苏珊和贾斯汀游览埃及的胡夫金字塔，讨论金字塔是如何建成的。

　　苏珊:

　　Look, how big the pyramid of Khufu is!

　　你看!胡夫金字塔可真大啊!

　　贾斯汀:

　　Yes. It`s magnificent. The tour guide told us that more than two million stone blocks were used to build it, weighing an average of 2.5 tons each.

　　嗯 .特别壮观.导游告诉我们建胡夫金字塔用了200多万吨巨石.平均每一块有2.5吨那么重.

　　苏珊:

　　How did the ancient Egyptians do that? 4,000 years ago there was no machinery. How could they move such enormous blocks to build such a huge pyramid?

　　这么重!那古埃及人怎么运输这些巨石建起如此之大的金字塔呢?4000多年前可没有任何的机器.

　　贾斯汀:

　　During the annual flood of the Nile, the stone blocks were floated down the river on barges to the construction site.

　　每年尼罗河发大水的时候.人们就把石头装在驳船上.船顺流而下.漂到建金字塔的地方.

　　苏珊:

　　How did they lift those huge blocks to make such a tall structure?

　　那建金字塔的时候.人们怎么往上运这些石头呢?

　　贾斯汀:

　　Ramps were built and extended around the pyramid and used as the road to drag up the blocks. When the pyramid was done, they took the ramps away. Susan, do you know who built the pyramid?

　　金字塔周围修建了一些斜坡.人们顺着坡道把巨石拖上去.随着金字塔高度的增加.斜坡也越来越长.等金字塔建好了.再把坡道拆掉.苏珊.你知道金字塔是谁建的吗?

　　苏珊:

　　I`ve heard that the pyramids were built by the pharaoh`s slaves.

　　我听说是法老的奴隶建的.

　　贾斯汀:

　　It isn`t really correct. The pyramids were built by skilled workers, and the unemployed farmers also came to work during the flood season.

　　不是的.其实是技艺熟练的工人们建的.发大水时.农民们无事可做.也会加入到建金字塔的大军中.

　　苏珊:

　　Were they forced to build the pyramid?

　　这些工人和农民是被法老抓去做苦力的吗?

　　贾斯汀:

　　Some history books said they were, but research says "No". It was considered a religious duty because the people believed that the pharaoh was Sun God living on earth. If his corpse was not preserved, the pharaoh could not enjoy life after death.

　　原来有些历史书上说他们是被抓去的.但后来的研究表明她们是自愿的.古埃及人相信法老是人世间的太阳神.一旦没有保存好法老的遗体.法老死后就不能享受来世.所以他们把建金字塔看成是自己的责任.

　　苏珊:

　　Oh, so people were not forced to build the pyramid!

　　哦.原来人们不是被迫修建金字塔的.

　　贾斯汀:

　　In fact they were proud to do the work.

　　事实上.很多人还以此为傲呢!

　　苏珊:

　　Sounds interesting!

　　真有意思!

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（实习编辑：高奕飞）