全文一共有 7 段，分別講述了左塞爾階梯金字塔的重要性、建築緣起、建造方法、規模、地下墓室的巧妙設計等內容。

本篇考題英文原文與對應之中文翻譯整理如下。練習作答解題時若有對語意不清楚之處，請仔細查閱對照，以提升閱讀理解能力。

The Step Pyramid of Djoser 左塞爾階梯金字塔

1. 首座埃及金字塔

   The pyramids are the most famous monuments of ancient Egypt and still hold enormous interest for people in the present day. These grand, impressive tributes to the memory of the Egyptian kings have become linked with the country even though other cultures, such as the Chinese and Mayan, also built pyramids. The evolution of the pyramid form has been written and argued about for centuries. However, there is no question that, as far as Egypt is concerned, it began with one monument to one king designed by one brilliant architect: the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara.

   金字塔是古埃及最著名的遺跡，在今日仍然引發人們巨大的興趣。這些用以紀念埃及國王的宏偉、令人印象深刻的貢品已經與這個國家聯繫在一起，儘管其他文化，如中國和瑪雅人，也建造了金字塔。關於金字塔形式的演變，幾個世紀以來一直有文字記載和爭論。然而，毫無疑問的是，就埃及而言，它始於一位傑出建築師為一位國王設計的紀念碑：位於塞加拉的左塞爾階梯金字塔。

2. 金字塔建造者

   Djoser was the first king of the Third Dynasty of Egypt and the first to build in stone. Prior to Djoser’s reign, tombs were rectangular monuments made of dried clay brick, which covered underground passages where the deceased person was buried. For reasons which remain unclear, Djoser’s main official, whose name was Imhotep, conceived of building a taller, more impressive tomb for his king by stacking stone slabs on top of one another, progressively making them smaller, to form the shape now known as the Step Pyramid. Djoser is thought to have reigned for 19 years, but some historians and scholars attribute a much longer time for his rule, owing to the number and size of the monuments he built.

   左塞爾是埃及第三王朝的第一位國王，也是第一個用石頭建造金字塔的國王。在左塞爾統治之前，墳墓是由乾燥的粘土磚製成的長方形紀念碑，它覆蓋在埋葬死者的地下通道上。由於目前尚不清楚的原因，左塞爾的主要幕僚，即伊姆霍特普，設想為他的國王建造一個更高、更壯觀的墳墓，方法是將石板堆疊在一起，逐漸變小，形成現在稱為階梯金字塔的形狀。一般認為左塞爾在位 19 年，但一些歷史學家和學者考量到他所建造的紀念碑的數量和規模，認為他的統治時間要長得多。

3. 戰勝技術挑戰

   The Step Pyramid has been thoroughly examined and investigated over the last century, and it is now known that the building process went through many different stages. Historian Marc Van de Mieroop comments on this, writing ‘Much experimentation was involved, which is especially clear in the construction of the pyramid in the center of the complex. It had several plans … before it became the first Step Pyramid in history, piling six levels on top of one another…The weight of the enormous mass was a challenge for the builders, who placed the stones at an inward incline in order to prevent the monument breaking up.’

   在過去的一個世紀裡，階梯金字塔被徹底檢查和調查，現在人們知道，其建造過程經歷了許多不同的階段。歷史學家 Marc Van de Mieroop 對此進行了評論，他寫道： “其中涉及許多實驗，這一點在建築群中心的金字塔的建造過程中尤為明顯。它包含好幾項計劃……後來才成為歷史上第一個階梯金字塔，將六層堆積在一起……巨大石塊的重量對建造者來說是一項挑戰，他們將石頭放在向內傾斜的位置，以防止建物崩壞。”

4. 規模壯觀、防盜嚴密

   When finally completed, the Step Pyramid rose 62 meters high and was the tallest structure of its time. The complex in which it was built was the size of a city in ancient Egypt and included a temple, courtyards, shrines, and living quarters for the priests. It covered a region of 16 hectares and was surrounded by a wall 10.5 meters high. The wall had 13 false doors cut into it with only one true entrance cut into the south-east corner; the entire wall was then ringed by a trench 750 meters long and 40 meters wide. The false doors and the trench were incorporated into the complex to discourage unwanted visitors. If someone wished to enter, he or she would have needed to know in advance how to find the location of the true opening in the wall. Djoser was so proud of his accomplishment that he broke the tradition of having only his own name on the monument and had Imhotep’s name carved on it as well.

