World History · Unit 1 · Lesson 4 · 世界歷史 單元一 第四課
Raise the Great Pyramid course by course in 3D and test four ideas about how its blocks were lifted. Then find on a map the rivers where the first cities grew, and sort out what a river gave a city, and what trouble it brought.
在 3D 裡一層一層蓋起大金字塔，試試四種「石頭怎麼運上去」的想法。再從地圖上找出最早的城市長在哪些河邊，分一分河帶給城市什麼、又帶來什麼麻煩。
The first cities grew where rivers made it possible to farm enough food for many people who did not farm. But every river behaved differently, and every city had to learn to live with its own river. Rivers made cities possible, not certain.
最早的城市長在河流讓人能種出足夠糧食的地方，多到可以養活許多不種田的人。但每一條河的脾氣都不一樣，每一座城市都得學會跟自己的河相處。河讓城市成為可能，卻不保證一定會有城市。
3D Model · 3D 模型
Pull the slider and the pyramid rises course by course. Watch the number marked in gold: when the pyramid is only half as tall as it will be, almost nine-tenths of its stone is already in place. Then switch between four ideas about how the blocks were raised. Each is a hypothesis that researchers have proposed, with evidence for it and problems against it; no one knows for certain which, or which mix, was used.
拉動滑桿，金字塔會一層一層長高。注意金色的那個數字：金字塔蓋到最後高度的一半時，將近九成的石頭已經放上去了。接著切換四種「石塊怎麼運上去」的想法。每一種都是研究者提出的假說，有支持的證據，也有說不通的地方；到底用的是哪一種、或是好幾種混用，沒有人能確定。
Drag to turn · 拖曳轉動 Scroll or pinch to zoom · 滾輪／雙指縮放
This 3D model needs WebGL, which this browser does not support. The numbers and the four ideas on the right still work, and so do the map and the games below.
這個瀏覽器不支援 WebGL，無法顯示 3D 模型；右邊的數字和四種想法照樣能用，下面的地圖和小遊戲也都能用。
This is a teaching sketch. The real pyramid has far more courses than the model shows, and the ramps are drawn from descriptions of each hypothesis, not from plans. The distance to the Nile is shortened.
這是教學用的示意。真正的金字塔層數比模型多得多；坡道是依照每一種假說的描述畫的，不是根據任何設計圖。到尼羅河的距離也縮短了。
Model: an illustration made for this lesson. Pyramid measurements and the four hypotheses follow the sources listed at the bottom of the page. 模型：為這一課製作的示意。金字塔的尺寸與四種假說，依本頁最下面列出的資料。
Reading · 英文閱讀
In Lesson 2, villages stored grain. In Lesson 3, people in Uruk wrote down who owed what. Uruk was more than a village. It was a city, with temples, workshops, and at least 25,000 people, many of whom did not farm at all. A city needs a lot of extra food, more than its farmers eat. Where could that much food come from?
In most of the places where the first cities grew, the answer was a river. Southern Mesopotamia gets almost no rain, but the Euphrates and Tigris bring water from the mountains. Egypt is mostly desert, but every summer the Nile rose and left fresh mud on its fields. Rivers gave water for crops, soil that stayed rich, fish and reeds, and a road for boats. Heavy loads, from grain to stone, traveled far more easily by water than over land.
Yet the rivers were not alike. The Nile's flood came at about the same time every year, and Egyptian farmers could plan around it. In Mesopotamia the high water came at the wrong time for the crops, so people had to lead water to the fields with canals and dikes. The rivers of the Indus Valley, fed by the summer monsoon, changed over the centuries as their floods and the monsoon rains grew weaker. Along the Yellow River in China, great floods could break through and change the river's course. Each river shaped its city in its own way.
Many textbooks speak of four great river civilizations: Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus, and China's Yellow River. The list is a useful start, but it leaves a lot out. Liangzhu, beside the Yangtze, built dams and a walled city more than 5,000 years ago. Caral, in Peru, grew in a desert valley beside the small Supe River at about the same time as the first Egyptian pyramids. Cities began in more places than four, and none of them is the “first” in every way.
