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Originally these graves had been dug into the rocks of the western mountains
最初，這些墳墓是建在西部山脈的巖石里面，
but as the Egyptians moved northward they were obliged to build their cemeteries in the desert.
隨著埃及人向北 遷移，他們不得不在沙漠里為死者建造墳墓。
The desert however is full of wild animals and equally wild robbers
不過，沙漠里充斥著兇險的野獸和同樣兇險的盜墓賊。
and they broke into the graves and disturbed the mummy or stole the jewelry that had been buried with the body.
他們闖進墓室，搬動木乃伊，竊走隨葬的珠寶。
To prevent such unholy desecration the Egyptians used to build small mounds of stones on top of the graves.
為防止這種褻讀死者的行為發生，古埃及人在死者的墳墓之上建起小石冢。
These little mounds gradually grew in size,
石冢被越建越高，
because the rich people built higher mounds than the poor and there was a good deal of competition to see who could make the highest hill of stones.
后來，隨著富人們相互攀比，大家都爭著要建最高的石冢。
The record was made by King Khufu, whom the Greeks called Cheops and who lived thirty centuries before our era.
創造最高紀錄的是公元前13世紀的埃及國王胡夫法老，也就是希臘人所說的芝奧普斯王。
His mound, which the Greeks called a pyramid (because the Egyptian word for high was pir-em-us) was over five hundred feet high.
他的皇陵被希臘人稱為金字塔（在古埃及文里，“高”為pir- ern－us），高達500多英尺。
It covered more than thirteen acres of desert which is three times as much space as that occupied by the church of St. Peter, the largest edifice of the Christian world.
胡夫金字塔占地13英畝，其占地面積相當于基督教最大建筑圣彼得教堂的3倍。
During twenty years, over a hundred thousand men were busy carrying the necessary stones from the other side of the river-ferrying them across the Nile
在 20多年的漫長時間里， 10余萬奴隸馬不停蹄地從尼羅河對岸搬運石材，將其運過河
(how they ever managed to do this, we do not understand), dragging them in many instances a long distance across the desert and finally hoisting them into their correct position.
（他們是怎樣完成這項不可思議的工作的，我們仍不知道），再有條不紊地將巨石拖過寬闊的沙漠，最后將其吊裝到適當的位置。
But so well did the King's architects and engineers perform their task
胡夫法老的建筑師和工程師們異常出色地完成了工作。
that the narrow passage-way which leads to the royal tomb in the heart of the stone monster has never yet been pushed out of shape by the weight of those thousands of tons of stone which press upon it from all sides.
一直到今天，雖然幾千噸巨石從各個方向經歷了長達數千年的重壓，但是通往造老陵墓中心的狹長過道絲毫未曾變形。
