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The pith of the plant is sliced into strips, which are soaked and pressed together to form sheets-very conveniently, the organic fibres of papyrus were meshed together without needing glue, and the sheets are then dried and rubbed smooth with a stone.
將它的莖髓撕成條，然后浸泡、擠壓，形成薄紙，接著晾干，再用石塊把表面打磨光滑。
The result is a wonderful surface for writing on-papyrus went on being used across the Mediterranean until about a thousand years ago, and indeed gave most European languages their very word for paper.
紙莎草的有機纖維會自然地纏繞在一起，不需要膠水黏合，十分方便。最后我們得到的便是一張極適合書寫的光滑紙面。莎草紙在地中海地區廣泛使用，直到一千年前才被替代。莎草紙也是歐洲各國語言中“紙”一詞的來源。
But it was expensive-a 17-foot roll like the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus would have cost two copper deben, about the same as a small goat. So this is an object for the well-off.
但這種紙極為昂貴。像萊因德紙草書這樣的五米長卷價值兩個銅德本，相當于一頭小山羊的價錢。因此它基本上是富人使用的。
But why would you spend so much money on a book of mathematical puzzles?
為什么人們要花這么多錢去買一卷數學題呢？
The answer is ... not quite. Because to own this scroll would, in fact, have been a very good career move.
我想是因為這卷數學手卷對公務員的職業生涯大有幫助。
If you wanted to play any serious part in the Egyptian state, you had to be numerate.
如果想要在政府里有所作為，必須學好數學。埃及社會極為復雜，
A society as complex as this needed people who could supervise building works, organise payments, manage food supplies, plan troop movements, compute the flood levels of the Nile-and much, much more.
因此需要監督建筑工程、安排付款、管理食物供應、計劃軍隊調動、計算尼羅河洪水水位等人才。
To be a scribe, a member of the civil service of the pharaohs, you had to demonstrate your mathematical competence.
想要成為書記員，法老手下的一名官員，就必須展現你的數學能力。
As one contemporary writer put it:
就像一位同時代的作家所說：
"So that you may open treasuries and granaries, so that you may take delivery from one corn-bearing ship at the entrance to the granary, so that on feast days you may measure out the gods' offerings."
如此方能打開金庫與谷倉，方能從裝載玉米的船只或谷倉的入口提取貨物，方能在舉辦盛宴的曰子里，計算出給神靈的供品的數量。