Cities could organize huge projects. In Egypt, the Great Pyramid of Khufu rose more than 4,500 years ago, originally about 146 meters tall. It was not built by slaves. Archaeologists have found the town that housed the builders of the Giza pyramids, with bakeries and storerooms. A Harvard project describes the workers as Egyptians paid in food, mainly bread and beer; some researchers think many came in rotating teams from their home districts. Boats carried its fine limestone down the Nile. How the blocks were raised to the top is still not fully known.
Living beside a river had risks. Floods could destroy fields, and a river that changed its path could leave a city without water. The Indus cities declined slowly after about 1900 BCE, and changing river flows are one of the main explanations. A river did not make a city by itself. People did, by learning how their river behaved and working together to manage it.
Questions · 閱讀理解
Why does a city need more food than a village, and how did a river help?
How was the Nile's flood different from the floods in Mesopotamia, and why did that matter to farmers?
The lesson says rivers made cities possible, not certain. What else did people need to do?
Words & Phrases · 生字及片語
Quick Check · 小測驗
1. Why did the first cities need a lot of extra food?
2. What did the Nile do every summer?
3. Why was farming harder to organize in southern Mesopotamia?
4. Who built the Great Pyramid, according to the evidence of their town?
5. Which of these early centers is NOT one of the usual “four river civilizations”?
Try It in the Model · 在模型裡試試
Then try all four ideas yourself. For each one, ask: where would the ramp's material come from, and what would it hide from the builders?
接著自己把四種想法都試一遍。每一種都問問：坡道的材料從哪裡來？它會把什麼遮住，讓工人看不到？
Stop at half the height and read the gold number: almost 88 percent of the stone is already in place. The hardest part is not the bottom but the top, where every block has to go highest.
停在一半的高度，看金色的數字：將近百分之八十八的石頭已經放上去了。最難的不是下面，而是上面，因為那裡每一塊石頭都得抬到最高。
Watch the straight ramp near the top. At a gentle slope it stretches far into the desert, and the ramp itself becomes a giant building project.
看看直坡道快到頂端的樣子。坡度一平緩，它就伸到沙漠很遠的地方，坡道本身變成另一件巨大的工程。
The spiral needs no long mound, but look at the corners: the ramp covers them, and the turns grow tight and steep near the top.
螺旋坡道不需要長長的土堆，但看看四個角：坡道把它們蓋住了，越往上，轉彎越窄、越陡。
When it was finished, a casing of fine white limestone made the faces smooth. Most of the casing is gone today, which is why the pyramid now looks stepped and stands a little shorter.
完工的時候，一層細白的石灰岩外殼讓四個面變得平滑。今天這層外殼大部分已經不見了，所以金字塔現在看起來一階一階的，也矮了一點。
Explore · 動手看看
Pull the slider from about 6,200 years ago toward the present. Each place lights up when its first cities or large centers appear, faintly while the dates are uncertain and strongly once the evidence is clear. Click a number to read which river it stood beside.
把滑桿從大約 6,200 年前往現在拉。每個地方在最早的城市或大型中心出現時亮起來：年代還不確定的時候淡淡的，證據明確了才變實。點一個號碼，看看它在哪一條河旁邊。
Places with cities so far目前已經有城市的地方
Click a numbered circle on the map, or a name below it.點地圖上有號碼的圓，或是地圖下面的名字。
Textbooks often speak of four river civilizations. The map shows six places, because the Yangtze in China and the Supe valley in Peru also had very early large centers. Every one of them stood beside a river, but the rivers behaved very differently.課本常說有四個大河文明。這張地圖畫了六個地方，因為中國的長江、祕魯的蘇佩河谷也很早就有大型的中心。它們每一個都在河邊，但這些河的脾氣非常不一樣。
Game · 小遊戲
A river gave a city some things it needed, and some trouble too. Sort each card into the right basket. There is no timer.
一條河帶給城市它需要的東西，也帶來麻煩。把每一張卡放進對的籃子。不計時。
Right on the first try · 第一次就分對 0 / 0
What does this card show the river doing?這張卡裡的河在做什麼？
Parallel Timeline · 平行時間軸
Each bar marks early cities or large centers in a region. Notice how they overlap, and how many lanes have one. Press “Whole span” to see how recent all of this is.
