Chapter 5
第五章
The Nile Valley
尼罗河河谷
The beginning of civilization in the valley of the Nile
人类文明发源于尼罗河河谷
The history of man is the record of a hungry creature in search of food.
人类的历史也是一部人们四处觅食、逃避饥饿的记录。
Wherever food was plentiful, thither man has travelled to make his home.
哪里食物丰足，人们就迁徙到哪里去安家。
The fame of the Valley of the Nile must have spread at an early date.
尼罗河河谷肯定在很早的时期就已名声在外。
From the interior of Africa and from the desert of Arabia and from the western part of Asia people had flocked to Egypt to claim their share of the rich farms.
从非洲内陆、从阿拉伯沙漠、从亚洲西部，人们成群结队地涌入埃及，分享那里富饶的农田。
Together these invaders had formed a new race which called itself "Remi" or "the Men" just as we sometimes call America "God's own country."
这些外来者组成了一个新的种族，称自己为“雷米”或“人们”，正如我们有时称美洲为“上帝的国土一样”。
They had good reason to be grateful to a Fate which had carried them to this narrow strip of land.
他们有理由感激命运之神把他们带到了这块狭长的河谷地带。
In the summer of each year the Nile turned the valley into a shallow lake
每年夏季，泛滥的尼罗河将两岸变成浅湖；
and when the waters receded all the grainfields and the pastures were covered with several inches of the most fertile clay.
洪水退去，留下几英寸厚的肥沃黏土，覆盖着所有的农田和牧场。
In Egypt a kindly river did the work of a million men and made it possible to feed the teeming population of the first large cities of which we have any record.
在埃及，仁慈的尼罗河替代了大量的人力，使人类历史上第一批大城市的居民得以养活。
It is true that all the arable land was not in the valley.
当然，并不是所有的耕地都位于河谷地带。
But a complicated system of small canals and well-sweeps carried water from the river-level to the top of the highest banks
可通过一个由许多小运河及长等吊桶构成的复杂提水系统，河水从河面被引至堤岸的最高处，
and an even more intricate system of irrigation trenches spread it throughout the land.
再由一个更精密的灌溉沟渠网，将水分配到各处的农田。