1.Three Thousand Years of Heritage—Ancient Egypt 三千多年的傳承——古埃及
Ancient Egypt is located in northeast Africa,the Nile River region,a time span of nearly 3，000 years of ancient civilization.Much of the land is desert.But the River Nile,the longest river in the world,runs through the desert.Egypt has been called“the gift of the Nile .Without the Nile valley,very few people could live in that country.The Nile valley was so fertile that the Egyptians had two or three harvests each year.
With plenty of food,the people did not have to work so hard.They had a lot of free time.That is why the civilization of Egypt began in the Nile valley.The fine cities,Temples and pyramids of ancient Egypt were built on the banks of the Nile.Trade developed along the Nile too.Life in ancient Egypt was more peaceful than life in Summer.Egypt was safer because it had sea and desert round it.This made it difficult for invaders to conquer it.It was much easier for invaders to reach Sumer.
古埃及是位於非洲東北角尼羅河中下遊地區的時間跨度近3000年的古代文明，其國土多為沙漠，但是世界上最長的河流——尼羅河，卻縱貫整個沙漠。埃及一直被稱為“尼羅河的贈禮”。要是沒有尼羅河，就不會有多少人生活在這裏。尼羅河流域相當肥沃，因此，早期埃及人在此種植的莊稼可以一年兩熟或三熟。
由於糧食充裕，所以人們不必拚命勞作，因此他們就有了許多閑暇時間。這也是埃及文明之所以始於尼羅河流域的原因。在古埃及，那些精美的城市、廟宇以及金字塔均建於尼羅河兩岸。貿易也是沿尼羅河而發展的。與蘇美爾相比，在古埃及，人們的生活很安寧，也較為安全，原因在於其周圍有海洋和沙漠環繞。這就使得侵略者難以入侵這片土地。相反，侵略者要想到達蘇美爾卻要容易得多。
History 曆史
The time-chart below shows the important events of ancient Egyptian history.
下述時間表列出了古埃及曆史上發生的重大事件。
Government 政府
In the beginning,the Egyptians belonged to different tribes.The tribes were slowly brought together into two kingdoms：Lower Egypt in the north and Upper Egypt joined the two kingdoms into one.ln 3200 BC,the King of Lower Egypt consisted of the two Kingdoms as a whole,he was thefirst Pharaoh.The Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was not only their king but also one of their gods.Nobody could disagree with him.The pharaohs owned all the land.They made all the laws and controlled the Egyptian army.Their power was passed from father to son.Altogether,thirty families,or dynasties ruled ancient Egypt.
埃及人起初分屬不同的部落，後來，這些部落逐漸聯合為兩個王國，即北部的下埃及和南部的上埃及。大約在公元前3200年，上埃及國王米諾斯將兩個王國合而為一，他是第一位法老。埃及人認為，法老不僅是王。而且是神，任何人都不能與他相違抗。全國的土地均屬法老，所有的法律皆由法老製定，埃及軍隊法老控製，他們的權力父子相傳。先後共有30個家族（王朝）統治過古埃及。
Economic Life 經濟生活
In many ways,economic life in ancient Egypt was like life in Sumer.Most of the early Egyptians were farmers.They invented the plough.It was pulled by oxen guided by a man.Like the Sumerians,the Egyptians kept cattle and sheep.The Egyptians learned to water their land in a clever way.They developed an irrigation system.They dug little canals that carried the water from the river to theirfields.
The Egyptians were good at working with metal.They made tools and weapons from copper and bronze.
古代埃及人的經濟生活在諸多方麵類似於蘇美爾人的生活。早期埃及人大都從事農耕。他們發明了犁。犁用牛拉，而牛則由一名男子在前牽引。與蘇美爾人一樣，埃及人也飼養牛羊。埃及人還學會了一種聰明的方法來灌溉土地，他們開發出一種灌溉係統，他們開挖小型溝渠，然後將水由大河引入農田。
埃及人善於金屬製造。他們用銅和青銅來製造工具和武器。
Building and Art 建築與藝術
Almost all Egyptian buildings,carvings and paintings had a religious purpose.Many of the ancient Egyptian buildings are still there today because they are made of stone.Many of the pyramids can still be seen along the Nile now，4000 years after they were built.The most famous and biggest pyramid is the Great Pyramid built by Khufu,a pharaoh of the Old Kingdom.It took about 100，000 men twenty years to built it.The ancient Greeks included it among the Sever Wonders of the Ancient World.It is the only one of the Seven Wonders still standing today.
