Chapter 06
第六章
The Story of Egypt
埃及的故事
The rise and fall of Egypt
埃及的盛衰
The river Nile was a kind friend but occasionally it was a hard taskmaster.
尼罗河是人类的好友，可有时候，它又像一位严厉的监工。
It taught the people who lived along its banks the noble art of "team-work."
它教会了生活在两岸的人们"协作劳动"的艺术。
They depended upon each other to build their irrigation trenches and keep their dikes in repair.
他们依赖彼此合作的力量，一起建造灌溉沟渠，修筑防洪堤坝。
In this way they learned how to get along with their neighbours and their mutual-benefit-association quite easily developed into an organised state.
这样一来，他们也学会了如何与自己的邻人和睦相处。这种互利互惠的联系很容易发展成了一个有组织的国家。
Then one man grew more powerful than most of his neighbours
后来，有一个精明强干的人，他的权力和威望逐渐膨胀，超过了所有的邻居们。
and he became the leader of the community and their commander-in-chief when the envious neighbours of western Asia invaded the prosperous valley.
这个人不但顺理成章的成为了社区的领袖，而且当嫉妒的西亚邻居入侵这个富饶河谷时，他还担当了抵御外敌的军事首脑。
In due course of time he became their King and ruled all the land from the Mediterranean to the mountains of the west.
到后来，他终于变成了人们的国王，统治着从地中海沿岸到西部山脉的广袤土地。
But these political adventures of the old Pharaohs (the word meant "the Man who lived in the Big House") rarely interested the patient and toiling peasant of the grain fields.
不过，古埃及法老（法老一词意为"住在大宫殿里的贵人"）的种种政治冒险事业，很少让那些勤苦耐劳的农夫们感兴趣。
Provided he was not obliged to pay more taxes to his King than he thought just,
只要不被强征超过合理限度的赋税，只要不加重过分繁重的劳役，
he accepted the rule of Pharaoh as he accepted the rule of Mighty Osiris.
他们就愿意像敬爱大神奥赛西斯一样，接受法老们的统治。
It was different however when a foreign invader came and robbed him of his possessions.
可一旦某个外族入侵者闯入，剥夺掉他们的所有，情况便会变得很悲惨。
After twenty centuries of independent life, a savage Arab tribe of shepherds, called the Hyksos, attacked Egypt
经过2000年的独立之后，一个名为希克索斯的野蛮的阿拉伯游牧部落闯入了埃及，
and for five hundred years they were the masters of the valley of the Nile.
统治了尼罗河河谷达500年之久。