2016年4月1日功課

THE NILE VALLEY

尼羅河河谷

THE BEGINNING OF CIVILISATION IN THE VALLEY OF THE NILE.

人類(lèi)文明在尼羅河河谷開(kāi)始。

THE history of man is the record of a hungry creature in search of food. Wherever food was plentiful, thither man has travelled to make his home.

人類(lèi)的歷史就是一群饑餓生物尋找食物的記錄。哪里食物豐富，人類(lèi)就到哪里安家。

2016年4月2日功課

The fame of the Valley of the Nile must have spread at an early date. From the interior of Africa and from the desert of Arabia and from the western part of Asia people had flocked to Egypt to claim their share of the rich farms. Together these invaders had formed a new race which called itself ``Remi'' or ``the Men'' just as we sometimes call America ``God's own country. '' They had good reason to be grateful to a Fate which had carried them to this narrow strip of land. In the summer of each year the Nile turned the valley into a shallow lake and when the waters receded all the grainfields and the pastures were covered with several inches of the most fertile clay.

尼羅河河谷的名聲一定在很早就廣為流傳。來(lái)自非洲中部，阿拉伯半島沙漠和亞洲西部的人們蜂擁而至，來(lái)到埃及瓜分這個(gè)富饒的農(nóng)場(chǎng)。這些入侵者一起組成了一個(gè)新的種族，他們稱(chēng)自己叫做“雷米”或者“這些人”，就像我們有時(shí)稱(chēng)美洲為“上帝的國(guó)土?！彼麄冇泻芎玫脑蛞卸?，命運(yùn)讓他們生在這塊狹窄的帶狀土地上。每年夏天尼羅河將這片土地變成一片平湖，當(dāng)洪水褪去所有莊稼地和牧場(chǎng)上都覆蓋了幾英寸厚肥沃的土壤。

2016年4月3日功課

In Egypt a kindly river did the work of a million men and made it possible to feed the teeming population of the first large cities of which we have any record. It is true that all the arable land was not in the valley. But a complicated system of small canals and well-sweeps carried water from the river-level to the top of the highest banks and an even more intricate system of irrigation trenches spread it throughout the land.

在埃及，一條溫和的河流能頂一百萬(wàn)人所做的工作，這使得有史以來(lái)最早的城市養(yǎng)育密集的人口成為可能。事實(shí)上不是所有的耕地都在河谷里。但一個(gè)由小水渠和圧水裝置組成的復(fù)雜系統(tǒng)，將水從河面運(yùn)到高堤的頂部，還有一個(gè)更復(fù)雜的灌溉水渠系統(tǒng)引向田地的各個(gè)角落。

2016年4月4日功課

While man of the prehistoric age had been obliged to spend sixteen hours out of every twenty-four gathering food for himself and the members of his tribe, the Egyptian peasant or the inhabitant of the Egyptian city found himself possessed of a certain leisure. He used this spare time to make himself many things that were merely ornamental and not in the least bit useful.

史前時(shí)期，人們每天24小時(shí)里有16個(gè)小時(shí)必須去為自己和族人采集食物。這些埃及的農(nóng)民以及城市居民在尋找食物時(shí)有一些空閑時(shí)間。史前人利用這些閑暇時(shí)間給自己制作一些純裝飾性物品，這些東西一點(diǎn)別的用處都沒(méi)有。

2016年4月5日功課

More than that.One day he discovered that his brain was capable of thinking all kinds of thoughts which had nothing to do with the problems of eating and sleeping and finding a home for the children.The Egyptian began to speculate upon many strange problems that confronted him.Where did the stars come from?Who made the noise of the thunder which frightened him so terribly?Who was he, himself, a strange little creature surrounded on all sides by death and sickness and yet happy and full of laughter?

不僅僅是這些。有一天，他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己的大腦可以思考各種與吃飯、睡覺(jué)以及給孩子找住處完全無(wú)關(guān)的想法。這個(gè)埃及人開(kāi)始思考沉思許多他所面對(duì)的學(xué)多奇怪的問(wèn)題。星星從哪里來(lái)？那讓人萬(wàn)分驚恐的雷聲是誰(shuí)制造的？他自己是誰(shuí)，這個(gè)被死亡、疾病所包圍的同時(shí)又快樂(lè)并充滿歡笑的奇怪的渺小的生物？

2016年4月6日功課

He asked these many questions and certain people obligingly stepped forward to answer these inquiries to the best of their ability. The Egyptians called them ``priests'' and they became the guardians of his thoughts and gained great respect in the community. They were highly learned men who were entrusted with the sacred task of keeping the written records. They understood that it is not good for man to think only of his immediate advantage in this world and they drew his attention to the days of the future when his soul would dwell beyond the mountains of the west and must give an account of his deeds to Osiris, the mighty God who was the Ruler of the Living and the Dead and who judged the acts of men according to their merits. Indeed, the priests made so much of that future day in the realm of Isis and Osiris that the Egyptians began to regard life merely as a short preparation for the Hereafter and turned the teeming valley of the Nile into a land devoted to the Dead.

