評論
打印
While man of the prehistoric age had been obliged to spend sixteen hours out of every twenty-four gathering food for himself and the members of his tribe,
史前人類通常要1天勞動16個小時，為自己的家人和部落成員尋找食物。
the Egyptian peasant or the inhabitant of the Egyptian city found himself possessed of a certain leisure.
可埃及的農民和城市居民卻擁有一定的閑暇時間。
He used this spare time to make himself many things that were merely ornamental and not in the least bit useful.
他們把這些空余時間用于制作許多僅具裝飾性而毫無實用價值的東西。
More than that. One day he discovered that his brain was capable of thinking all kinds of thoughts which had nothing to do with the problems of eating and sleeping and finding a home for the children.
不僅如此。有一天，他突然發現自己的腦子能用來想各式各樣、希奇古怪的念頭。這些念頭與日常的吃飯啊、穿衣啊、睡覺啊、為小孩子找個住處啊都毫無關系。
The Egyptian began to speculate upon many strange problems that confronted him.
埃及人開始思考他們面臨的很多奇怪的問題。
Where did the stars come from? Who made the noise of the thunder which frightened him so terribly?
是誰使尼羅河水規規矩矩的按時漲落，讓日歷可以據此制定出來？
Who made the River Nile rise with such regularity that it was possible to base the calendar upon the appearance and the disappearance of the annual floods?
尼羅河潮水的漲落有如此的規則，可以根據它定年歷的，這是誰管的？
Who was he, himself, a strange little creature surrounded on all sides by death and sickness and yet happy and full of laughter?
還有他自己，一個被死亡和疾病團團包圍，卻同樣能感受幸福與歡笑 的奇怪生物，又是誰呢？
He asked these many questions and certain people obligingly stepped forward to answer these inquiries to the best of their ability.
他問了許多這樣的問題，有人則懇切地走上前來，盡其所能地加以解答。
The Egyptians called them "priests" and they became the guardians of his thoughts and gained great respect in the community.
古埃及人把這些負責解答問題的人稱為“祭司”，他們是思想的守護者，倍受一般老百姓的尊重。
They were highly learned men who were entrusted with the sacred task of keeping the written records.
他們學識淵博，被委以用文字書寫歷史的神圣職務。
