The Pyramids，Egypt 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. 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。 The pyramids were built by Egyptians under the orders of the Egyptian leader, whose title was Pharaoh2. There was a sequence of Pharaohs culminating3 around 2615 B.C., with the Pharaoh Cheops who built the biggest thing ever built, the Great Pyramid, also known as Khufu. Cheops built a pyramid 770 feet on one side and 481 feet tall. How ancient builders managed to build these massive structures has never been fully answered but the effort clearly required brains and brawn4. 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。 Was there engineering 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,...