每一條長條標出一個地區早期的城市或大型中心。注意它們怎麼重疊，有幾條線上有。按「全部」看看，這些事其實有多近。
Click a bar or a diamond to read its dates.點一條長條或一個菱形，讀出它的年代。
How Do We Know? · 我們怎麼知道？
The first cities left walls, streets, and rubbish behind. The rivers that fed them left clues too.
最早的城市留下了牆、街道和垃圾。養活它們的河，也留下了線索。
Near the pyramids, archaeologists have dug up the town that housed the builders of the Giza pyramids (probably including Khufu's), with workshops, bakeries, storerooms, and officials' houses. The workers' cemetery was found in 1990.
在金字塔附近，考古學家挖出了吉薩金字塔建造者住的城鎮（很可能也包括蓋胡夫金字塔的人），有作坊、麵包坊、倉庫，和官員的房子。工人的墓地是 1990 年發現的。
Its limits · 它的限制The town shows how workers lived, but not exactly how they were recruited. Researchers still debate how much was paid work and how much was a duty owed to the state.這座城鎮讓我們看到工人怎麼生活，但看不出他們確切是怎麼被找來的。有多少是領酬勞的工作、有多少是對國家的義務，研究者還在討論。
Ancient Egypt Research Associates; National Geographic History (2017) ↗In 2013, papyri were found at an ancient harbor on the Red Sea. They are the logbook of an official named Merer, whose team carried limestone by boat from the quarries at Tura to the Great Pyramid while it was being built. They are the oldest inscribed papyri yet found in Egypt.
2013 年，在紅海邊一座古代港口找到了一批莎草紙。它們是一位叫梅勒的官員的工作日誌：大金字塔施工的時候，他的隊伍用船把石灰岩從圖拉的採石場運到工地。這是目前在埃及找到最古老、寫了字的莎草紙。
Its limits · 它的限制Merer tells us how stone traveled, not how it was lifted. The logbook says nothing about ramps.梅勒告訴我們石頭怎麼運來，卻沒說怎麼抬上去。日誌裡沒有提到坡道。
Tallet and Marouard, Near Eastern Archaeology 77 (2014); Tallet, Les papyrus de la mer Rouge I (IFAO, 2017) ↗Rivers leave traces. Satellite images and drill cores show an old branch of the Nile, now dried up, that once ran close to the pyramids. Studies of old river beds in the Indus region show how its floods weakened over time.
河會留下痕跡。衛星影像和鑽探取出的土芯顯示，有一條現在已經乾掉的尼羅河古支流，以前離金字塔很近。對印度河一帶古河床的研究，讓我們看到它的洪水怎麼隨時間變弱。
Its limits · 它的限制Dating old river channels is hard, and linking a change in a river to a change in people's lives is an interpretation, not a direct observation.古河道很難定年；把河的改變和人的生活改變連在一起，是一種解讀，不是直接看到的事。
Ghoneim et al., Communications Earth & Environment (2024); Giosan et al., PNAS (2012) ↗Different Accounts · 不同的說法
The questions below have been argued over for a long time. The views are set side by side; this lesson does not choose between them.
下面這些問題已經爭論很久了。各種說法並列，這一課不替誰下結論。
Yes是
The historian Karl Wittfogel argued in 1957 that large irrigation works needed strong central rulers, and that this was how powerful states arose in river valleys.
歷史學家魏復古（Karl Wittfogel）在 1957 年主張，大型的灌溉工程需要強大的中央統治者，大河流域的強大國家就是這樣出現的。
Wittfogel, Oriental Despotism (1957); see “Oriental Despotism” ↗
Not at first一開始不是
Later researchers found that in Mesopotamia large-scale irrigation is clearly attested only from about 2500 BCE, long after the first cities. A 2025 study suggests that the tides on the delta helped water the earliest fields.
