Ancient Egyptian Calendar托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

Ancient Egyptian Calendar托福听力原文翻译及问题答案

一、Ancient Egyptian Calendar托福听力原文：

Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in a history class.The professor has been discussing ancient Egypt.

FEMALE PROFESSOR:Ok,so one of the challenges that faced ancient civilizations like Egypt was timekeeping...calendars.When you have to grow food for whole cities of people,it's important to plant your crops at the right time.And when you start having financial obligations—rents,taxes—you have to keep track of how often you pay.

So today we'll look at how the Egyptians addressed these problems.In fact,they ended up using two different calendars,one to keep track of the natural world,or their,uh,their agricultural concerns,and another one that was used to keep track of the business functions of the kingdom.So,let’s take a look at the hows and whys of one ancient Egyptian calendar system...starting with the Nile River.

Why the Nile?Well,there's no other way to put it:Egyptian life basically revolved around the mysterious rise and fall of the river.The success of their agricultural system,um,depended upon them knowing when the river would change.So naturally,their first calendar was divided up into three seasons,each based on the river’s changes:inundation,subsidence,and harvest.

The first season was the flooding,or inundation,when the Nile Valley was essentially submerged in water for a few months or so.And afterwards,during the season of subsidence,the water would subside—or,recede—revealing a new layer of fertile black silt,and allowing for the planting of various crops.And finally,the time of the year would arrive when the valley would produce crops such as wheat,barley,fruit...all ready to harvest.OK?So it was very important to the ancient Egyptians to know when their Nile-based seasons would occur—their way of life depended upon it.

Now,the way they used to count time was based on the phases of the moon—which regularly and predictably goes through a cycle starting with the new moon then to a full moon and back again to the new moon.Now,this cycle was then used to determine the length of their months.So,uh,one lunar cycle was one Egyptian month and about four of the months would constitute a season.Now,twelve of these months was an approximately 354 day year.So they had a 354-day agricultural calendar that was designed to help them determine,uh,when the Nile would inundate the land.

Well,of course it had to be more complicated than that.The average amount of time between floodings wasn’t actually 354 days.I mean,although it varies,the average was clearly longer than 354 days.So how did they keep this shorter calendar in step with the actual flooding of the Nile?

Well,their astronomers had discovered that,uh,at a certain time of year the brightest star,Sirius,would disappear—actually,it’d be hidden in the glare of the Sun.And then,uh,a couple of months later,one morning,in the eastern sky just before dawn,Sirius would reappear.And it happened regularly,uh,about every 365 days.Even more significantly,the reappearance of Sirius would occur,uh,around the same time as the Nile's flooding.And this annual event—is called a heliacal rising...

The heliacal rising was a fair indicator of when the Nile would flood.The next new Moon,uh,after the heliacal rising of Sirius,which happened in the last month of the calendar year,marked the New Year.And because the ancient Egyptians were using the lunar cycle in combination with this heliacal rising,some years ended up having twelve lunar months,while others had thirteen lunar months—if Sirius didn't rise in the twelfth month.

Even though the length of the agricultural calendar still fluctuated,with some years having twelve months and others having thirteen,it ended up being much more reliable than it was before.They continually adjusted to the heliacal rising of Sirius ensuring that they never got too far off in their seasons.This new calendar was ideal because,well,it worked well for agricultural purposes as well as for knowing when to have traditional religious festivals.So,that was their first calendar.

But...was it any way to run a government?They didn't think so.For administrative purposes it was very inconvenient to have years of different lengths.So another calendar was introduced—an administrative one,probably soon after 3000 B.C.They declared a 365-day year with twelve-months per year with exactly 30 days each month,with an extra 5 days at the end of each year.

This administrative calendar existed alongside the earlier,agricultural and religious calendar,uh,that depended on the heliacal rising of Sirius.This administrative calendar was much easier to use for things like scheduling taxes and…and other things that had to be paid on time.Over time the calendar got out of step with seasons and the flooding of the Nile—but for bureaucratic purposes,they didn’t mind.

二、Ancient Egyptian Calendar托福听力中文翻译：

旁白：在历史课上听一节课的一部分。教授一直在讨论古埃及。

女教授：好的，像埃及这样的古代文明所面临的挑战之一就是计时。。。日历。当你必须为整个城市的人们种植粮食时，在正确的时间种植作物是很重要的。当你开始承担财务义务时，租金、税费你必须记录你多久支付一次。

今天我们来看看埃及人是如何解决这些问题的。事实上，他们最终使用了两种不同的日历，一种是用来记录自然世界，或者他们的农业问题，另一种是用来记录王国的商业功能。那么，让我们来看看一个古埃及历法系统是如何和为什么的。。。从尼罗河开始。