   當最終完成時，階梯金字塔高達 62 米，是當時最高的建築。它所處的建築群相當於古埃及一個城市的規模，包括一座神廟、庭院、神龕和祭司的生活區。它佔地 16 公頃，周圍有 10.5 米高的圍牆。城牆上開有 13 個假門，只有一個真正的入口開在東南角；然後整個城牆被一條長 750 米、寬 40 米的壕溝所包圍。假門和壕溝被納入建築群中，以阻止不受歡迎的訪客。如果有人想進入，他或她需要事先知道如何找到城牆上真正的開口位置。左塞爾為自己的成就感到非常自豪，他打破了在紀念碑上只刻自己名字的傳統，把伊姆霍特普的名字也刻在了上面。

5. 難解石器物品

   The burial chamber of the tomb, where the king’s body was laid to rest, was dug beneath the base of the pyramid, surrounded by a vast maze of long tunnels that had rooms off them to discourage robbers. One of the most mysterious discoveries found inside the pyramid was a large number of stone vessels. Over 40,000 of these vessels, of various forms and shapes, were discovered in storerooms off the pyramid’s underground passages. They are inscribed with the names of rulers from the First and Second Dynasties of Egypt and made from different kinds of stone. There is no agreement among scholars and archaeologists on why the vessels were placed in the tomb of Djoser or what they were supposed to represent. The archaeologist Jean-Philippe Lauer, who excavated most of the pyramid and complex, believes they were originally stored and then given a ‘proper burial’ by Djoser in his pyramid to honor his predecessors. There are other historians, however, who claim the vessels were dumped into the shafts as yet another attempt to prevent grave robbers from getting to the king’s burial chamber.

   埋葬國王屍體的墓室被挖在金字塔的底部下面，周圍是巨大的迷宮般的長長的隧道，隧道外有房間以阻止盜賊。在金字塔內找到的最神秘發現之一是大量的石器。在金字塔地下通道旁的貯藏室中發現了超過 4 萬個不同形式和形狀的此類容器。它們都刻有埃及第一和第二王朝統治者的名字，由不同種類的石頭製成。學者和考古學家對這些器皿為何被放置在左塞爾墓中或它們所應代表的意義並沒有達成共識。發掘了大部分金字塔和建築群的考古學家 Jean-Philippe Lauer 認為，它們最初被儲存起來，然後由左塞爾在他的金字塔中給予  “適當的葬禮”，以紀念他的先祖。然而，也有其他歷史學家聲稱，這些容器被傾倒在豎井中，試圖再一次防止盜墓者進入國王的墓室。

6. 寶物流失

   Unfortunately, all of the precautions and intricate design of the underground network did not prevent ancient robbers from finding a way in. Djoser’s grave goods, and even his body, were stolen at some point in the past and all archaeologists found were a small number of his valuables overlooked by the thieves. There was enough left throughout the pyramid and its complex, however, to astonish and amaze the archaeologists who excavated it.

   不幸的是，所有的預防措施和地下網絡的複雜設計並沒有阻止古代盜賊找到進入的途徑。左塞爾的墓葬物品，甚至他的屍體，都在過去的某個時候遭到偷盜，而考古學家發現的只是被盜賊忽略的少量貴重物品。然而，整個金字塔及其建築群中留下的東西足以讓挖掘它的考古學家們感到驚訝和驚奇。

7. 建築學上的革命性進步

   Egyptologist Miroslav Verner writes, ‘Few monuments hold a place in human history as significant as that of the Step Pyramid in Saqqara … It can be said without exaggeration that this pyramid complex constitutes a milestone in the evolution of monumental stone architecture in Egypt and in the world as a whole.’ The Step Pyramid was a revolutionary advance in architecture and became the archetype which all the other great pyramid builders of Egypt would follow.

   埃及學家 Miroslav Verner 寫道： “很少有遺跡能像塞加拉的階梯金字塔那樣在人類歷史上佔有重要地位……可以毫不誇張地說，這個金字塔群構成了埃及乃至整個世界紀念性石製建築發展的一個里程碑。” 階梯金字塔是建築學上的一個革命性的進步，成為埃及所有其他偉大金字塔建造者效仿的原型。