後來的研究者發現，在美索不達米亞，大規模灌溉要到大約西元前 2500 年才有明確的證據，比最早的城市晚了很多。2025 年的一項研究認為，三角洲上的潮水幫最早的田灌了溉。
Where things stand · 目前的情況Water mattered everywhere, but the order of events differs from place to place.水在每個地方都重要，但事情發生的先後，每個地方不一樣。
A useful list一份好用的清單
In 1900 Liang Qichao wrote of four ancient homelands of civilization and tied them to great rivers. Lists like this help students compare a few well-studied places.
1900 年，梁啟超寫到地球上古代的「文明祖國有四」，並把它們和大河連在一起。像這樣的清單，可以幫學生比較幾個研究得比較多的地方。
Too few太少了
Liangzhu on the Yangtze and Caral in Peru were early and complex, and the Olmec of Mexico followed a little later, about 1200 to 500 BCE, yet none is on the list. Even Liang's own four were China, India, Egypt, and Asia Minor, not quite today's version.
長江的良渚、祕魯的卡拉爾都很早、也很複雜，墨西哥的奧爾梅克稍晚一些（大約西元前 1200 到 500 年），卻都不在清單上。就連梁啟超自己列的四個，也是中國、印度、埃及和小亞細亞，跟今天的版本並不完全一樣。
UNESCO, Liangzhu and Caral-Supe; National Geographic Education, “Olmec Civilization” ↗
Where things stand · 目前的情況The number four is a teaching habit, not a discovery.「四」是一種教學習慣，不是一項發現。
Slaves (an old claim)奴隸（一個古老的說法）
The Greek writer Herodotus, about 2,000 years after the pyramids were built, claimed they were built by forced labor, and the idea lasted into modern times.
希臘作家希羅多德在金字塔蓋好大約兩千年之後，說它們是用強迫的勞力蓋的；這個想法一直流傳到現代。
Egyptian workers埃及的工人
The workers' town and cemetery show Egyptian workers who were fed and cared for. Some researchers stress that they were paid in food; others suggest that many were called up in rotating teams from their home districts.
工人的城鎮和墓地顯示，蓋金字塔的是有人供應食物、照顧的埃及工人。有些研究者強調他們領的是食物；也有研究者認為，很多人是從家鄉輪班被徵調來的。
Harvard University, Digital Giza; Ancient Egypt Research Associates ↗
Where things stand · 目前的情況The evidence rules out the slave story but still leaves room to discuss how free the workers were.證據排除了「奴隸蓋的」這個故事，但工人有多自由，還有討論的空間。
Invaders (an older view)入侵者（比較早的看法）
Early in the 20th century some scholars thought newcomers had conquered the cities. As early as 1964, an archaeologist writing for the Penn Museum disputed this.
二十世紀初，有些學者認為是外來的人征服了這些城市。早在 1964 年，就有一位為賓州大學博物館撰文的考古學家反駁這種說法。
Dales, “The Mythical Massacre at Mohenjo-Daro,” Expedition 6 (1964) ↗
Changing rivers河流的改變
Today researchers point to changing river flows and weakening floods and monsoon rains, which disrupted farming. One study argues that weaker floods first encouraged cities, and that as the monsoon kept weakening, settlements shrank.
今天的研究者指出，河水的流量改變、洪水和季風雨變弱，打亂了農業。有一項研究認為，洪水變弱一開始促成了城市；後來季風繼續變弱，聚落就縮小了。
Where things stand · 目前的情況The decline was slow and differed from region to region, and its causes are still debated.衰落是慢慢發生的，各地區也不一樣，原因到現在還有爭論。
Notice how often a new kind of evidence, such as river mud or a satellite image, changes the question rather than ending it.留意新的證據（例如河底的泥或衛星影像）有多常改變問題本身，而不是結束討論。
History English · 歷史英語
Historians compare places without ranking them: what was alike, what was different, and what we still do not know. Listen, repeat, then make your own sentence with the words in bold.
歷史學家比較不同的地方，但不替它們排名：哪裡一樣、哪裡不一樣、還有什麼不知道。先聽、再跟著唸，然後用粗體的字自己造一句。
Both Egypt and Mesopotamia grew up beside great rivers.
