Exploring Ancient Egypt(a)|埃及：神秘的古文明

Exploring Ancient Egypt

by Daniel Howard and Brian Foden

Egypt is the famous home to some of the best-preserved artifacts of ancient times.

　　Egypt is an extreme country. It is home to the Nile River, generally considered the world's longest river. Its deserts are very dry, seeing as little as two millimeters of rainfall in a year, but the areas around the Nile River are wonderfully fertile. However, Egypt is most famous for being once home to one of the world's greatest civilizations whose artifacts continue to draw people from all over the world.

　　The country currently known as Egypt has been continuously populated since 10,000 BC, which even predates the Sahara desert. When the Sahara formed around 8,000 BC, early settlers were forced to migrate to the Nile River whose annual floods improved the farming nearby. Without the Nile, there would be no ancient Egypt, or the amazing structures we have come to associate with the country.

　　The Pyramids of Giza are some of the world's most elaborate tombs. They are enormous stone arrangements built over decades to house the bodies of powerful kings called pharaohs. On the outskirts of modern Cairo, the pyramids are in very close proximity to the Sphinx, and together they form the Giza Necropolis. The area also includes other ancient cemeteries, a workers' village, and an industrial complex.

　　In the middle of Egypt sit Luxor, Karnak, and Thebes, which are three of the most significant archaeological sites on the planet. Though they are mostly in ruins today, they remain some of the world's most impressive structures and currently act as open air museums. Also nearby Karnak is the Valley of the Kings, an enormous complex containing 63 tombs of Egyptian royalty. Though all the tombs were special, the valley is especially famous for being the final resting place of Tutankhamen, otherwise known as King Tut. Where neighboring tombs had long ago been robbed of their valuables, King Tut's remained untouched and full of ancient treasures in 1922.

埃及：神秘的古文明

埃及是某些保存最完好的古代文物的著名所在地。

埃及是一个极权国家。它是尼罗河的发源地，而尼罗河普遍被视为是世界上最长的河流。埃及的沙漠非常干燥，一整年的降雨量低到只有两公厘，但尼罗河附近地区却是极其肥沃。然而，埃及最著名的是它曾经是世界上最伟大文明的所在地之一，其文物持续吸引着世界各地人们的目光。

大家现在所知的埃及这个国家自公元前一万年就一直不断有人在此居住，时间甚至比撒哈拉沙漠还来得早。撒哈拉沙漠大约在公元前八千年形成，于是早期的移民被迫迁徙到尼罗河，而当地每年的洪水改善了附近的农耕。如果没有尼罗河，就不会有古埃及，或是我们长久以来和这个国家产生联想的惊人建筑了。

吉萨金字塔是世界上最精致的陵墓之一。它们是用巨大的石块排列建造了数十年之久，用来存放被称作法老的权威国王的遗体。这些金字塔位于现代开罗郊区，位置非常接近人面狮身像，它们共同形成吉萨金字塔群。该地区还包括其他古代墓地、一个工人村落以及一个工业园区。

卢克索、卡奈克和底比斯古城座落于埃及中部，它们是地球上最重要的考古遗址之一。虽然它们现在大多已成了废墟，但它们仍然是世界上最令人印象深刻的建筑物之一，而目前被用来作为露天博物馆。另外也位在卡奈克附近的是帝王谷，它是包含了六十三个埃及皇室陵墓的巨大陵墓区。虽然所有的陵墓都很特别，但此山谷特别著名的是它是图坦卡门的长眠之地，而图坦卡门也被称为图特王（King Tut）。临近图坦卡门王陵墓的其他陵墓里头的珍贵物品在很早之前就被盗光了，而图坦卡门王的陵墓在 1922 年被发现时仍未被动过，里面还有满满的古老宝藏。