世界小史 第25章:信仰

　　And yet the most important part of the Egyptians' strange religion was their belief that,

　　但埃及人的奇怪宗教中最重要之处却是他们的信仰：

　　although a man's soul left his body when he died, for some reason the soul went on needingthat body,

　　虽然人一死人的灵魂就离开躯体，但是因为某些原因灵魂还会继续需要躯体，

　　and would suffer if it crumbled¹ into dust.

　　如果他们从前的肉体在死后化做泥土，那么他们的灵魂便不可能得到安宁。

　　So they invented a very ingenious way of preserving the bodies of the dead.

　　所以他们发明了一种独特的方式保存死人的肉体。

　　They rubbed them with ointments² and the juices of certain plants, and bandaged them withlong strips of cloth, so that they wouldn't decay.

　　他们用油膏和某些植物的汁水擦拭尸体并在其周身裹上长布条，从而它们不会腐烂。

　　A body preserved in this manner is called a mummy.

　　用这种方式保存的尸体被称之为木乃伊。

　　And today, after thousands of years, these mummies are still intact.

　　今天，好几千年之后，这些木乃伊仍还没被毁坏。

　　A mummy was placed in a coffin³ made of wood, the wooden coffin in one of stone,

　　一具木乃伊被放进一具木棺，把木棺放进一具石棺埋起来，

　　and the stone one buried, not in the earth, but in a tomb that was chiselled⁴ out of the rock.

　　不是把石棺埋入土中，而是将其放进一座岩洞墓穴。

　　If you were rich and powerful like King Cheops, 'Son of the Sun', a whole stone mountain wouldbe made for your tomb.

　　如果你像"太阳之子"即国王齐阿普斯那样富有、有权势，人们会垒一整座石山作为你的墓穴。

　　Deep inside, the mummy would be safe - or so they thought!

　　在石山内部深处，木乃伊一定不会受损--大概他们是这么想的！

　　But the mighty⁵ king's efforts were in vain: his pyramid is empty.

　　但这位强大的国王的辛劳都是枉然：他的金字塔是空的。

1 crumbled   

（把…）弄碎， （使）碎成细屑( crumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 衰落； 坍塌； 损坏

参考例句：

• He crumbled the bread in his fingers. 他用手指把面包捻碎。
• Our hopes crumbled when the business went bankrupt. 商行破产了，我们的希望也破灭了。

2 ointments   

n.软膏( ointment的名词复数 )；扫兴的人；煞风景的事物；药膏

参考例句：

• The firm has been dispensing ointments. 本公司配制药膏。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Antibiotic ointments are useful for concurrent bacterial infections. 抗菌素软膏对伴发的细菌感染是有用的。 来自辞典例句

3 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

4 chiselled   

adj.凿过的，凿光的； （文章等）精心雕琢的v.凿，雕，镌( chisel的过去式 )

参考例句：

• A name was chiselled into the stone. 石头上刻着一个人名。
• He chiselled a hole in the door to fit a new lock. 他在门上凿了一个孔，以便装一把新锁。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。