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Chapter 5
第五章
The Nile Valley
尼羅河河谷
The beginning of civilization in the valley of the Nile
人類文明發(fā)源于尼羅河河谷
The history of man is the record of a hungry creature in search of food.
人類的歷史也是一部人們四處覓食、逃避饑餓的記錄。
Wherever food was plentiful, thither man has travelled to make his home.
哪里食物豐足，人們就遷徙到哪里去安家。
The fame of the Valley of the Nile must have spread at an early date.
尼羅河河谷肯定在很早的時(shí)期就已名聲在外。
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.
從非洲內(nèi)陸、從阿拉伯沙漠、從亞洲西部，人們成群結(jié)隊(duì)地涌入埃及，分享那里富饒的農(nóng)田。
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."
這些外來者組成了一個(gè)新的種族，稱自己為“雷米”或“人們”，正如我們有時(shí)稱美洲為“上帝的國土一樣”。
They had good reason to be grateful to a Fate which had carried them to this narrow strip of land.
他們有理由感激命運(yùn)之神把他們帶到了這塊狹長的河谷地帶。
In the summer of each year the Nile turned the valley into a shallow lake
每年夏季，泛濫的尼羅河將兩岸變成淺湖；
and when the waters receded all the grainfields and the pastures were covered with several inches of the most fertile clay.
洪水退去，留下幾英寸厚的肥沃黏土，覆蓋著所有的農(nóng)田和牧場。
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.
在埃及，仁慈的尼羅河替代了大量的人力，使人類歷史上第一批大城市的居民得以養(yǎng)活。
It is true that all the arable land was not in the valley.
當(dāng)然，并不是所有的耕地都位于河谷地帶。
But a complicated system of small canals and well-sweeps carried water from the river-level to the top of the highest banks
可通過一個(gè)由許多小運(yùn)河及長等吊桶構(gòu)成的復(fù)雜提水系統(tǒng)，河水從河面被引至堤岸的最高處，
and an even more intricate system of irrigation trenches spread it throughout the land.
再由一個(gè)更精密的灌溉溝渠網(wǎng)，將水分配到各處的農(nóng)田。
