2016年4月10日功課

THE STORY OF EGYPT

埃及的故事

THE RISE AND FALL OF EGYPT

埃及的興起與衰落。

THE river Nile was a kind friend but occasionally it was a hard taskmaster. It taught the people who lived along its banks the noble art of ``team-work. '' They depended upon each other to build their irrigation trenches and keep their dikes in repair. In this way they learned how to get along with their neighbours and their mutual-benefit-association quite easily developed into an organised state.

尼羅河是埃及人和藹的朋友，但偶爾也是一個(gè)嚴(yán)厲的監(jiān)工。它教會了沿河而居的人們“團(tuán)隊(duì)工作”——這項(xiàng)高貴的藝術(shù)。他們相互依賴的修建灌溉水渠和修繕河堤。如此一來，他們學(xué)會了怎樣與鄰居和睦相處，并且他們這種互利的聯(lián)盟形式非常容易的發(fā)展成一個(gè)有組織的國家。

2016年4月11日功課

Then one man grew more powerful than most of his neighbours and he became the leader of the community and their commander-in-chief when the envious neighbours of western Asia invaded the prosperous valley. In due course of time he became their King and ruled all the land from the Mediterranean to the mountains of the west.

然后，一個(gè)人變得比他的大多數(shù)鄰居們都更有權(quán)利，他成為這個(gè)社區(qū)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，并且在當(dāng)西亞嫉妒的鄰幫入侵這個(gè)繁榮的河谷時(shí)作為他們的指揮官。在適當(dāng)?shù)臅r(shí)候，他成為了他們的國王，統(tǒng)治著從地中海到西面山脈的所有土地。

2016年4月12日功課

But these political adventures of the old Pharaohs (the word meant ``the Man who lived in the Big House'') rarely interested the patient and toiling peasant of the grain fields. Provided he was not obliged to pay more taxes to his King than he thought just, he accepted the rule of Pharaoh as he accepted the rule of Mighty Osiris.

但是法老（這個(gè)詞的意思是“住在大房子里的那個(gè)人”）的那些政治冒險(xiǎn)很少能激起田地里勞動人民和勤勞的農(nóng)民的興趣。只要他沒有被強(qiáng)制給他的國王繳比他預(yù)想的多的稅，他就會接受法老的統(tǒng)治就像他接受強(qiáng)勢的奧西里斯的統(tǒng)治一樣。

2016年4月13日功課

It was different however when a foreign invader came and robbed him of his possessions. After twenty centuries of independent life, a savage Arab tribe of shepherds, called the Hyksos, attacked Egypt and for five hundred years they were the masters of the valley of the Nile. They were highly unpopular and great hate was also felt for the Hebrews who came to the land of Goshen to find a shelter after their long wandering through the desert and who helped the foreign usurper by acting as his tax-gatherers and his civil servants.

不過當(dāng)一個(gè)外來入侵者到來，并搶奪了埃及人的財(cái)產(chǎn)，情況就大不一樣了。在與世隔絕的生活的2000年后，埃及被一支野蠻的阿拉伯游牧部隊(duì)襲擊了，他們是西克索斯人。在接下來的500年里，尼羅河河谷由他們統(tǒng)治。西克索斯人非常不受歡迎，同樣遭到極度厭惡的還有希伯來人。希伯來人為了尋找一個(gè)棲息地，在沙漠里經(jīng)過漫長的探索來到富饒的歌珊地地區(qū)。他們幫助外來的侵略者，充當(dāng)他們的收稅官和公務(wù)員。

2016年4月14日功課

But shortly after the year 1700 B.C. the people of Thebes began a revolution and after a long struggle the Hyksos were driven out of the country and Egypt was free once more.

但在過了公元前17世紀(jì)不久，底比斯的人們開始了一場革命。經(jīng)過長期的艱苦奮斗，西克索斯人被趕出了這個(gè)國家，埃及人再次恢復(fù)了自由。

2016年4月15日功課

A thousand years later, when Assyria conquered all of western Asia, Egypt became part of the empire of Sardanapalus. In the seventh century B.C. it became once more an independent state which obeyed the rule of a king who lived in the city of Sa?s in the Delta of the Nile. But in the year 525 B.C., Cambyses, the king of the Persians, took possession of Egypt and in the fourth century B.C., when Persia was conquered by Alexander the Great, Egypt too became a Macedonian province. It regained a semblance of independence when one of Alexander's generals set himself up as king of a new Egyptian state and founded the dynasty of the Ptolemies, who resided in the newly built city of Alexandria.

一千年以后，當(dāng)亞述王國征服整個(gè)西亞后，埃及變成了薩丹納帕露斯帝國的一部分。在公元前七世紀(jì)時(shí)埃及再一次成為一個(gè)獨(dú)立的國家，國王在位于尼羅河三角洲的城市——塞易斯統(tǒng)治這個(gè)國家。但在公元前525年，波斯國王岡比西斯占領(lǐng)了埃及。然后，當(dāng)亞歷山大大帝在公元前四世紀(jì)攻占波斯時(shí)，埃及也變成了馬其頓人的一個(gè)省。當(dāng)亞歷山大大帝的一個(gè)將軍封自己為埃及的國王后，埃及重新獲得表面上的獨(dú)立。托勒密將軍開創(chuàng)了托勒密王朝，他居住在新建的亞歷山大城。

2016年4月16日功課

Finally, in the year 89 B.C., the Romans came.The last Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, tried her best to save the country.Her beauty and charm were more dangerous to the Roman generals than half a dozen Egyptian army corps.Twice she was successful in her attacks upon the hearts of her Roman conquerors.But in the year 30 B.C., Augustus, the nephew and heir of C?sar, landed in Alexandria.He did not share his late uncle's admiration for the lovely princess.He destroyed her armies, but spared her life that he might make her march in his triumph as part of the spoils of war.When Cleopatra heard of this plan, she killed herself by taking poison. And Egypt became a Roman province.

最終，在公元前89年，羅馬人來了?？死麣W佩特拉，埃及最后的女王，盡她最大的女里來拯救這個(gè)國家。對于羅馬的將軍來說，她的美麗與魅力要比埃及一半的軍隊(duì)更危險(xiǎn)。它兩次讓羅馬的征服者都拜倒在她的石榴裙之下。但在公元前30年，凱撒的侄兒與繼承者——奧古斯都，來到了亞歷山大城。他沒有繼承他已故叔叔對這個(gè)可愛的女王的愛戀。他摧毀了她的軍隊(duì)，但赦免了她的性命，以便在凱旋而歸時(shí)，作為戰(zhàn)利品在隊(duì)伍中游行。當(dāng)克利歐佩特拉聽說他的計(jì)劃后，服毒自殺了。然后，埃及變成了羅馬的一個(gè)省。