英國語文第六冊(雙語):開羅和埃及金字塔(2)
The Pyramids stand at the edge of the desert, on the western side of the Nile, but an hour or two's distance from the city. After crossing the ferry, the stranger imagines them close at hand, though he has still a good long mile to traverse. A near view is generally disappointing; and it is not until the visitor begins to make comparisons, that the fact of their exceeding vastness comes home to the mind. The base of the Great Pyramid of Cheops is nearly 800 feet square, covering a surface of eleven acres; and its height is 461 feet, being 117 feet higher than St. Paul's Cathedral. It is a common feat of travellers to ascend, with the aid of a couple of Arab guides, to the summit; which may be reached by an active man in about twenty minutes.
金字塔矗立在尼羅河西部沙漠的邊緣地帶，但是距離城市有一兩個小時的路程。穿過渡輪之后，對這里不熟悉的人都會覺得它們近在咫尺，然而我們還需穿過很遠的一段距離才能到達那里。近景通常令人失望，旅行者只有在對比中才能由衷地感受到它那超乎尋常的巨大。胡夫大金字塔的底部近800平方英尺，占地面積為11英畝，高度為461英尺，比圣保羅大教堂高出117英尺。在幾個阿拉伯向導的幫助下，旅行者們通常會攀至塔頂，一個體力充沛的人大概20分鐘就能到達。
"The view from the top," says Stanley, "has the same vivid contrast of life and death which makes all wide views in Egypt striking—the desert and the green plain: only the view over the desert—the African desert—being much more extensive here than elsewhere, one gathers in better the notion of the wide, heaving ocean of sandy billows, which hovers on the edge of the Valley of the Nile. The white line of the minarets of Cairois also a peculiar feature—peculiar, because it is strange to see a modern Egyptian city which is a grace instead of a deformity to the view. You see also the strip of desert running into the green plain on the east of the Nile, which marks Heliop'olis and Goshen."
斯坦利說：“塔頂?shù)木吧拖裆退酪粯硬町惥薮?。這使得縱觀之下，埃及所有的景象——沙漠和綠洲：只有沙漠地區(qū)(非洲沙漠)才能看到的景象，比任何地區(qū)的沙漠都要更加地寬廣，這樣人們才能對那片盤旋在尼羅河河谷邊緣的廣闊的、起伏的沙漠海洋有一個更好的概念。開羅尖塔的白線也獨具一格，因為你看到的不是一座殘缺的、而是一座優(yōu)雅的現(xiàn)代化的埃及，這點是很奇怪的。你還可以看到沙漠地帶延伸到尼羅河東部的綠色平原，那里就是黑里歐波里斯和歌珊地?！?/p>
