英国语文第六册(双语):开罗和埃及金字塔(3)
It is said that six million tons of stone were used in the construction of the Great Pyramid, that of Che'ops, and that its erection occupied one hundred thousand men for twenty years! The mass is not solid, but contains a series of chambers, the entrance to which is on the north side. A long, close, and devious passage leads to the Queen's Chamber, 17 feet long by 12 high. From thence another long passage leads to the King's Chamber, 37 feet by 17, and 20 feet high. At one end of this apartment stands a sarcophagus of red granite, in which the monarch of the greatest kingdom of the Earth is supposed to have been laid.
据说，基奥普斯的大金字塔的建造用了六百万吨石料，花费了十万的人力和20年的时间！整体结构不是很牢固，但是里面囊括了一系列的墓室，入口在北边。其中女王的墓室长17英尺，高12英尺，有一条长、窄、且曲折的通道通向那里，此外，房间的其中一端立着一个红色花岗岩石棺，据说世界上最伟大的王国的君主就葬在这座石棺里。
The second Pyramid, that of Chephre'nes, is not much inferior in size to this one, its base being 684 feet, and its height 456; but it is not in such good preservation. Herodotus had asserted that it contained no chambers; but Belzoni effected an entrance to a chamber hewn out of the solid rock. In the sarcophagus he found the bones of an animal, probably the sacred bull of the Egyptians. The third large Pyramid contained a mummy; the remains of which, and of its cedar coffin, were deposited in the British Museum.
第二座金字塔，也就是考夫拉金字塔，它比胡夫金字塔差不了多少。他的基座为684英尺，高度为456英尺，不过它并没有被很好的保存下来。希罗多德曾明确称该金字塔里面没有墓室，但是贝尔佐尼曾在坚固的岩石上开凿了一条通往墓室的入口。他在石棺中他发现了一种动物的骨头，可能是埃及的圣牛头骨。第三大金字塔中有一具木乃伊，它的遗骸和雪松棺材都存放在大英博物馆里。
There can be no doubt that all of them were designed as receptacles for the dead. Around them lie scattered about, as far as the eye can reach, both up and down the bank of the river, and along the edge of the desert for miles beyond the ruined city of Memphis, numberless edifices and tumuli of a monumental character, some of which were once profusely embellished with sculptures, and in which mummies have been found.
毫无疑问，它们都是为死人设计的容器。在视线所及的范围内，它们沿着沙漠边缘数英里、零星地散落在河的两岸，直至孟菲斯城废墟之外的地方。无数座埋葬着不朽人物的建筑和坟墓，其中一些曾被大量的雕塑装饰，里面还发现了木乃伊。
