们从那儿试图重新占领迦南，这就是说，重新占领他们的祖先自亚伯拉罕以来一直在那儿居住的土地。

1 toil   

vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事

参考例句：

• The wealth comes from the toil of the masses.财富来自大众的辛勤劳动。
• Every single grain is the result of toil.每一粒粮食都来之不易。

2 exodus   

v.大批离去，成群外出

参考例句：

• The medical system is facing collapse because of an exodus of doctors.由于医生大批离去，医疗系统面临崩溃。
• Man's great challenge at this moment is to prevent his exodus from this planet.人在当前所遇到的最大挑战，就是要防止人从这个星球上消失。

3 rigor   

n.严酷，严格，严厉

参考例句：

• Their analysis lacks rigor.他们的分析缺乏严谨性。||The crime will be treated with the full rigor of the law.这一罪行会严格依法审理。

4 bondage   

n.奴役，束缚

参考例句：

• Masters sometimes allowed their slaves to buy their way out of bondage.奴隶主们有时允许奴隶为自己赎身。
• They aim to deliver the people who are in bondage to superstitious belief.他们的目的在于解脱那些受迷信束缚的人。

5 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。