世界小史 第20章：非洲氣候

In Africa it is hot, and for months on end it doesn't rain.

非洲氣候炎熱，接連好幾個月不下雨。

In many regions very little grows.

許多地方只能生長少量作物。

These are deserts, as are the lands on either side of Egypt.

這片土地是一片沙漠，埃及的左邊和右邊也是這樣的一片沙漠。

Egypt also gets very little rain.

在埃及本土也不常下雨。

But here they don't need it, because the Nile flows right through the middle of the country, from one end to the other.

但這兒的人不需要雨水，因為尼羅河的一邊到另一邊正好從埃及的中部流過。

Twice a year, when heavy rain filled its sources, the river would swell and burst its banks, flooding the whole land.

一年兩次，每逢尼羅河源頭下大雨，河流就會漲滿，然后漫過河岸，淹沒整個埃及的土地。

Then people were forced to take to boats to move among the houses and the palm trees.

于是人們就得坐船在房屋和棕櫚樹間來回行駛。

And when the waters withdrew, the earth was wonderfully drenched and rich withoozing mud.

大水退去，土地浸透了水，地面上凈是肥沃的爛泥。

There, under the hot sun, the grain grew as it did nowhere else.

后來那里在炎熱的陽光下長出了其他地方長不出來的豐美無比的糧食。

Which is why, from earliest times, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile as if it were God himself.

所以埃及人也就自遠古以來一直崇拜他們的尼羅河，仿佛它自身就是神。

Would you like to hear a hymn they sang to their river, 4,000 years ago?

你想聽一首他們在4000年前就為它而唱的歌嗎?