Originally these graves had been dug into the rocks of the western mountains
最初，这些坟墓是建在西部山脉的岩石里面，
but as the Egyptians moved northward they were obliged to build their cemeteries in the desert.
随着埃及人向北 迁移，他们不得不在沙漠里为死者建造坟墓。
The desert however is full of wild animals and equally wild robbers
不过，沙漠里充斥着凶险的野兽和同样凶险的盗墓贼。
and they broke into the graves and disturbed the mummy or stole the jewelry that had been buried with the body.
他们闯进墓室，搬动木乃伊，窃走随葬的珠宝。
To prevent such unholy desecration the Egyptians used to build small mounds of stones on top of the graves.
为防止这种亵读死者的行为发生，古埃及人在死者的坟墓之上建起小石冢。
These little mounds gradually grew in size,
石冢被越建越高，
because the rich people built higher mounds than the poor and there was a good deal of competition to see who could make the highest hill of stones.
后来，随着富人们相互攀比，大家都争着要建最高的石冢。
The record was made by King Khufu, whom the Greeks called Cheops and who lived thirty centuries before our era.
创造最高纪录的是公元前13世纪的埃及国王胡夫法老，也就是希腊人所说的芝奥普斯王。
His mound, which the Greeks called a pyramid (because the Egyptian word for high was pir-em-us) was over five hundred feet high.
他的皇陵被希腊人称为金字塔（在古埃及文里，“高”为pir- ern－us），高达500多英尺。
It covered more than thirteen acres of desert which is three times as much space as that occupied by the church of St. Peter, the largest edifice of the Christian world.
胡夫金字塔占地13英亩，其占地面积相当于基督教最大建筑圣彼得教堂的3倍。
During twenty years, over a hundred thousand men were busy carrying the necessary stones from the other side of the river-ferrying them across the Nile
在 20多年的漫长时间里， 10余万奴隶马不停蹄地从尼罗河对岸搬运石材，将其运过河
(how they ever managed to do this, we do not understand), dragging them in many instances a long distance across the desert and finally hoisting them into their correct position.
（他们是怎样完成这项不可思议的工作的，我们仍不知道），再有条不紊地将巨石拖过宽阔的沙漠，最后将其吊装到适当的位置。
But so well did the King's architects and engineers perform their task
胡夫法老的建筑师和工程师们异常出色地完成了工作。
that the narrow passage-way which leads to the royal tomb in the heart of the stone monster has never yet been pushed out of shape by the weight of those thousands of tons of stone which press upon it from all sides.
一直到今天，虽然几千吨巨石从各个方向经历了长达数千年的重压，但是通往造老陵墓中心的狭长过道丝毫未曾变形。