評論
打印
Recording One
錄音一
American researchers have discovered the world's oldest paved road,a 4,600-year-old highway.
美國研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)了世界上最古老的人工鋪就的公路，有4600年的歷史。
It linked a stone pit in the Egyptian desert to waterways that carried blocks to monument sites along the Nile.
這條路連接了埃及沙漠中的一個采石場和幾條運送石塊至尼羅河沿岸紀(jì)念遺址的水路。
The eight-mile road is at least 500 years older than any previously discovered road.
這條八英里長的路比以往發(fā)現(xiàn)的任何一條路至少早500年。
It is the only paved road discovered in ancient Egypt, said geologist Thomas Bown of the United States Geological Survey.
美國地質(zhì)調(diào)查局的地質(zhì)學(xué)家托馬斯·鮑恩表示，這是在古埃及發(fā)現(xiàn)的唯一一條鋪好的路。
He reported the discovery on Friday.
周五，他報告了這一發(fā)現(xiàn)。
"The road probably doesn't rank with the pyramids as a construction feat,
“這條路比不上金字塔的建筑壯舉，
but it is a major engineering achievement",said his colleague, geologist James Harrell of the University of Toledo.
但是一項重大的工程成就，他的同事、托萊多大學(xué)的地質(zhì)學(xué)家詹姆斯·哈勒爾說道。
"Not only is the road earlier than we thought possible, we didn't even think they built roads."
“不僅這條路比我們想象的要早，而且我們甚至沒想過他們會修路。”
The researchers also made a discovery in the stone pit at the northern end of the road; the first evidence that the Egyptians used rock saws.
研究人員在該公路北端的采石場中發(fā)現(xiàn)了埃及人使用巖石鋸的第一個證據(jù)，
"This is the oldest example of saws being used for cutting stone",said Bown's colleague James Hoffmeier of Wheaton College in Illinois.
這是人們用鋸子來切割石頭最古老的例子。
"That's two technologies we didn't know they had",Harrell said.
“我們不知道他們有這兩種技術(shù)，”哈勒爾說。
"And we don't know why they were both abandoned."
“我們不知道為什么這些技術(shù)都被棄用了。”
The road was discovered in the Faiyum Depression, about 45 miles southwest of Cairo.
這條路是在開羅西南約45英里的法尤姆洼地發(fā)現(xiàn)的。
Short segments of the road had been observed by earlier explorers, Bown said,
鮑恩說，早期的探險者已經(jīng)觀測過這條路的一小段，
but they failed to realize its significance or follow up on their observations.
但他們沒有意識到它的重要性，也沒有繼續(xù)觀測
Bown and his colleagues stumbled across it while they were doing geological mapping in the region.
鮑恩和他的同事在該地區(qū)進(jìn)行地質(zhì)測繪時偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)了這條路。
The road was clearly built to provide services for the newly discovered stone pit.
修建這條路顯然是為新發(fā)現(xiàn)的采石場服務(wù)的。
Bown and Harrell have found the camp that housed workers at the stone pit.
鮑恩和哈勒爾已經(jīng)找到了采石場工人的營地。
The road appears today to go nowhere, ending in the middle of the desert.
今天看來，這條路哪兒也通不了，終點就是沙漠中央。
When it was built, its terminal was a dock on the shore of Lake Moeris,
這條路原先建成時的終點是莫爾里斯湖岸邊的一個碼頭，
which had an elevation of about 66 feet above sea level, the same as the dock.
海拔約66英尺，和碼頭一樣高。
Lake Moeris received its water from the annual floods of the Nile.
每年，莫伊里斯湖從尼羅河的洪水中獲得水源。
At the time of the floods,
洪水來臨時，
the river and lake were at the same level and connected through a gap in the hills near the modern villages of el-Lahun and Hawara.
莫伊里斯湖和尼羅河在同一水平面上，并且通過現(xiàn)代el-Lahun和Hawara村莊附近山脈的一個裂口連接。
Harrell and Bown believe that blocks were loaded onto barges during the dry season,
哈勒爾和鮑恩認(rèn)為，旱季，裝載到駁船上的石塊
then floated over to the Nile during the floods to be shipped off to the monument sites at Giza and Saqqara.
隨后在洪水期間漂流至尼羅河，運至吉薩和薩卡拉的紀(jì)念遺址所在地。
Questions 16 to 18 are based on the recording you have just heard.
根據(jù)你剛才聽到的錄音回答16-18題。
16. What do we learn from the lecture about the world’s oldest paved road in Egypt?
問題16：我們從這篇關(guān)于世界上最古老的埃及鋪砌道路文章中學(xué)到了什么?
17.What did the researchers discover in the stone pit?
問題17：研究人員在石坑里發(fā)現(xiàn)了什么？
18. For what purpose was the paved road built?
問題18：鋪好路面是為了什么目的？
