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Listen to part of a lecture in a history class. The professor has been discussing ancient Egypt.
聽一段歷史課。教授講的內容是古埃及。
Ok, so one of the challenges that faced ancient civilizations like Egypt was timekeeping, calendars.
好了，總之，像古埃及這樣的農業文明面臨的一個挑戰是如何記錄時間，即日歷的問題。
When you have to grow food for whole cities of people, it is important to plant your crops at the right time.
當你要為整個城市的人們種植食物時，很重要的一件事情是在合適的時間把植物種下地。
And when you start having financial obligations, rents, taxes, you have to keep track of how often you pay.
一旦當你承擔了經濟責任，比如收納租金、稅，就需要記錄繳納的次數。
So today we will look at how the Egyptians addressed these problems.
所以，今天我們將要看看埃及人是如何解決這些問題的。
In fact, they ended up using two calendars, one to keep track of the natural world, or their agriculture concerns, and another one, that was used to keep track of the business functions of the Kingdom.
實際上，他們使用兩種的日歷。一種與自然界的節律一致，可以滿足他們的農業需要。另一種則用來滿足帝國的經濟功能。
So let's take a look at the hows and whys of one ancient Egyptian calendar system, starting with the Nile River.
所以，讓我們看看其中一種古代埃及日歷是如何運用的。這要從以尼羅河談起。
Why the Nile? Well, there's no other way to put it.
為何從尼羅河談起呢？除了這番理解外，沒有其他的方式來解釋。
Egyptian life basically revolved around the mysterious rise and fall of the river.
即：埃及人的生活始終圍繞著尼羅河神秘的潮起潮落。
The success of their agriculture system depended upon them knowing when the river would change.
他們農業系統的成功與否與是否知道這條河流什么時候會發生變化有關。
So, naturally, their first calendar was divided up into three seasons, each based on the river's changes: inundation, subsidence and harvest.
所以，自然地，他們的第一個日歷系統，分為三個季節，每一個都以河流潮汐的變化為根據。即：淹沒，退卻，和豐收。
The first season was the flooding, or inundation, when the Nile valley was essentially submerged in water for a few months or so.
第一個季節是淹沒，在這個時間里尼羅河的谷底會被水淹沒幾個月。
And afterwards during the season of subsidence, the water would subside, or recede, revealing a new layer of fertile black silt and allowing for the planting of various crops.
之后，輪到了退卻季，那時水就會退卻了，留下一層黑色且肥沃的泥土，為植物的種植提供了合適的土壤。
And finally the time of the year would arrive when the valley would produce crops, such as wheat, barley, fruit, all ready to harvest.
最后，一年中最重要的時間到來了：大量的莊稼從山谷中出產了，包括麥穗，燕麥，水果，都準備成熟了。
Ok, so it was important to the ancient Egyptians to know when their Nile based seasons would occur, their way of life depended upon it.
所以，對于古埃及人來說，他們的生活很大程度上依賴對尼羅河的各季節何時發生的了解。
