英国语文第六册(双语):尼罗河流域(4)
Continuing a course against the stream, the traveller passes many interesting scenes, —the great corn tract of Faioum, pits packed with crocodile mummies, rock tombs excavated in the face of the mountains, magnificent ruins and scattered monuments, as at Dendera and Thebes. One hundred miles above he reaches the first cataract (of which there are seven in all), and the town of Assouan on the borders of Nubia.
当逆流而上、继续前行时，游客会看到许多有趣的景色，比如法乌姆的玉米地，满是鳄鱼木乃伊的坑，在山脉表面挖出的岩石坟墓，宏伟的废墟和散落的纪念碑，就像在丹德拉和底比斯。再往上游一百英里，游客便能看到第一条瀑布（共七条），以及坐落在努比亚边境处的阿斯旺小镇。
The course of the Nile through the territory of Nubia presents considerable modifications in the scenery. For the most part the river is shut in by hills of granite and sandstone. The valley between these is arid, barren, sun-baked. It has the dull, leaden aspect of a desert. A few stunted palms are the only traces of vegetation that the eye can discover. Cultivation is nearly impossible, except here and there within a narrow strip of land on either side of the river. In some parts it is painfully carried on by means of irrigation—the water-wheels being worked by oxen, on whose labours those of the husbandman depend for success.
而流经努比亚境内的尼罗河河道上的风景却十分迥异，大部分河道被花岗岩和砂岩的山丘包围着，中间的山谷由于被太阳炙烤，变得干旱而贫瘠，显现出沙漠那沉闷、枯燥的一面。肉眼唯一可见的绿植就是那些矮小的棕榈树，唯一可耕种的地方就只有河道两岸的狭长地带。此外，有些地方的灌溉方式也十分痛苦——用牛来拉动水车，只有这样农民才能得以收获。
The traveller now finds himself beyond the domain of history; and though he constantly passes both town and temple in never-ending series, he knows of no interest connected with them apart from that which usually attaches to the ruins of the past. He feels now that the Nile itself is the greatest marvel of his journey; which, although rolling along at the distance of eight hundred miles from the sea, has lost nothing of its volume or its majesty.
此刻，游客会发现自己超越了历史的范畴。虽然经过了一座又一座看不到尽头的城镇和庙宇，但是除了历史的废墟外，游客对它们毫无兴趣。此刻游客会觉得尼罗河本身就是自己旅途最大的奇迹，它虽然在离海八百英里的地方涌动，但其庞大和威严却丝毫未减。
