Chapter 4: The Old Kingdom of Egypt / 第四章：古埃及王国

Making Mummies / 制作木乃伊

After King Narmer united Upper and Lower Egypt into one country, Egypt grew to be rich and powerful.

在纳尔迈王统一上埃及和下埃及成为一个国家后，埃及变得富有而强大。

We call this time in Egyptian history the "Old Kingdom of Egypt." The Old Kingdom lasted for almost a thousand years—until about the year 2100.

我们将埃及历史中的这个时期称为"古埃及王国"。古王国持续了将近一千年——直到大约公元前2100年。

Before we go on, let's look at that date a little more closely. Usually people write this date with a "BC" or "BCE" after it. "BC" means "Before Christ," and "BCE" means "Before the Common Era."

在我们继续之前，让我们更仔细地看看这个日期。通常人们在这个日期后面写上"BC"或"BCE"。"BC"的意思是"基督之前"，"BCE"的意思是"公元前"。

About fifteen hundred years ago, historians began to use the birth of Jesus as a way to count years. In this system, Jesus was born in "Year 1."

大约一千五百年前，历史学家开始使用耶稣的出生作为计算年份的方法。在这个系统中，耶稣出生在"第1年"。

During the Old Kingdom of Egypt, the Egyptians began to make mummies for the first time. Mummies were the bodies of dead people, treated with spices and salts and wrapped in linen so that they wouldn't decay.

在古埃及王国时期，埃及人开始第一次制作木乃伊。木乃伊是死去的人的身体，用香料和盐处理，并用亚麻布包裹，这样它们就不会腐烂。

The Egyptians believed that dead people went on to another life in the afterworld. But they also believed that the dead could only enter the afterworld if their bodies were preserved. This was called embalming.

埃及人相信死去的人会在来世继续另一种生命。但他们也相信死者只有在身体被保存的情况下才能进入来世。这被称为防腐处理。

Embalming was a very complicated process. Only priests—men who were in charge of worshipping the gods—were allowed to make mummies. And it took more than two months to make a mummy!

防腐处理是一个非常复杂的过程。只有祭司——负责崇拜神的人——才被允许制作木乃伊。制作一个木乃伊需要两个多月！

Let's imagine that we're back in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, at the time of the pharaoh Cheops. Cheops has been pharaoh for years. He has made Egypt's army strong, and he's kept Egypt safe from enemies. But in the middle of the night, word comes from the palace that Cheops is dead.

让我们想象我们回到古埃及王国，法老胡夫的时代。胡夫当法老已经很多年了。他让埃及的军队变得强大，并保护埃及免受敌人的侵害。但在半夜，从宫殿传来消息说胡夫死了。

Instantly the priests start to make preparations. They collect all the things they'll need to make Cheops's body into a mummy—salt, spices, oil, and linen. Cheops is carried from the palace to the temple, where the priests are waiting for him.

祭司们立即开始做准备。他们收集制作胡夫木乃伊所需的所有东西——盐、香料、油和亚麻布。胡夫从宫殿被运到神庙，祭司们在那里等着他。

The priests take the body to a holy place inside the temple. They wash it with wine and spices. Then they take all of Cheops's organs—his liver, his stomach, his lungs, and his intestines—out of his body. They cover the organs with special spices to preserve them.

祭司们把尸体带到神庙内的一个神圣的地方。他们用酒和香料清洗它。然后他们取出胡夫的所有器官——肝脏、胃、肺和肠子——从他的身体里取出来。他们用特殊的香料覆盖器官来保存它们。

Cheops's heart gets special treatment. The chief priest takes the heart out, washes it, wraps it in linen strips, and puts it back into Cheops's chest. The Egyptians believe that Cheops will need his heart in the afterlife. They think that when Cheops reaches the afterworld, the god Osiris will weigh his heart on a special scale.

胡夫的心脏得到特殊的处理。大祭司取出心脏，清洗它，用亚麻布条包裹，然后放回胡夫的胸腔。埃及人相信胡夫在来世会需要他的心脏。他们认为当胡夫到达来世时，神奥西里斯会在特殊的秤上称重他的心脏。

If his heart is good, it will be light and Cheops will spend the rest of the afterlife in happiness. But if his heart is full of sin, it will be heavy—and a monster will eat it!

如果他的心脏是好的，它就会是轻的，胡夫将在来世的余生中享受幸福。但如果他的心脏充满罪恶，它就会很重——一个怪物会吃掉它！

[原书插图：展示BC/BCE和AD/CE时间轴]

Egyptian Pyramids / 埃及金字塔

All of the kings and important people buried in Egypt had gold and jewels in their graves. And everyone in Egypt knew that the graves were full of treasure. What do you think happened?

