英语听力：自然百科 神奇水世界 Water-6

 It worked because the water of the river carried something special within it, an almost invisible treasure that was the secret of Egypt’s economic might. 

 

What made Egypt great is this stuff - silt¹. It's a rich supermineral silt, it's like an expresso, tiny flakes² of rock and minerals that the river picked up over its wondering course and swept along with the flow.

 

All rivers carry some silt, but the Nile has the benefit of starting in Ethiopia, where the rock is young and volcanic³. This forms the richness of silts⁴. A hundred and forty million tons of this stuff are carried by Nile down river to Egypt each year. Every year, the seasonal⁵ flood covered the fields and left behind nutrient-rich silt that fertilized⁶ the crops. The more silt, the more food was produced. It was the size of the flood and with it, the bounty⁷ of silt, that the Nilometer was used to predict. 

 

So simply by measuring the heights of the Nile, the Egyptians were able to forecast food production and with it, the profits of the farmers. Each year, they used this information to set tax levels. So the wealth and the might and the splendor⁸ of the Ancient Egypt is all down to a simple twist of geographical⁹ feed. In fact Ethiopia itself gets almost no benefit from that fertile soil washed off its highlands. It’s even said that ,"It’s greatest export is the silt that it sends down the Nile. Silt, that made the Pharaohs rich.

 

But the ebb¹⁰ and flow of the Nile had more far-reaching implications for the Egyptian people than mere¹¹ taxes. Intriguingly¹², maybe that where access to water is limited that actually determines the way a society is organized, even its use of slavery. Where water is in short supply or from a single source as it is in Egypt, you need a highly structured society to get the best out of it.

 

A lot of skilled irrigation - you need bureaucrats¹³ to decide where they think the water channels; you need teams of working men, slaves ready to do actual hard work in digging. And once a channel is in place; you need farmers with money enough to buy the water that it delivered. So right away you've got three tiers of society, and I haven't even mentioned the Pharaohs.

 

1 silt   

n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞

参考例句：

• The lake was almost solid with silt and vegetation.湖里几乎快被淤泥和植物填满了。
• During the annual floods the river deposits its silt on the fields.每年河水泛滥时都会在田野上沉积一层淤泥。

2 flakes   

小薄片( flake的名词复数 )； （尤指）碎片； 雪花； 古怪的人

参考例句：

• It's snowing in great flakes. 天下着鹅毛大雪。
• It is snowing in great flakes. 正值大雪纷飞。

3 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

4 silts   

v.（河流等）为淤泥淤塞( silt的第三人称单数 )；（使）淤塞

参考例句：

• Consolidation settlement occurs mainly in clays or silts. 压缩沉降主要出现在粘土或粉沙中。 来自辞典例句
• Today blowing sand dusts the town and silts its harbor. 如今的摩卡，狂沙肆虐，港口淤缩，一派荒芜。 来自互联网

5 seasonal   

adj.季节的，季节性的

参考例句：

• The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs.这个城镇依靠季节性旅游业提供就业机会。
• The hors d'oeuvre is seasonal vegetables.餐前小吃是应时蔬菜。

6 Fertilized   

v.施肥( fertilize的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The study of psychology has recently been widely cross-fertilized by new discoveries in genetics. 心理学研究最近从遗传学的新发现中受益匪浅。
• Flowers are often fertilized by bees as they gather nectar. 花常在蜜蜂采蜜时受粉。

7 bounty   

n.慷慨的赠予物，奖金；慷慨，大方；施与

参考例句：

• He is famous for his bounty to the poor.他因对穷人慷慨相助而出名。
• We received a bounty from the government.我们收到政府给予的一笔补助金。

8 splendor   

n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌

参考例句：

• Never in his life had he gazed on such splendor.他生平从没有见过如此辉煌壮丽的场面。
• All the splendor in the world is not worth a good friend.人世间所有的荣华富贵不如一个好朋友。

9 geographical   

adj.地理的；地区(性)的

参考例句：

• The current survey will have a wider geographical spread.当前的调查将在更广泛的地域范围內进行。
• These birds have a wide geographical distribution.这些鸟的地理分布很广。

10 ebb   

vi.衰退，减退；n.处于低潮，处于衰退状态

参考例句：

• The flood and ebb tides alternates with each other.涨潮和落潮交替更迭。
• They swam till the tide began to ebb.他们一直游到开始退潮。

11 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

12 intriguingly   

参考例句：

• Intriguingly, she gave to the music a developed although oddly malleable personality. 最神奇的是，她的音乐具有成熟却又很奇怪地极富可塑性。 来自互联网
• Intriguingly, the patients brains were riddled with tangles, but not amyloid plaques. 有趣的是，患者的大脑中充满了各缠结，但并没有粉斑。 来自互联网

13 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句