美国学生世界地理教材 第207期:人造山(3)

 Now, however, nine out of every ten people in Egypt are Mohammedans and, instead of building pyramids, they build beautiful mosques¹.

Close by these big pyramids is the Sphinx, a huge stone figure with the body of a lion and the head of one of the Egyptian kings. In Greece a sphinx was supposed to be an animal with a woman’s head that sat by the road and asked passers-by this riddle²: “What is it that goes on four feet in the morning, two at midday, andthree at night?” If the traveler couldn’t tell the answer the sphinx devoured³ him. At last some one answered, “Man, because he crawls on all fours in the morning of his life, then walks on two feet, and finally ontwo feet and a cane⁴.” The Greek sphinx was a “she”. But the Egyptian sphinx is a “he.” He has a man’s head and he asked no riddles⁵. He was a god of the sun.

The Sphinx and pyramids are on the bank of the one and only great river of Egypt, called the Nile. Have you ever heard of crocodile tears? The crocodile is a big alligator-like animal that lives in the Nile, and people used to say that he would catch little Egyptian boys and while he was eating them he would weep as if hisheart would break. That’s why when you cry, though you don’t really mean it, we say you are shedding “crocodile tears”! The Nile splits into several branches before it empties into the Mediterranean⁶ Sea, and the land between the branches is called a delta⁷, because it is shaped like the Greek letter “D,” which was called delta and shaped like a triangle.You see, people of long ago also called places after common things which they thought had the same shape.

Hardly any rain falls in northern Egypt, but in southern Egypt there are heavy rains in the summer. Then theNile overflows⁸ its banks and floods the country and leaves great quantities of mud.

但是现在，十个埃及人中就有九个是伊斯兰教徒，他们不再建造金字塔，而是建造漂亮的清真寺。

在这些大金字塔近旁有一座斯芬克斯卧像——一座巨大的石头雕像，身体是狮子，而头则是一位埃及国王。在希腊，斯芬克斯被认为是一只长着女人头的动物，坐在路边，让路过的人猜一个谜语，“今有一物，早晨四足，中午两足，夜晚三足，此为何物？”如果路过的人猜不出，斯芬克斯就把他吞食了。最后，有一个人终于答对了，“人。人在婴儿时期匍匐爬行，长大后两脚步行，年迈时拄杖行走”。希腊的斯芬克斯是“女的”，而埃及的斯芬克斯是“男的”。他长着男人的头，他不会让人猜谜，他是一位太阳神。

斯芬克斯雕像和金字塔都坐落在一条河的河岸上，这条河是埃及唯一的一条大河，叫做尼罗河。你听说过“鳄鱼的眼泪”吗？鳄鱼是生活在尼罗河的一种长得像短吻鳄的大型动物。埃及人过去常说，鳄鱼总是抓埃及小男孩，吃小男孩的时候就要流眼泪，好像很伤心。这就是为什么当你虚情假意哭的时候，我们就会说你在流“鳄鱼的眼泪”。尼罗河在流入地中海之前，分为几条支流，这些支流之间的地带叫做“三角洲”，在英文中叫做“德尔塔”，因为它的形状像希腊字母“△”，“△”读作“德尔塔”，而且形状像个三角形。你看，很久以前的人们也用常见的事物给地区命名，因为他们认为两者具有相同的形状。

埃及北方几乎不下雨，然而南方每到夏季就下起大雨。于是，尼罗河河水溢出堤岸，淹没了大片的土地，留下了大量的泥土。

1 mosques   

清真寺； 伊斯兰教寺院，清真寺； 清真寺，伊斯兰教寺院( mosque的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Why make us believe that this tunnel runs underneath the mosques? 为什么要让我们相信这条隧洞是在清真寺下？
• The city's three biggest mosques, long fallen into disrepair, have been renovated. 城里最大的三座清真寺，过去年久失修，现在已经修复。

2 riddle   

n.谜，谜语，粗筛；vt.解谜，给…出谜，筛，检查，鉴定，非难，充满于；vi.出谜

参考例句：

• The riddle couldn't be solved by the child.这个谜语孩子猜不出来。
• Her disappearance is a complete riddle.她的失踪完全是一个谜。

3 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

4 cane   

n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的

参考例句：

• This sugar cane is quite a sweet and juicy.这甘蔗既甜又多汁。
• English schoolmasters used to cane the boys as a punishment.英国小学老师过去常用教鞭打男学生作为惩罚。

5 riddles   

n.谜（语）( riddle的名词复数 )；猜不透的难题，难解之谜

参考例句：

• Few riddles collected from oral tradition, however, have all six parts. 但是据收集的情况看，口头流传的谜语很少具有这完整的六部分。 来自英汉非文学 - 民俗
• But first, you'd better see if you can answer riddles. 但是你首先最好想想你会不会猜谜语。 来自辞典例句

6 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

7 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

8 overflows   

v.溢出，淹没( overflow的第三人称单数 )；充满；挤满了人；扩展出界，过度延伸

参考例句：

• He always fills his glass till it overflows. 他总是把杯子斟得很满。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A distributary overflows its banks. 分流水溢出河岸。 来自辞典例句