所有埋葬在埃及的国王和重要的人在他们的坟墓里都有黄金和珠宝。埃及的每个人都知道坟墓里装满了财宝。你认为发生了什么？

At first, the Egyptians of the Old Kingdom dug underground rooms in the desert to bury their mummies. But thieves knew that the mummies had jewelry and treasures buried along with them. Grave robbers often broke into these underground rooms and stole all the treasure.

起初，古王国的埃及人在沙漠中挖掘地下的房间来埋葬他们的木乃伊。但小偷知道木乃伊身上有珠宝和财宝一起埋葬。盗墓者经常闯入这些地下房间，偷走所有的财宝。

So the Egyptians started to build stone tombs out of huge stone blocks with a hole, or shaft, cut into the middle. The mummy and all its clothes, furniture, and jewelry were lowered down the shaft into a treasure room. Then the shaft was filled with stones to keep anyone else from climbing in. These tombs were called mastaba tombs.

所以埃及人开始用巨大的石块建造石头陵墓，在中间挖一个洞或通道。木乃伊和它所有的衣服、家具和珠宝都通过通道降到宝藏室里。然后用石头填满通道，防止其他人爬进去。这些陵墓被称为马斯塔巴陵墓。

But even mastaba tombs weren't good enough for pharaohs. The pharaohs were buried in the biggest tombs of all—pyramids. Pyramids were giant fortresses to keep the pharaohs and their treasures safe. And pyramids were important for another reason. They pointed upwards to the sky.

但即使是马斯塔巴陵墓对法老来说也不够好。法老们被埋葬在最大的陵墓中——金字塔。金字塔是巨大的堡垒，用来保护法老和他们的财宝安全。金字塔还有另一个重要原因。它们向上指向天空。

The Egyptians believed that the pharaoh was a god, and that he would rise up and join the other gods after his death. They thought that the dead pharaoh would climb up to heaven, using the sides of the pyramids like steps.

埃及人相信法老是神，他死后会升起并与其他神灵会合。他们认为死去的法老会攀登到天堂，把金字塔的侧面当作台阶来使用。

Cheops spent over twenty years building his pyramid before he died. He knew that he would be buried in this pyramid when he died, and he wanted his pyramid to be the biggest of all. His pyramid still stands in the desert near Giza (which today is called Cairo, Egypt). It is called the Great Pyramid, because it is the largest of all the 35 pyramids that the Egyptians built for their pharaohs.

胡夫在死前花了二十多年建造他的金字塔。他知道死后会被埋葬在这座金字塔里，他希望自己的金字塔是最大的。他的金字塔至今仍矗立在吉萨附近的沙漠中（今天称为埃及开罗）。它被称为大金字塔，因为它是埃及人为法老建造的35座金字塔中最大的一座。

The Great Pyramid was built around 2550 BC/BCE. It was the highest building in the world for four thousand years. It was built with over two million blocks of stone—and each block weighs almost three tons. That's as heavy as an elephant!

大金字塔建于大约公元前2550年。它是世界上最高的建筑，保持了四千年。它用了二百多万块石头建造——每块石头重近三吨。这和一头大象一样重！

And the Egyptians didn't have any cranes, bulldozers, or earthmovers. Instead, they cut the stone blocks out by hand, with copper and stone tools. Then they built ramps out of rocks and earth up the sides of the pyramids, and dragged the stone blocks up the ramps with ropes.

埃及人没有任何起重机、推土机或推土机。相反，他们用铜和石头工具手工切割石块。然后他们用石头和土在金字塔的侧面建造斜坡，用绳子把石块拖上斜坡。

Hundreds of men pulled together to move the largest stones. Thousands of Egyptians worked on the Great Pyramid, year after year. Finally, the pyramid was finished. Then the Egyptians pulled the ramps down and covered it with sheets of white limestone. Archaeologists think that the pointed stone at the very top of the Great Pyramid even had a golden cap on it.

数百个人一起拉动最大的石头。数千名埃及人年复一年地在大金字塔上工作。最终，金字塔完工了。然后埃及人拆除斜坡，用白色石灰岩薄片覆盖它。考古学家认为大金字塔顶部的尖石上甚至有一个金色的帽子。

The white stone and golden top are gone now, but when the Great Pyramid was first built, it shone in the sun.

白色石头和金色顶部现在都不见了，但当大金字塔刚建成时，它在太阳下发光。

Inside the Great Pyramid was a burial chamber, just for Cheops. But there were also empty chambers and unfinished rooms, and passages that led off into dead ends. Cheops hoped that any thief who broke into the pyramid would get lost in the maze of rooms before he could find the treasure.

