纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 017莱因德数学纸草书（2）

It owes its name to an Aberdeen lawyer, Alexander Rhind, who in the 1850s took to wintering in Egypt because the dry heat helped his tuberculosis.

纸草书因一位阿伯丁律师亚历山大莱因德而得名。十九世纪五十年代，他来埃及过冬,因为干燥炎热的天气对治疗他的结核病有好处。

There, in Luxor, he bought this papyrus, which turns out to be the largest mathematical text we know, not just from Egypt but from anywhere in the ancient world.

在卢克索，他买到这张手卷，它后来被证明是我们已知的全埃及乃至全世界最大的古代数学文本。

As it is extremely sensitive to humidity and to light, we keep it here in the British Museum, in the Papyrus Room, which I am just going to go into now.

因其对光线与湿度极为敏感，我们将它保存在大英博物馆里。

It's pretty dry and pretty stuffy in here, in fact I imagine rather like the conditions in an Ancient Egyptian tomb, which suits the papyrus-above all because of course it's dark, and therefore the writing doesn't fade.

这间屋子干燥且密不通风，最重要的足室内全黑，十分适合在潮湿状况下会腐烂、强光下会褪色的莎草纸。

The whole papyrus would originally have been about 17 feet (or 5m) long and would normally have been rolled up in a scroll.

整个手卷原长约五米，通常会被卷成卷轴。

Today it's in three pieces-the two largest ones in the British Museum.

如今则分为了三部分。较大的两部分保存在大英博物馆。

It's simply framed under glass to protect it. The papyrus is about a foot (or 30cm) high, and if you look closely you can see the fibres of the papyrus plant.

纸草书高约三十厘米，凑近了还能看到纸莎草的纤维。

Making papyrus is laborious but in fact, quite straightforward.

制作莎草纸是繁重的体力活儿，但程序却很简单。

The plant itself-a kind of reed that can grow to about 15 feet (or 4.5m) high-was plentiful in the Nile Delta.

这种植物是芦笔 的一种，能长到四米五，在尼罗河三角洲极为常见。