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Chapter 06
第六章
The Story of Egypt
埃及的故事
The rise and fall of Egypt
埃及的盛衰
The river Nile was a kind friend but occasionally it was a hard taskmaster.
尼羅河是人類的好友，可有時候，它又像一位嚴厲的監工。
It taught the people who lived along its banks the noble art of "team-work."
它教會了生活在兩岸的人們"協作勞動"的藝術。
They depended upon each other to build their irrigation trenches and keep their dikes in repair.
他們依賴彼此合作的力量，一起建造灌溉溝渠，修筑防洪堤壩。
In this way they learned how to get along with their neighbours and their mutual-benefit-association quite easily developed into an organised state.
這樣一來，他們也學會了如何與自己的鄰人和睦相處。這種互利互惠的聯系很容易發展成了一個有組織的國家。
Then one man grew more powerful than most of his neighbours
后來，有一個精明強干的人，他的權力和威望逐漸膨脹，超過了所有的鄰居們。
and he became the leader of the community and their commander-in-chief when the envious neighbours of western Asia invaded the prosperous valley.
這個人不但順理成章的成為了社區的領袖，而且當嫉妒的西亞鄰居入侵這個富饒河谷時，他還擔當了抵御外敵的軍事首腦。
In due course of time he became their King and ruled all the land from the Mediterranean to the mountains of the west.
到后來，他終于變成了人們的國王，統治著從地中海沿岸到西部山脈的廣袤土地。
But these political adventures of the old Pharaohs (the word meant "the Man who lived in the Big House") rarely interested the patient and toiling peasant of the grain fields.
不過，古埃及法老（法老一詞意為"住在大宮殿里的貴人"）的種種政治冒險事業，很少讓那些勤苦耐勞的農夫們感興趣。
Provided he was not obliged to pay more taxes to his King than he thought just,
只要不被強征超過合理限度的賦稅，只要不加重過分繁重的勞役，
he accepted the rule of Pharaoh as he accepted the rule of Mighty Osiris.
他們就愿意像敬愛大神奧賽西斯一樣，接受法老們的統治。
It was different however when a foreign invader came and robbed him of his possessions.
可一旦某個外族入侵者闖入，剝奪掉他們的所有，情況便會變得很悲慘。
After twenty centuries of independent life, a savage Arab tribe of shepherds, called the Hyksos, attacked Egypt
經過2000年的獨立之后，一個名為希克索斯的野蠻的阿拉伯游牧部落闖入了埃及，
and for five hundred years they were the masters of the valley of the Nile.
統治了尼羅河河谷達500年之久。