为什么是尼罗河？好吧，没有别的说法了：埃及人的生活基本上围绕着这条河神秘的涨落。他们农业系统的成功，嗯，取决于他们知道河流何时会改变。因此，自然地，他们的第一个日历分为三个季节，每个季节都基于河流的变化：洪水、沉降和收获。

第一个季节是洪水泛滥，尼罗河流域基本上被淹没了几个月左右。然后，在下沉季节，水会下沉，或者退去，露出一层新的肥沃的黑色淤泥，可以种植各种作物。最后，一年中的某个时候，山谷将种植小麦、大麦、水果。。。一切都准备好了。好啊因此，对于古埃及人来说，了解尼罗河季节何时到来是非常重要的，他们的生活方式依赖于此。

现在，他们用来计算时间的方法是基于月亮的相位，它有规律地、可预测地经历一个周期，从新月开始，然后到满月，再回到新月。现在，这个周期被用来确定他们的月份长度。所以，呃，一个月球周期是一个埃及月，其中大约四个月将构成一个季节。现在，其中12个月大约是354天。所以他们有一个354天的农业日历，旨在帮助他们确定尼罗河何时会淹没土地。

当然，事情要比这复杂得多。洪水之间的平均间隔时间实际上不是354天。我的意思是，虽然它有所不同，但平均时间明显超过354天。那么，他们是如何使这个较短的日历与尼罗河的实际洪水保持一致的呢？

嗯，他们的天文学家发现，呃，在一年中的某个时候，最亮的恒星，天狼星，会消失，实际上，它会隐藏在阳光下。然后，呃，几个月后的一天早上，在黎明前的东方天空，小天狼星会再次出现。这种情况经常发生，呃，大约每365天一次。更重要的是，小天狼星的再次出现将发生在尼罗河泛滥的同时。这个一年一度的活动被称为heliacal rising。。。

希拉克河的上涨是尼罗河何时泛滥的一个合理指标。下一个新月，呃，在天狼星的希拉克上升之后，发生在日历年的最后一个月，标志着新年。由于古埃及人将月球周期与这种希拉克上升相结合，一些年份最终有十二个月，而其他年份则有十三个月，如果天狼星不在第十二个月上升。

尽管农历的长度仍在波动，有些年份有12个月，有些年份有13个月，但它最终比以前可靠得多。他们不断地适应天狼星的上升，以确保他们在赛季中不会走得太远。这种新的日历很理想，因为它很适合农业用途，也很适合知道什么时候举行传统的宗教节日。这是他们的第一个日历。

但是这是管理政府的方式吗？他们不这么认为。出于行政目的，不同长度的年份非常不方便。因此，另一种历法被引入了行政历法，可能是在公元前3000年之后不久。他们宣布一年365天，每年12个月，每月正好30天，每年年底额外增加5天。

这个行政日历与早期的农业和宗教日历同时存在，呃，这取决于天狼星的希拉克崛起。这个管理日历更容易用于安排税收和其他必须按时支付的事情。随着时间的推移，日历与季节和尼罗河洪水不协调，但出于官僚目的，他们并不介意。

三、Ancient Egyptian Calendar托福听力问题：

Q1:1.What is the lecture mainly about?

A.Differences between modern and ancient calendars

B.The importance of astronomy in Egyptian religion

C.The timekeeping systems of ancient Egypt

D.How to use agriculture as a method of timekeeping

Q2:2.Why does the professor mention the names of the seasons in ancient Egypt?

A.To explain the importance of religion

B.To emphasize the significance of the Nile River

C.To indicate when different types of crops were harvested

D.To describe early discoveries in astronomy

Q3:3.Why was the heliacal rising of Sirius important to the Egyptians?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.It helped determine the beginning of the New Year.

B.It was used to calculate the length of the month.

C.It marked the beginning of harvest time.

D.It indicated when the Nile would flood.

Q4:4.Once the Egyptians realized the significance of the heliacal rising of Sirius,what change did they make to their agricultural calendar?

A.They made each month exactly 30 days.

B.They shortened the length of the year.

C.They added a religious festival date to celebrate the heliacal rising of Sirius.

D.They allowed the number of months in the year to vary.

Q5:5.What are two points the professor makes about the administrative calendar?[Click on 2 answers.]

A.It included more religious festivals than did the other calendar.

B.It was used for scheduling tax payments.

C.It had the same number of days every year.

D.It used the Moon to determine the beginning of the year.

Q6:6.What is the professor explaining when she says this:

A.The weakness of the Egyptian bureaucracy.

B.The Egyptian's motivations for developing a second calendar.

C.The importance of accurately predicting when the Nile would flood.

D.The problems that result from using two calendars.

四、Ancient Egyptian Calendar托福听力答案：

A1:正确答案：C

A2:正确答案：B

A3:正确答案：AD

A4:正确答案：D

A5:正确答案：BC

A6:正确答案：B

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