The Egyptians also built huge temples of stone.The most famous are the Temple of Karnak and the Temple of Luxor.The Egyptians built these huge pyramids and temples without the machines and tools used today.This is why the Egyptians are called the greatest builders in history.
The Egyptians were also great sculptors.Many of their statues were very large.They were often carved out of rock.The best example is the Great Sphinx.It has the body of a lion and the face of a man who was full of carvings and pictures.They show people in market places,people dancing and playing musical instruments,and people at work.They tell us a lot about the daily life of the ancient Egyptians.
埃及人所有的建築、雕刻和繪畫幾乎都有自己的宗教意圖。古埃及的許多建築物至今仍然聳立在那裏，這是因為他們是由石頭建成的。在尼羅河兩岸，如今仍可見到許多金字塔，而這些金字塔從建成至今已經有4000多年的曆史了。最為有名且最大的金字塔是由古王國法老胡夫下令建造的。大約花費10萬人用了20年時間才建成。古希臘人稱之為“古代世界七大奇跡”，他也是唯一一個保存至今的建築。
埃及人還用石頭建造了大型的廟宇。最為著名的是卡納克神廟和盧克索神廟。埃及人在建造這些巨型的金字塔和廟宇的時候，並沒有我們今天所使用的機器和工具。這正是埃及人被稱為曆史最偉大的建築師的原因所在。
埃及人還是偉大的雕塑家，他們所創作的雕像有許多都很龐大。這些雕像通常都是由岩石雕刻而成的。最為著名就是獅身人麵像。他有獅子一樣的軀體，而卻有著一張人臉，這個人可能就是法老。古代埃及人的墓碑上布滿了各種雕刻和繪畫。這些作品描繪了在市場做生意之人，跳舞和演奏的人，使我們了解許多有關古埃及人日常生活方麵的情況。
Science 科學
The Egyptians were the first people to develop mathematics.They needed it to build pyramids and to know the size of each man\\u0027s land.Every time the waters of the Nile rose,land boundaries were destroyed.Every time the flood waters went down,the land had to be measured to make the boundaries again.To do this,the Egyptians learned arithmetic and geometry.
The Egyptians also had to know when the Nile was going to flood.So they had to know the seasons of the year.They invented a calendar of 365 days.It was the world\\u0027s first calendar based on the movement of the sun.The calendar we use is like the Egyptian calendar.The Egyptians were also the first people to use the 24-hour day.They invented clocks using water and the shadow of the sun to tell the time.
埃及人是最早開發利用數學知識的民族。要想建造金字塔，要想知道每個人所擁有的土地麵積大小，他們就必須具備數學知識。尼羅河水每次上漲，地界都要被衝塌。每當洪水退去，對土地都要進行重新測量以重新劃定地界。為了完成這一工作，埃及人逐步掌握一些算術和幾何學知識。
埃及人也必須掌握尼羅河發洪水的時間。因此，他們也就必須要了解一年當中的季節變換。他們發明出一種以365天為單位的曆法。這是世界上第一個根據太陽運行規律而製定的曆法。我們今天所使用的曆法與埃及人的曆法非常相似。埃及人還是世界上最早將一天分為24小時的民族。他們發明了時鍾、即利用水滴和日影來報時。
Development of Writing 文字的發展
The Egyptians developed a system of picture-writing called hieroglyphics.The Egyptians wrote on papyrus rolls.Papyrus is a water plant.There was a lot of it along the Nile.To make long papyrus rolls,the Egyptians split the papyrus reeds into strips and stuck them together.The word‘paper\\u0027comes from the word‘papyrus\\u0027.
What the Egyptians wrote on was the world\\u0027sfirst paper.Their papyrus rolls were the world\\u0027sfirst books.Hieroglyphic writings can be seen on the Rosetta Stone（196 B.C.）.It was discovered at the mouth of the Nile in A.D.1799.In 1822，a Frenchman discovered what the hieroglyphics meant.His discovery helped historians to learn a lot about ancient Egypt.