埃及和美索不達米亞都在大河旁邊發展起來。
both … and …: two things that are alike兩者都……
The Nile rose at about the same time every year, whereas Mesopotamia's floods came at the wrong time for the crops.
尼羅河每年差不多同一個時候漲水，而美索不達米亞的洪水卻在作物不需要的時候來。
whereas: sets two different things side by side而……（對照兩件不同的事）
Unlike the farmers of the Yellow River, the people of Liangzhu grew rice.
和黃河邊的農夫不同，良渚的人種的是稻米。
unlike: different from和……不同
The streets of Harappa were similar to those of Mohenjo-daro.
哈拉帕的街道和摩亨約達羅的很像。
similar to: almost the same as和……相似
A food surplus made it possible for some people not to farm.
多出來的糧食，讓一些人可以不種田。
made it possible for + person + to: allowed讓某人能夠
No one knows for certain how the blocks were raised.
沒有人能確定石塊是怎麼運上去的。
no one knows for certain: it is still unknown沒有人能確定
Changing river flows may have led to the decline of the Indus cities.
河水流量的改變，可能導致了印度河城市的衰落。
may have led to: possibly caused可能導致了
Rivers made cities possible, but not certain.
河讓城市成為可能，卻不保證一定會有。
possible, but not certain: a condition, not a cause可能，但不一定
Taiwan at That Time · 那時候的台灣
While Uruk and Memphis were growing, people in Taiwan lived in villages near rivers, estuaries, and the coast. There were no cities, but there were farms, fishing, and, later, a very large settlement at Beinan.
烏魯克和孟斐斯在長大的時候，台灣的人住在河邊、河口和海邊的村落。那時沒有城市，但有農田、有漁獵，後來還有卑南一處很大的聚落。
Archaeologists in Taiwan usually give dates as “years ago” (before 1950), not as BCE. About 5,000 years ago is roughly 3000 BCE, and 3,500 years ago is roughly 1550 BCE.
台灣的考古學家通常用「距今幾年」（以 1950 年為準）來說年代，不用西元前。距今大約 5,000 年，差不多是西元前 3000 年；距今 3,500 年，差不多是西元前 1550 年。
Dapenkeng: by the water大坌坑文化：靠水而居
The National Museum of Prehistory dates the Dapenkeng culture to between a little over 6,000 and 5,000 years ago. Its sites lie mostly on coasts, at river mouths, and by lakes. Many scholars think these people may be among the earliest ancestors of the Austronesian peoples.
國立臺灣史前文化博物館把大坌坑文化定在「大約在六千多年前到五千年前之間」。它的遺址大多在海邊、河口和湖邊。許多學者認為，他們可能是南島語族最早的祖先之一。
Grain farming種穀子
In the cord-marked red pottery cultures, about 4,500 to 3,500 years ago, the same museum says life was based mainly on grain farming, while hunting and fishing stayed important.
在大約距今 4,500 到 3,500 年的細繩紋陶文化，同一座博物館說，生活以穀類農業為主，打獵和捕魚也還是很重要。
Beinan: a large settlement卑南：很大的聚落
At Beinan in Taitung, on a river terrace beside the Beinan River, people built a village covering more than 50 hectares, with stone buildings, standing stone pillars, and about 1,600 slate coffins. The Beinan culture appeared between about 3,500 and 3,000 years ago and lasted to about 2,300 years ago. It is not the same as today's Puyuma (Beinan) people.
在台東卑南大溪旁的河階上，人們建了一個面積超過 50 公頃的聚落，有石頭砌的建築、豎立的石柱，還留下大約 1,600 具石板棺。卑南文化大約在距今 3,500 到 3,000 年之間出現，延續到距今 2,300 年前後。它和今天的卑南族並不是同一回事。
Why no cities?為什麼沒有城市？
A village does not need to become a city. Archaeologists find settled villages of farmers and fishers in Taiwan, but no cities from this time. Why is not known for sure. One idea is that Taiwan's rivers are short and steep, without a wide floodplain like the Nile's, but that is an idea, not a finding.
