高一英語人教版第二冊上：Unit3 Art and architecture(備課資料)

　　Reference for Teaching

　　I.異域風情

　　THE GREAT PYRAMID

　　The kings of ancient Egypt were very rich. They planned strong tombs to keep their bodies of the dead. These tombs kept the bodies safe. They also held the treasures of the dead.

　　Over the tombs, the kings built huge stone pyramids. There are about eighty known pyramids in Egypt. The Great Pyramid is the largest of all. It was built by a king called Khufu. The Great Pyramid stands on the west bank of the Nile River not far from Cairo. In fact, all the pyramids are on the west bank of the Nile. There is a reason for this. The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west. The ancient Egyptians compared the rising of the sun with the beginning of life and the setting of the sun with the end of life. They compared day to life and night to death. This is why they buried their dead on the west bank of the Nile.

　　It's very hard to realize just how big the Great Pyramid is. It has over 2 300 000 blocks of solid stone. These huge stone blocks weigh an average of two and a half tons each, as much as a small car. Some even weigh fifteen tons. Without machinery, the ancient Egyptians cut and moved and lifted each of these stones. The blocks came from the east bank of the Nile. Slaves took them across the Nile in boats at flood time. It took more than 100 000 slaves twenty years to build the Great Pyramid.

　　The Great Pyramid is over 450 feet high today, and it was once higher. Its base covers thirteen acres. Each of the sides of the pyramid is 755 feet long, or about as long as two city blocks. It takes about twenty minutes to walk all the way around the pyramid.