Few other countries are so dominated by their capital:For Egyptians to speak of one is to speak of the other. The'Mother of the World'nurtures more than 16 million Egyptians, Arabs, Africans and sundry international hangers-on in a collision of East and West, old and new, African and Arabic. She's overburdened with one of the world's highest population densities, which makes for a seething mass of people, buildings and cacophonous traffic.

很少有其他国家的首都是像开罗这样占据着国家大部分的资本：开罗就是埃及的代名词。对于埃及人来说，两者的意义是等同的。有“世界母亲”之称的埃及培育了超过1600万人口，包括埃及人，阿拉伯人，非洲人和其他人种。各种各样的碰撞在这里发生，东与西，新与旧，非洲和阿拉伯。最为世界上人口密度最高的国家，埃及不堪重负，这些造就了这里复杂的人口、建筑以及嘈杂的交通环境。

Cairo has been the heart of Egypt for more than 1000 years. Here the medieval world and the contemporary Western world clash in a confusion of mud-brick houses and towering modern office buildings, of flashy cars and donkey-drawn carts. Cairenes see nothing strange in this. They aren't driven by the Western obsession to update and upgrade. The resulting pervasive sense of timelessness is one of the city's great charms. At the end of the day, it's a city travelers either loveor hate; few come away indifferent.

开罗成为埃及的心脏已经超过1000年。这里是的中世纪世界和当代西方世界冲突的集中体现。泥砖屋的混乱和高耸的现代化办公大楼、迟钝的驴车和浮华小车都形成鲜明的对比。但在开罗人眼里，这些都不足为奇。他们不是痴迷于西方世界的更新和升级。由此普遍产生的永恒感是这个城市的巨大魅力之一。一天下来，要么喜欢这里要么讨厌这里，很少有旅客对这里的一切无动于衷。

Finding your way about Cairo's vast sprawl is not as difficult as it may seem. Midan Tahrir is at the center. Northeast of Tahrir and centered on Sharia Talaat Harb is Downtown, a bustling commercial district. The city's main train station at Midan Ramses marks Downtown's northernmost extent. Heading east, Downtown ends at Midan Ataba and the old medieval heart of the city known as Islamic Cairo takes over.

寻找你对开罗的巨大张力的方式是并是像看起来那么困难。塔利尔是在中心。东北塔利尔和伊斯兰教Talaat哈布为中心城区，是一个繁华的商业区。全市在Midan拉姆西斯火车站标志着市区最北端的程度。向东，市区结束于Midan Ataba，这里是中世界的中心，之后被伊斯兰开罗接管。

Bordering Downtown to the west is the Nile River, which is obstructed by two sizeable islands. The more central of these, connected directly to Downtown by three bridges, is Gezira, home to the Cairo Tower and the Opera House complex. The west bank of the Nile is less historical and much more residential. The primary districts are Mohandiseen, Agouza, Doqqi and Giza, all of which are light on charm and heavy on concrete. Giza covers by far the largest area of the four, stretching some 20km (12.4mi) west on either side of the long, straight road that ends at the foot of the Pyramids.

与市区接壤的西面是尼罗河，这是两个相当大的阻碍岛。这里是更加中央的位置，其中三座桥直接连接到市中心，是吉齐拉，也是开罗塔河复杂的开罗歌剧院的地址所在。尼罗河西岸有着更短的历史和少得多的住宅。主要地区是Mohandiseen，Agouza，Doqqi和吉萨，所有这些都带着明亮、深层的魅力。吉萨到目前为止，包括四大领域，在长直路的两侧向西延伸20千米，一直伸展到金字塔的脚下。