(单词翻译:单击)
中英文本
The pith of the plant is sliced into strips, which are soaked and pressed together to form sheets-very conveniently, the organic fibres of papyrus were meshed together without needing glue, and the sheets are then dried and rubbed smooth with a stone.
将它的茎髓撕成条,然后浸泡、挤压,形成薄纸,接着晾干,再用石块把表面打磨光滑。
The result is a wonderful surface for writing on-papyrus went on being used across the Mediterranean until about a thousand years ago, and indeed gave most European languages their very word for paper.
纸莎草的有机纤维会自然地缠绕在一起,不需要胶水黏合,十分方便。最后我们得到的便是一张极适合书写的光滑纸面。莎草纸在地中海地区广泛使用,直到一千年前才被替代。莎草纸也是欧洲各国语言中“纸”一词的来源。
But it was expensive-a 17-foot roll like the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus would have cost two copper deben, about the same as a small goat. So this is an object for the well-off.
但这种纸极为昂贵。像莱因德纸草书这样的五米长卷价值两个铜德本,相当于一头小山羊的价钱。因此它基本上是富人使用的。
But why would you spend so much money on a book of mathematical puzzles?
为什么人们要花这么多钱去买一卷数学题呢?
The answer is ... not quite. Because to own this scroll would, in fact, have been a very good career move.
我想是因为这卷数学手卷对公务员的职业生涯大有帮助。
If you wanted to play any serious part in the Egyptian state, you had to be numerate.
如果想要在政府里有所作为,必须学好数学。埃及社会极为复杂,
A society as complex as this needed people who could supervise building works, organise payments, manage food supplies, plan troop movements, compute the flood levels of the Nile-and much, much more.
因此需要监督建筑工程、安排付款、管理食物供应、计划军队调动、计算尼罗河洪水水位等人才。
To be a scribe, a member of the civil service of the pharaohs, you had to demonstrate your mathematical competence.
想要成为书记员,法老手下的一名官员,就必须展现你的数学能力。
As one contemporary writer put it:
就像一位同时代的作家所说:
"So that you may open treasuries and granaries, so that you may take delivery from one corn-bearing ship at the entrance to the granary, so that on feast days you may measure out the gods' offerings."
如此方能打开金库与谷仓,方能从装载玉米的船只或谷仓的入口提取货物,方能在举办盛宴的曰子里,计算出给神灵的供品的数量。

重点讲解
1.go on 发生;进行
His family urges him to go on.
他的家人要他继续说下去。
This cannot go on forever.
这种趋势不会一直持续下去。
2.well-off 手头宽裕的,富有的
The wide-body jet was filled with well-off iranian people.
宽体客机坐满了富裕的伊朗人。
Many beneficiaries are well-off students who borrow the maximum and pop it in a savings account to earn interest.
许多受益者是手头宽裕的学生,但他们最大额度的借款然后将其存入储蓄帐户以赚取利息。
3.spend on 在...花钱
Or how much time you spend on twitter?
你一天要花多长时间在微博上?
So why does the amount we spend on gasoline feel so enormous?
但是为什么我们感到汽油花去了我们相当大的一笔钱?