他有這么多的疑問(wèn)，就有特定的人親切的主動(dòng)站出來(lái)竭盡全力回答這些咨詢(xún)。埃及人稱(chēng)他們?yōu)椤凹浪尽保麄兂蔀槿藗兯枷氲氖刈o(hù)者，在社區(qū)中獲得極高的尊敬。他們是飽學(xué)之士，被委以神圣的職責(zé)——進(jìn)行書(shū)寫(xiě)記錄。祭司們認(rèn)為人們僅僅思索自己現(xiàn)世眼前的利益是不好的，于是祭司們把人們的注意力引向未來(lái)的時(shí)刻——當(dāng)他們的靈魂棲息在西方的群山之上，必須向歐里西斯解釋自己的行為之時(shí)。歐里西斯是主宰生死的萬(wàn)能上帝，依據(jù)人們的功過(guò)評(píng)判人們的所作所為。事實(shí)上，祭司們做了那么多關(guān)于未來(lái)在伊希斯和歐里西斯的國(guó)土的事情，以至于埃及人開(kāi)始認(rèn)為生命僅僅是為死后做的短暫的準(zhǔn)備，將富饒的尼羅河河谷視為一塊獻(xiàn)給死亡的土地。

2016年4月7日功課

In a strange way, the Egyptians had come to believe that no soul could enter the realm of Osiris without the possession of the body which had been its place of residence in this world. Therefore as soon as a man was dead his relatives took his corpse and had it embalmed. For weeks it was soaked in a solution of natron and then it was filled with pitch. The Persian word for pitch was ``Mumiai'' and the embalmed body was called a ``Mummy. '' It was wrapped in yards and yards of specially prepared linen and it was placed in a specially prepared coffin ready to be removed to its final home. But an Egyptian grave was a real home where the body was surrounded by pieces of furniture and musical instruments (to while away the dreary hours of waiting) and by little statues of cooks and bakers and barbers (that the occupant of this dark home might be decently provided with food and need not go about unshaven).

不可思議的是，埃及人開(kāi)始相信拋開(kāi)這具在凡世棲身的皮囊，沒(méi)有靈魂可以進(jìn)入奧西里斯的國(guó)土。所以，一旦一個(gè)埃及人死去，他的親人們馬上會(huì)接過(guò)他的尸體并做防腐處理。尸體在泡堿溶液里浸泡數(shù)周時(shí)間，然后涂抹上瀝青。瀝青在波斯語(yǔ)中叫做“木米艾”，做過(guò)防腐處理的尸體叫做“木乃伊”。尸體在一個(gè)備有特質(zhì)抹布的院子里進(jìn)行包裹，它被放在一個(gè)事先準(zhǔn)備好的特殊棺材里面，這將會(huì)被移送到它最終的家園。一個(gè)埃及人的墓穴可是一個(gè)真正的家，尸體周?chē)鷶[滿了家具和樂(lè)器（用來(lái)打發(fā)等候時(shí)枯燥的時(shí)間），還有廚師、面包師和理發(fā)師的塑像（也許這黑暗家園的主人還得適當(dāng)?shù)貍湫┦澄铮膊荒懿恍捱叿淖邉?dòng)）。

2016年4月8日功課

Originally these graves had been dug into the rocks of the western mountains but as the Egyptians moved northward they were obliged to build their cemeteries in the desert.The desert however is full of wild animals and equally wild robbers and they broke into the graves and disturbed the mummy or stole the jewelry that had been buried with the body.To prevent such unholy desecration the Egyptians used to build small mounds of stones on top of the graves. These little mounds gradually grew in size, 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. The record was made by King Khufu, whom the Greeks called Cheops and who lived thirty centuries before our era. His mound, which the Greeks called a pyramid (because the Egyptian word for high was pir-em-us) was over five hundred feet high.

最初，埃及人的墓穴挖在西面山上的巖石里，但隨著埃及人向北遷移，他們不得不把墓地建在沙漠里。不過(guò)，沙漠里充滿了野獸和野蠻的強(qiáng)盜。盜賊毀壞墓穴，驚擾木乃伊還盜竊陪葬的珠寶。為了避免這種罪惡的褻瀆亡人的行為，埃及人通常用石頭在墳上壘一個(gè)石丘。這些小石丘的尺寸漸漸變大了，因?yàn)楦蝗艘雀F人建更高的石丘。曾有大量的比賽，看看誰(shuí)能建出最高的石頭山丘。最高的石丘記錄是由胡夫法老創(chuàng)造的，希臘人稱(chēng)之為吉奧普斯，他生活在據(jù)我們30世紀(jì)之前的時(shí)代。希臘人稱(chēng)他的墳?zāi)篂榻鹱炙ㄒ驗(yàn)榘＜拔闹斜硎靖叩脑~是“庇里穆斯”），高度超過(guò)500英尺。

2016年4月9日功課

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 edifice of the Christian world.

胡夫金字塔占了超過(guò)13英畝的沙漠，是圣彼得大教堂的三倍還多，是基督建筑世界里最大的大廈了。

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 (how they ever managed to do this, we do not understand), dragging them in many instances a long distance across the desert and finally hoisting them into their correct position. But so well did the King's architects and engineers perform their task 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.

20多年間，成千上萬(wàn)的人忙于從河的對(duì)岸運(yùn)輸必須的石材——從尼羅河的對(duì)岸擺渡過(guò)來(lái)（它們?cè)鯓釉O(shè)法做到這些的，我們無(wú)從得知）。多數(shù)情況下需要在沙漠上拖運(yùn)很長(zhǎng)的距離，最終把它們升高安放在合適的位置上。不過(guò)，國(guó)王的建筑師與工程師們把工作做的如此好，通往這個(gè)石頭龐然大物核心的皇家墓室的狹窄通道在經(jīng)受了來(lái)自四面八方的幾千頓石頭的重壓后從未被擠壓變形。