大金字塔内部有一个专为胡夫建造的埋葬室。但还有空的房间和未完工的房间，以及通向死胡同的通道。胡夫希望任何闯入金字塔的小偷在找到财宝之前会迷失在房间的迷宫中。

Near the Great Pyramid, the Egyptians built a mysterious monument shaped like a sphinx—an imaginary animal with a man's head and a lion's body. We now call this giant limestone animal the Great Sphinx. The Great Sphinx is as tall as eleven men, standing on each other's shoulders.

在大金字塔附近，埃及人建造了一座神秘的纪念碑，形状像狮身人面像——一种想象中的动物，有人的头和狮子的身体。我们现在称这个巨大的石灰岩动物为大狮身人面像。大狮身人面像有十一个人叠罗汉那么高。

[原书插图：埃及金字塔和骆驼的素描图]

But thieves found Cheops's burial chamber anyway. They got past the Sphinx and through the maze of passages inside the Great Pyramid and stole Cheops's treasure—and his mummy. By the time archaeologists made their way into the pyramid, Cheops and his gold had disappeared forever.

但小偷还是找到了胡夫的埋葬室。他们越过狮身人面像，穿过大金字塔内部的迷宫般的通道，偷走了胡夫的财宝——和他的木乃伊。当考古学家进入金字塔时，胡夫和他的黄金已经永远消失了。

📚 Chapter 4 Vocabulary / 第四章词汇表

历史专业词汇 / Historical Terms

mummies

/ˈmʌmiz/

中文：木乃伊
定义：用防腐材料处理过的尸体
例句：Egyptian mummies were preserved for thousands of years.

pharaoh

/ˈferoʊ/

中文：法老
定义：古埃及的国王
例句：Cheops was a powerful pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid.

pyramids

/ˈpɪrəmɪdz/

中文：金字塔
定义：古埃及法老的陵墓建筑
例句：The pyramids were built to protect the pharaohs' treasures.

embalming

/ɪmˈbɑːmɪŋ/

中文：防腐处理
定义：保存尸体的技术过程
例句：Embalming took more than two months to complete.

afterworld

/ˈæftərwɜːrld/

中文：来世
定义：死后的世界
例句：Egyptians believed in life in the afterworld.

sphinx

/sfɪŋks/

中文：狮身人面像
定义：有人头狮身的神话生物
例句：The Great Sphinx guards the pyramids near Giza.

基础生活词汇 / Basic Life Vocabulary

body

/ˈbɑːdi/

中文：身体
定义：人或动物的物理形态
例句：The priests prepared the pharaoh's body for burial.

heart

/hɑːrt/

中文：心脏
定义：血液循环的重要器官
例句：The heart was carefully preserved for the afterlife.

gold

/goʊld/

中文：黄金
定义：贵重的金属
例句：The pharaoh's mask was made of pure gold.

temple

/ˈtempəl/

中文：神庙
定义：宗教崇拜的建筑
例句：The priests worked in the sacred temple.

treasure

/ˈtreʒər/

中文：财宝
定义：珍贵的物品集合
例句：Grave robbers stole all the treasure from the tomb.

desert

/ˈdezərt/

中文：沙漠
定义：干燥少雨的地区
例句：The pyramids stand in the Egyptian desert.

动作行为词汇 / Actions & Activities

building

/ˈbɪldɪŋ/

中文：建造
定义：构建结构物的过程
例句：Building the Great Pyramid took over twenty years.

preserved

/prɪˈzɜːrvd/

中文：保存
定义：防止腐烂或损坏
例句：The mummy was preserved with salt and spices.

climbing

/ˈklaɪmɪŋ/

中文：攀登
定义：向上移动的动作
例句：The pharaoh would climb to heaven using the pyramid.

disappeared

/ˌdɪsəˈpɪrd/

中文：消失
定义：不再能看见或找到
例句：Cheops's treasure disappeared long ago.

地理相关词汇 / Geography Vocabulary

Egypt

/ˈiːdʒɪpt/

中文：埃及
定义：位于非洲东北部的国家
例句：Ancient Egypt was a powerful civilization.

Giza

/ˈgiːzə/

中文：吉萨
定义：埃及城市，金字塔所在地
例句：The Great Pyramid stands near Giza.

📊 Chapter 4 Processing Statistics / 第四章处理统计

✅ 总段落数: 25个段落
✅ 词汇标注: 73个关键词汇
✅ 专业术语: 14个历史专业词汇
✅ 基础词汇: 59个生活常用词汇
✅ 时间标记: BC/BCE, 2100, 2550等历史时间
✅ 插图标记: 时间轴图和金字塔插图
✅ 词汇分类: 4个主要分类
✅ 发音功能: 完整JavaScript支持