纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 011古埃及法老德闻的凉鞋标签（1）

011： - King Den's Sandal Label 古埃及法老德闻的凉鞋标签

Abstract摘要 :

King Den's sandal label (made around 3000 BC). Hippopotamus¹ ivory, found in Abydos, Egypt

古埃及第一王朝第五位法老德闻的凉鞋标签，公元前约3000年，河马牙制品，出土于埃及阿拜多斯。

MP3听力原文：

There's a compelling showbiz mythology² of the modern big city-the energy and the abundance, the proximity³ to culture and power, the streets that just might be paved with gold.

现代大城市简直是创造了一种嚎头十足的娱乐圈神话—能量充沛、物欲横流，文化与权力高度集中，仿佛街道都可以是黄金铺成的。

We've seen it and we've loved it, on stage and on screen. But we all know that in reality big cities are noisy, potentially violent and alarmingly anonymous⁴.

舞台上、屏幕上那一切的一切，我们对其所见即所爱。然而我们也深知，在现实中，大城市也充斥着嘈杂、潜在暴力和惊人匿名性。

We sometimes just can't cope with the sheer mass of people.

有时，我们简直就是无法应付这样庞大、高度集中的人群。

Apparently⁵, if you look at how many numbers we're likely to store in our mobile phone, or how many names we're likely to list on a social networking site,

显而易见的，假如你看一下通常我们手机上可能储存的电话号码，或者我们在社交网站上添加的好友名单，

it's very rare even for city dwellers⁶ to exceed a couple of hundred.

就会发现经常一个城市居民的社交圈人群很少会有超过几百。

Social anthropologists delightedly point out that this is the size of the social group we'd have had to handle in a large Stone Age village.

于是乎，社会学家得意洋洋地指出，早在石器时代的大村落里，几百这个数字我们恰好可以应付得来，

According to them, we're all still trying to cope with modern city life with a Stone Age social brain.

这就是当时一个社会群体的合理大小。

So how do you lead and control a city or a state where most people don't know each other, and you can only personally persuade a very small percentage of the inhabitants?

那么，你应该如何领导和控制一个城市与国家呢？绝大多数人都不认识彼比，你自己也只能亲身说服比例非常小的居民。

It's the central theme of this week's programmes, and it's been the key political question for over five thousand years, since the growth of the world's first cities and states.

这是我们本周节日的中心主题；而且在超过五千年的人类历史上，自从世界上第一座城市、第一个国家的出现，这也是一个关键的政治问题。

These grew up in the world's great fertile river valleys, the Euphrates, the Tigris and the Indus, but I want to start with the most famous river of them all, the Nile.

最早期的城市与国家崛起于世界上伟大的肥沃河谷里，幼发拉底河、底格里斯河、印度河等等，然而我想从这所有河流中最著名的尼罗河开始。

There's no doubt that warfare⁷ and the coercive power of the king is very much at the heart of the regime from an early period.

毫无疑问，国王的战争力与威摄力自古以来就是制权的心脏要素。托比威尔金森说道。

1 hippopotamus   

n.河马

参考例句：

• The children enjoyed watching the hippopotamus wallowing in the mud.孩子们真喜观看河马在泥中打滚。
• A hippopotamus surfs the waves off the coast of Gabon.一头河马在加蓬的海岸附近冲浪。

2 mythology   

n.神话，神话学，神话集

参考例句：

• In Greek mythology,Zeus was the ruler of Gods and men.在希腊神话中，宙斯是众神和人类的统治者。
• He is the hero of Greek mythology.他是希腊民间传说中的英雄。

3 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

4 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

5 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

6 dwellers   

n.居民，居住者( dweller的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes. 城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have transformed themselves into permanent city dwellers. 他们已成为永久的城市居民。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。