听力文本

This mud is very rich soil in which the Egyptians grow wheat and a very fine kind of cotton. In the olden times the Nile used to overflow the banks only once a year, and the rest of the year the land would be dry andthe people would have to climb down the banks to get water. Not so long ago a huge dam was built far up the Nile at a place called Assuan. This dam holds the water back and forms a deep lake. So now the Nile does notflood lower Egypt all at once; the water is let out by doors in the bottom of the dam as needed. One of the most beautiful of the old temples in Egypt was right in the way when the Assuan Dam was built, but it could not be moved from there, so now the water almost covers it up.
There was once a boy named Aleck. You may know a boy named Aleck too, but this Aleck lived two thousand years ago. He was a great Greek king whose full name was Alexander. He built a city where the Nile flows into the sea and called the city after himself, Alexandria. Alexander has been dead more than two thousand years, but his city still lives and is the chief seaport of Egypt.
Near the beginning of the delta, up the river from Alexandria, is a city called Cairo. It is the largest city in Egypt and also the largest city in the whole of Africa. Even if you were flying over Cairo in an airplane you would know that most of the people there were not Christians but Mohammedans. Can you guess how? In aChristian city you would see church steeples, but in Cairo you see saucer-shaped domes and candle-shaped minarets, for some of the most beautiful mosques in the World are there.

参考译文

这种泥土成了非常肥沃的土壤，埃及人就在上面种植小麦和一种优质棉花。过去，尼罗河每年只泛滥一次，其他时候，土地非常干燥，人们不得不走下河岸去取水。就在不久以前，人们在尼罗河上游一个叫阿斯旺的地方修建了一座巨大的水坝。大坝拦住河水，形成了一个很深的湖。所以，现在尼罗河下游就不会突发洪灾了。需要的时候，大坝底部的闸门会打开放水。阿斯旺水坝在修建的时候，埃及最漂亮的古老寺庙之一正好在大坝内，但是又没法将它搬走，所以，现在河水几乎将它淹没了。
曾经有个叫亚历克的小男孩。你也许也认识一个叫亚历克的小男孩。但这个亚历克生活在两千年前。他是一位伟大的希腊国王，全名叫亚历山大。他在尼罗河入海口建立了一座城市，并用他自己的名字来命名它——亚历山大市。亚历山大去世已经两千多年了，但他的城市依然屹立在那儿，现在是埃及主要的海港城市。
在三角洲的起点附近，从亚历山大港，沿尼罗河向上游有一座城市叫开罗，它是埃及最大的城市，也是非洲最大的城市。即使你乘飞机在开罗上空飞过，你也会知道大多数开罗人不是基督徒，而是伊斯兰教徒。你能猜出原因吗？在一个基督教城市，你会看到教堂的尖塔，但是在开罗，你看到的是蝶状的圆顶和蜡烛状的光塔，因为世界上最漂亮的一些清真寺就在开罗。