世界小史 第25章:信仰

And yet the most important part of the Egyptians' strange religion was their belief that,

但埃及人的奇怪宗教中最重要之處卻是他們的信仰：

although a man's soul left his body when he died, for some reason the soul went on needingthat body,

雖然人一死人的靈魂就離開軀體，但是因為某些原因靈魂還會繼續(xù)需要軀體，

and would suffer if it crumbled into dust.

如果他們從前的肉體在死后化做泥土，那么他們的靈魂便不可能得到安寧。

So they invented a very ingenious way of preserving the bodies of the dead.

所以他們發(fā)明了一種獨特的方式保存死人的肉體。

They rubbed them with ointments and the juices of certain plants, and bandaged them withlong strips of cloth, so that they wouldn't decay.

他們用油膏和某些植物的汁水擦拭尸體并在其周身裹上長布條，從而它們不會腐爛。

A body preserved in this manner is called a mummy.

用這種方式保存的尸體被稱之為木乃伊。

And today, after thousands of years, these mummies are still intact.

今天，好幾千年之后，這些木乃伊仍還沒被毀壞。

A mummy was placed in a coffin made of wood, the wooden coffin in one of stone,

一具木乃伊被放進一具木棺，把木棺放進一具石棺埋起來，

and the stone one buried, not in the earth, but in a tomb that was chiselled out of the rock.

不是把石棺埋入土中，而是將其放進一座巖洞墓穴。

If you were rich and powerful like King Cheops, 'Son of the Sun', a whole stone mountain wouldbe made for your tomb.

如果你像"太陽之子"即國王齊阿普斯那樣富有、有權勢，人們會壘一整座石山作為你的墓穴。

Deep inside, the mummy would be safe - or so they thought!

在石山內部深處，木乃伊一定不會受損--大概他們是這么想的!

But the mighty king's efforts were in vain: his pyramid is empty.

但這位強大的國王的辛勞都是枉然：他的金字塔是空的。