神秘的古埃及金字塔

    古埃及金字塔是奴隶制帝王的陵墓，最宏大的当为吉萨三座大金字塔。塔基呈方形，每边长230米，高146米，用230余万块巨石(每块平均重达2.5吨)垒成，国王墓室用一块400吨重的石板垒成。整体规模雄伟壮观，设计科学，构造复杂，历时30年建成。古希腊时即被称为世界七大奇迹之一，1980年列入世界遗产名录。
    Built 4,000 years ago, the three great pyramids at Giza, in the Egyptian desert remain the most colossal1 buildings ever constructed.
    The pyramids were built by Egyptians under the orders of the Egyptian leader, whose title was Pharaoh2. There was a sequence¹ of Pharaohs culminating3 around 2615 B.C., with the Pharaoh Cheops who built the biggest thing ever built, the Great Pyramid, also known as Khu?fu. Cheops built a pyramid 770 feet on one side and 481 feet tall. How ancient builders managed to build these massive² structures has never been fully³ answered but the effort clearly required brains and brawn4.
    Was there engineering⁴ genius involved? Yes, there was. For example, when you're putting the block right at the top, how are you going to lug5 a block of stone that weighs several tons 480 feet up a structure? How are you going to do it, and how are you going to do it without leaving scratches6 on all the rest of the structure? And how many people does it take to drag a block weighing several tons 480 feet up into the sky? Approximately, 2.3 million blocks of stone were cut, transported and assembled⁵ to create the Great Pyramid.
    The Pharaohs may have set out to build magnificent⁶ tombs for themselves, but in the end they created monuments to human potential. There's a universal message in the pyramids. The pyramids belong to Egypt, but the pyramids also belong to the world. That's why we can all identify the pyramids as an early monument of human greatness.
    For being a man?made wonder that has survived the sands of time1, the pyramids rise to the number two spot.
    矗立在埃及沙漠中吉萨的三座大金字塔建于4000年前，它们一直都是有史以来最宏大的建筑。
    金字塔是埃及人在他们的领袖——名为法老——的命令下建造的。在公元前2615年左右，几任法老相继统治埃及，基奥普斯法老建造了有史以来最大的金字塔——大金字塔，也被称为胡夫金字塔。胡夫金字塔每边长770英尺，高481英尺。古代的建筑者是如何建造这些庞然大物的，这一直是个未解之谜，但很明显它需要付出大量的脑力和体力。
    有工程天才的参与吗？是的，有。比如，当你要把一个石块放在顶端时，你该如何把一个几吨重的石块提升到480英尺的高度呢？应该怎样做？怎么做才不至于在塔身留下刮痕？把几吨重的石块提举到480英尺的高处又需要多少人力呢？为了建造大金字塔，人们切割、运输、垒砌了大约230万块石头。
    法老们的初衷是为自己建造豪华的陵墓，而最终他们创建的却是昭示人类潜能的纪念碑。金字塔蕴含着一种共同的信息，金字塔属于埃及，但它也属于世界。因此我们完全可以把金字塔作为展示人类伟大文明的早期纪念物。
    由于历经岁月的沧桑，金字塔位列十大人工奇观排行榜第2名。

1 sequence   

n.连续，接续，一连串；次序，顺序

参考例句：

• He had to attend a sequence of meetings.他得参加一系列会议。
• The book is more satisfying if you read each chapter in sequence.这本书依次读各章会更好。

2 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 engineering   

n.工程，工程学，管理，操纵

参考例句：

• The science of engineering began as soon as man learned to use tools. 人类一学会使用工具,工程科学就开始了。
• It was the first great engineering works in the world. 这是世界上第一家大型的工程工厂。

5 assembled   

安装的, 组给的

参考例句：

• He bought the parts separately and assembled his own computer.他一一买来部件，组装成自己的电脑。

6 magnificent   

adj.壮丽的，宏伟的；华丽的；极好的

参考例句：

• The museum that we visited is very magnificent.我们参观的博物馆是很宏伟的。
• That's a magnificent task.这是一项宏伟的任务。