埃及人發展出一種圖畫文字係統，這種文字叫做象形文字。埃及人在紙莎卷之上進行書寫。紙莎草是一種水生植物，尼羅河兩岸盛產此種植物。為了能夠製造長長的紙莎卷紙，埃及人便將紙莎草心髓劈成薄片，然後將之粘連起來。“紙張”（paper）就是由紙莎草（papyrus）演化而來的。
埃及人用於用的紙是世界上最早的紙，他們的紙莎卷宗是世界上最早的書籍。從“羅塞達碑”（製作公元前196年）上可以看到用象形文字書寫的作品。該碑在公元1799年發現於尼羅河口。1822年，一位法國人成功的釋讀了這些象形文字的含義，他的這一發現有助於曆史學家對古埃及有更多的了解。
The Decline on Egypt 埃及的衰落
During the period of the empire,Egypt became the richest and most powerful nation in the Middle East.By the 12th century BC,the Egyptian Empire began to lose its power.In 525 BC,Egypt was conquered by the Persians.From then on,the Egyptian civilization,which had lasted for about 3000 years declined.
在帝國時期，埃及成為中東最富庶的、實力最強的國家。到公元前12世紀，埃及帝國開始衰敗。公元前525年，埃及為波斯人征服。從那以後，延續達3000年左右的埃及文明便衰落了。
吉薩金字塔群區地圖
2.First Wonder of the World—Pyramid 世界奇跡之首——金字塔
Brife Introduction of Egyptian Pyramids 埃及金字塔概述
There are 138 pyramids[1]discovered in Egypt by 2008.Most pyramids were built as tombs for the country\\u0027s Pharaohs and their consorts[2]during the Old and Middle Kingdom periods.The earliest Egyptian pyramids—the Pyramid of Djoser（constructed 2630 BC～2611 BC），are found at Saqqara,northwest of Memphis.It was built during the third dynasty.
至2008年，在埃及共有138座金字塔被發現。建造於古王國和中王國時期的金字塔，大部分都是古埃及的法老及其後妃的墓葬。已知最早的埃及金字塔——左塞爾金字塔（公元前2630～2611年建造）被發現於孟菲斯西北的薩卡拉，是第三王朝時建造。
List of Famous Pyramids 著名金字塔一覽
Abu Rawash 阿布拉瓦須金字塔
Abu Rawash is one of pyramid located north of Egypt the mostly ruined Pyramid of Djedefre,son and successor of Khufu.Originally it was thought that this pyramid had never been completed,but the current[3]archaeologst think that it not only has been completed,but it was originally about the same size as the Pyramid of Menkaure,which was the sixth largest pyramids in Egypt.
Its location is adjacent to a major crossroads made it an easy source of stone.Quarrying-which began in Roman times-has left little apart from about courses of stone superimposed upon the natural hillock that formed part of the pyramid\\u0027s core.A small adjacent[4]satellite pyramid is in a better state of preservation.
阿布拉瓦須金字塔是埃及最北的金字塔之一，是埃及法老胡夫的兒子及其繼承者的陵墓。人們最初認為這座金字塔從來沒有完成過，但現今考古學認為它不隻已完工，而且原來的大小約與孟卡拉金字塔相似，是埃及第六大金字塔。
不幸的是，它的位置接近主要的交通要道處，使得它被當成其他建築的石材來源。被露天開采及毀壞時間約為歐洲古羅馬時代時，分散的殘骸僅剩下內部堆疊的石路和石堆構成金字塔的核心，不過鄰近還有一個保存較好的衛星金字塔。
Giza Pyramid 吉薩金字塔
Giza is the location of the biggest Pyramid of Khufu（also known as the“Great Pyramid”and the“Pyramid of Cheops”），and the smaller Pyramid of Khafre,Pyramid of Menkaure,along with a number of smaller satellite edifices known as“Queen\\u0027s pyramids”and the Great Sphinx.
Great Pyramid was built in the fourth dynasty Egyptian King Khufu second reign（about 2670 BC），the original height is 146.5 meters,because the top off,it becomes 136.5 meters high,square at the end surface and each side is about more than two hundred and thirty meters,covers an area of about 80 acres.Tower body is a 2，300，000 boulder composition[5]，their sizes different from each other,respectively,weighing from 1.5 to 160 tons.According to research,It is spent a total of 100，000 people 20 years to build the Great Pyramids.
In the three major pyramids,only Khafre\\u0027s pyramid retains part of its original polished limestone casing which covers its apex.This pyramid appears larger than the adjacent Khufu pyramid by virtue of its more elevated location and the steeper angle[6]of inclination[7]of its construction-it is,in fact,smaller in both height and volume.The Giza Necropolis has been a popular tourist destination since antiquity[8].