世界小史 第20章：非洲气候

In Africa it is hot, and for months on end it doesn't rain.

非洲气候炎热，接连好几个月不下雨。

In many regions very little grows.

许多地方只能生长少量作物。

These are deserts, as are the lands on either side of Egypt.

这片土地是一片沙漠，埃及的左边和右边也是这样的一片沙漠。

Egypt also gets very little rain.

在埃及本土也不常下雨。

But here they don't need it, because the Nile flows right through the middle of the country, from one end to the other.

但这儿的人不需要雨水，因为尼罗河的一边到另一边正好从埃及的中部流过。

Twice a year, when heavy rain filled its sources, the river would swell and burst its banks, flooding the whole land.

一年两次，每逢尼罗河源头下大雨，河流就会涨满，然后漫过河岸，淹没整个埃及的土地。

Then people were forced to take to boats to move among the houses and the palm trees.

于是人们就得坐船在房屋和棕榈树间来回行驶。

And when the waters withdrew, the earth was wonderfully drenched and rich withoozing mud.

大水退去，土地浸透了水，地面上净是肥沃的烂泥。

There, under the hot sun, the grain grew as it did nowhere else.

后来那里在炎热的阳光下长出了其他地方长不出来的丰美无比的粮食。

Which is why, from earliest times, the Egyptians worshipped the Nile as if it were God himself.

所以埃及人也就自远古以来一直崇拜他们的尼罗河，仿佛它自身就是神。

Would you like to hear a hymn they sang to their river, 4,000 years ago?

你想听一首他们在4000年前就为它而唱的歌吗?