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It owes its name to an Aberdeen lawyer, Alexander Rhind, who in the 1850s took to wintering in Egypt because the dry heat helped his tuberculosis.
紙草書因一位阿伯丁律師亞歷山大萊因德而得名。十九世紀五十年代，他來埃及過冬,因為干燥炎熱的天氣對治療他的結核病有好處。
There, in Luxor, he bought this papyrus, which turns out to be the largest mathematical text we know, not just from Egypt but from anywhere in the ancient world.
在盧克索，他買到這張手卷，它后來被證明是我們已知的全埃及乃至全世界最大的古代數學文本。
As it is extremely sensitive to humidity and to light, we keep it here in the British Museum, in the Papyrus Room, which I am just going to go into now.
因其對光線與濕度極為敏感，我們將它保存在大英博物館里。
It's pretty dry and pretty stuffy in here, in fact I imagine rather like the conditions in an Ancient Egyptian tomb, which suits the papyrus-above all because of course it's dark, and therefore the writing doesn't fade.
這間屋子干燥且密不通風，最重要的足室內全黑，十分適合在潮濕狀況下會腐爛、強光下會褪色的莎草紙。
The whole papyrus would originally have been about 17 feet (or 5m) long and would normally have been rolled up in a scroll.
整個手卷原長約五米，通常會被卷成卷軸。
Today it's in three pieces-the two largest ones in the British Museum.
如今則分為了三部分。較大的兩部分保存在大英博物館。
It's simply framed under glass to protect it. The papyrus is about a foot (or 30cm) high, and if you look closely you can see the fibres of the papyrus plant.
紙草書高約三十厘米，湊近了還能看到紙莎草的纖維。
Making papyrus is laborious but in fact, quite straightforward.
制作莎草紙是繁重的體力活兒，但程序卻很簡單。
The plant itself-a kind of reed that can grow to about 15 feet (or 4.5m) high-was plentiful in the Nile Delta.
這種植物是蘆筆 的一種，能長到四米五，在尼羅河三角洲極為常見。
