While man of the prehistoric age had been obliged to spend sixteen hours out of every twenty-four gathering food for himself and the members of his tribe,
史前人类通常要1天劳动16个小时，为自己的家人和部落成员寻找食物。
the Egyptian peasant or the inhabitant of the Egyptian city found himself possessed of a certain leisure.
可埃及的农民和城市居民却拥有一定的闲暇时间。
He used this spare time to make himself many things that were merely ornamental and not in the least bit useful.
他们把这些空余时间用于制作许多仅具装饰性而毫无实用价值的东西。
More than that. One day he discovered that his brain was capable of thinking all kinds of thoughts which had nothing to do with the problems of eating and sleeping and finding a home for the children.
不仅如此。有一天，他突然发现自己的脑子能用来想各式各样、希奇古怪的念头。这些念头与日常的吃饭啊、穿衣啊、睡觉啊、为小孩子找个住处啊都毫无关系。
The Egyptian began to speculate upon many strange problems that confronted him.
埃及人开始思考他们面临的很多奇怪的问题。
Where did the stars come from? Who made the noise of the thunder which frightened him so terribly?
是谁使尼罗河水规规矩矩的按时涨落，让日历可以据此制定出来？
Who made the River Nile rise with such regularity that it was possible to base the calendar upon the appearance and the disappearance of the annual floods?
尼罗河潮水的涨落有如此的规则，可以根据它定年历的，这是谁管的？
Who was he, himself, a strange little creature surrounded on all sides by death and sickness and yet happy and full of laughter?
还有他自己，一个被死亡和疾病团团包围，却同样能感受幸福与欢笑 的奇怪生物，又是谁呢？
He asked these many questions and certain people obligingly stepped forward to answer these inquiries to the best of their ability.
他问了许多这样的问题，有人则恳切地走上前来，尽其所能地加以解答。
The Egyptians called them "priests" and they became the guardians of his thoughts and gained great respect in the community.
古埃及人把这些负责解答问题的人称为“祭司”，他们是思想的守护者，倍受一般老百姓的尊重。
They were highly learned men who were entrusted with the sacred task of keeping the written records.
他们学识渊博，被委以用文字书写历史的神圣职务。