世界小史 第31章:書卷

They wrote on long strips of this papyrus, which were then rolled up into scrolls.

他們寫在這種莎草紙的長條片上，然后卷成書卷。

A whole heap of these scrolls has survived.

一大堆這樣的書卷被保存下來了。

And when we read them we discover just how wise and clever those ancient Egyptians really were.

當(dāng)我們看的時候我們發(fā)現(xiàn)古埃及人是多么睿智和聰明啊。

Would you like to hear a saying written more than 5,000 years ago?

你想聽一聽5000多年前一個人記下來的一句格言嗎?

But you must listen and think about it carefully:

但你得留點神并好好思考一下：

Wise words are rarer than emeralds, yet they come from the mouths of poor slave girls who turn the millstones.

智慧的言語比綠色的寶石還稀罕，即使它們出自轉(zhuǎn)磨盤的女婢之口。

Because the Egyptians were so wise and so powerful their empire lasted for a very long time.

由于埃及人十分睿智和強大有力，所以他們的王國存在了很久。

Longer than any empire the world has ever known: nearly 3,000 years.

比迄今所知道的的世界上的任何一個王國更長久，幾乎長達(dá)3000年之久。

And they took just as much care as they did with their corpses, when they preserved them from rotting away,

一如他們小心保存尸體使它們不致毀壞，

in preserving all their ancient traditions over the centuries.

他們也嚴(yán)格保持了古老的風(fēng)俗習(xí)慣達(dá)數(shù)千年之久。

Their priests made quite sure that no son did anything his father had not done before him.

他們的教士們嚴(yán)格監(jiān)管，不讓子孫們做任何祖先們沒有做過的事。

To them, everything old was sacred.

他們把一切舊的事物奉為神圣。