英國語文第六冊(雙語):尼羅河流域(2)

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When the flood is at the highest, the whole valley and delta of the Nile appear as a vast inland sea, dotted with towns and villages, and scattered mounds, barely emerging from the surface. At this season all communication has to be maintained by boats, save where, between places of importance, a few viaducts have been raised. Between September and December the river subsides, and the land is tilled; and by June the harvest has been reaped. But the cultivators of Egypt need not limit their labours to the production of a single crop: in lands advantageously situated as many as three crops are annually raised by means of artificial irrigation, managed by water-wheels of the simplest construction; the crops being chiefly grain, cotton, and indigo.

當(dāng)洪水泛濫的時候，整個尼羅河河谷和三角洲就像一個巨大的內(nèi)陸海，城鎮(zhèn)和村莊星羅相接，零星的土堆幾乎沒有露出水面。在這個季節(jié)，所有的通訊都必須由船只來維持，除了一些重要地點之間的高架橋。在九月到十二月之間，河水會消退，土地被耕種。到了六月，收割已經(jīng)完成。不過，埃及的耕種者不需要把他們的勞動限制在單一的農(nóng)作物上：在地理位置優(yōu)越的土地上，通過人工灌溉，由最簡單的水車進(jìn)行操作，人們每年可最多種植三種農(nóng)作物。其中農(nóng)作物的品種主要是谷物、棉花和木藍(lán)。

Alexandria, the second town of Egypt, and its chief mercantile port, is but a desolate and wretched-looking city, not-withstanding the advantages it has of late years derived from its position in the route of the overland journey to India. The Turkish quarter is yet most filthy and unwholesome, and the mass of the inhabitants are to all appearance plunged in squalor and poverty. This town, which, from its fine harbour, has been termed "The key of Egypt," does not stand on the site of the famous city built by Alexander the Great, which, according to Pliny, was fifteen miles in circuit, and contained three hundred thousand inhabitants. The ancient city, which was burnt to ashes, with its world-renowned library, by the Kaliph Omar, in the year 640, stood to the south of the present Alexandria, on a site which is now covered for the space of six or seven miles in circuit with a confused mass of ruins. Here stands the famous Pompey's Pillar; and hence it was that many of the spoils which enrich the public places and the museums of European cities were derived.

亞歷山大港是埃及的第二大城鎮(zhèn)，也是埃及的主要商業(yè)港。雖說它在通往印度的陸路上占據(jù)了優(yōu)勢，但它仍是一座荒涼而破敗的城市。土耳其有四分之一的地區(qū)仍屬最骯臟、最不衛(wèi)生的地區(qū)，從表面上看，大部分居民都生活在骯臟和貧窮之中。這座小城因其優(yōu)美的海港而被稱為“埃及的鑰匙”，但它并非坐落在亞歷山大大帝建造的著名城市的遺址上。據(jù)普林尼所述，這座城市周長15英里，有30萬居民。公元640年，位于現(xiàn)亞歷山大城南部的古城連同舉世聞名的圖書館都被哈里發(fā)奧馬爾燒成灰燼，之后這里方圓六七英里內(nèi)都變成了廢墟。著名的龐貝柱便矗立在這里，許多豐富了歐洲城市公共場所和博物館的戰(zhàn)利品也出自這里。