英国语文第六册(双语):开罗和埃及金字塔(1)
LESSON 30 Cairo and the pyramids
第三十课 开罗和埃及金字塔
The best view of Cairo and its vicinity is obtained from the Citadel, which commands the whole city. It is thus described by Dean Stanley: "The town is a vast expanse of brown, broken only by occasional interludes of palms and sycamores, and by countless minarets. About half a dozen large buildings, mosques or palaces, also emerge. On each side rise shapeless mounds; —those on the east covered with tents, and, dimly seen beyond, the browner line of the desert; those on the west, the sites of Old Cairo, of the Roman fortress of Babylon, and of Fostat, where Amrou first pitched his tent, deserted since the time of Sal'adin. Beyond is the silver line of the Nile; and then, rising in three successive groups, above the delicate green plain which sweeps along nearly to the foot of the African hills, the Pyramids of Abu'sir, Saka'rah, and Ghi'zeh—these last being 'The Pyramids,' and the nearest. There is something very striking in their total disconnection with Cairo. They stand alone on the edge of that green valewhich is Egypt.
从城堡上放眼望去，开罗及其四周最美的景色尽收眼底。院长斯坦利也因此这样描述它：这个小镇是一片广阔的褐色土地，点缀着星星点点的棕榈树和梧桐树、以及无数尖塔。能够看到的大型建筑、清真寺以及宫殿大概有六座。两边是形状各异的土丘，东边的土丘上覆盖着帐篷，依稀可以看到远处褐色的沙漠线；西边的土丘是古开罗遗址、罗马巴比伦堡垒遗址、以及福斯达，即阿姆鲁第一次搭帐篷的地方，那里自萨尔阿丁时代起就已无人居住了。远处是尼罗河那银色的海岸线。再远处三大建筑接连凸起，分别是胡夫金字塔、卡乌拉金字塔、以及哈佛拉金字塔，它们坐落在几乎一路延伸到非洲山脚下那暖绿色的平原之上，并最终组成了“埃及金字塔”。然而它们和开罗却无任何联系，这点很让人震惊。它们就那样孤零零地站在那片绿色山谷的边缘，而那片绿色山谷就是埃及。
There is no intermingling, as in ancient and modern Rome. It is as if you looked out on Stonehenge from London, or as if the Colis'um stood far away in the depths of the Campagna. Cairo is not 'the ghost of the dead Egyptian empire,' nor anything like it. Cairo itself leaves a deep feeling, that, whatever there was of greatness or wisdom in those remote ages and those gigantic monuments, is now the inheritance, not of the East, but of the West. The Nile, as it glides between the tombs of the Pharaohs and the city of the Caliphs, is indeed a boundary between two worlds."
古罗马和现代罗马的结合是独一无二的。就好像从伦敦向外眺望巨石阵，或者好像是巨石阵耸立在遥远的平原深处。开罗并不是“死去的埃及帝国的幽灵”，也丝毫不像它。开罗本身给人的感觉很深刻，你会想到那些遥远的年代和那些庞大的历史遗迹无论有多么伟大、无论凝结了多少智慧，现在都不是东方遗产，而是西方遗产。因为尼罗河在法老的坟墓和哈里发城市之间流淌，所以它确实是两个世界的分界线。