村落不一定要變成城市。考古學家在台灣找到許多定居的農耕、漁獵村落，但那個時代沒有找到城市。為什麼，沒有人能確定。有一種想法是：台灣的河又短又陡，沒有尼羅河那樣寬廣的平原；但這只是一種想法，不是發現。
Stories Behind the Evidence · 證據背後的故事
Four short stories about rivers and the cities beside them.
四個小故事，關於河，以及河邊的城市。
5th century BCE · Egypt · 埃及
The Greek writer Herodotus, more than 2,000 years after the first pyramids, wrote that much of Egypt was “the gift of the river”: land built up from the mud the Nile carried down. He said the Egyptian priests told him so, and he agreed.
在最早的金字塔出現兩千多年後，希臘作家希羅多德寫道，埃及很多土地是「河的禮物」：是尼羅河帶下來的泥土堆出來的。他說這是埃及的祭司告訴他的，他也同意。
Khufu's reign · Egypt · 埃及
Merer's team rowed and sailed between the quarries at Tura and Giza, carrying limestone for the Great Pyramid. His logbook, found in 2013 by the Red Sea, records their trips day by day.
梅勒的隊伍在圖拉的採石場和吉薩之間來回划船、揚帆，替大金字塔運石灰岩。他的日誌 2013 年在紅海邊被找到，一天一天地記下了他們的航程。
Today · Giza · 吉薩
Greek writers listed seven wonders of the world. Of those, UNESCO notes, the Great Pyramid of Khufu is the only one that still survives.
希臘人列過世界七大奇觀。聯合國教科文組織指出，其中只有胡夫的大金字塔還留存到今天。
About 3000–1800 BCE · Peru · 祕魯
Caral stands on a dry terrace above the green valley of the Supe River, near the Pacific coast. Its builders raised pyramids and sunken plazas there, and UNESCO calls it the oldest center of civilization in the Americas.
卡拉爾蓋在蘇佩河綠色河谷上方一塊乾燥的台地上，離太平洋海岸不遠。建造它的人在那裡築起金字塔和下沉式廣場；聯合國教科文組織稱它是美洲最古老的文明中心。
In the Curriculum · 對應課綱
These entries come from Taiwan's 12-Year Basic Education curriculum for social studies (October 2018).
下面的條目出自十二年國民基本教育課程綱要社會領域（民國 107 年 10 月）。
歷 Na-Ⅳ-1國中・古代文化的遺產 · Junior high · the heritage of ancient cultures
非洲與西亞的早期文化。
The curriculum suggests focusing on Egypt, and on Sumer, Babylon, and Persia in West Asia, without going into detail. This lesson places Egypt and Mesopotamia beside the other early river cities.課綱建議以埃及，以及西亞的蘇美、巴比倫和波斯為主，不必詳述細節。這一課把埃及和美索不達米亞，和其他早期的河邊城市放在一起看。
歷 Ba-Ⅳ-1國中・早期臺灣 · Junior high · early Taiwan
考古發掘與史前文化。
The “Taiwan at That Time” card connects to this entry.「那時候的台灣」這張卡對應這個條目。
歷 Tb-Ⅴ-1高中・加深加廣選修（科技、環境與藝術的歷史） · Senior high · elective: History of Technology, Environment, and the Arts
環境變遷與消失的文明。
The decline of the Indus cities is a case study for this entry.印度河城市的衰落，可以做為這個條目的例子。
Myth vs. Fact · 常見迷思
✗ Myth · 迷思Slaves built the pyramids.金字塔是奴隸蓋的。
✓ Fact · 事實The workers' town and cemetery show Egyptian workers who were fed with bread and beer. Many may have been called up in rotating teams, but they were not slaves.工人的城鎮和墓地顯示，蓋金字塔的是吃麵包、喝啤酒的埃及工人。很多人可能是輪班被徵調來的，但他們不是奴隸。
✗ Myth · 迷思Every pharaoh was buried in a pyramid.每一位法老都葬在金字塔裡。
✓ Fact · 事實Pyramids were the royal tombs of the Old Kingdom and a few later periods. Many later kings were buried in rock-cut tombs in the Valley of the Kings, near Thebes.金字塔是古王國和後來少數時期的王陵。很多後來的國王葬在底比斯附近的帝王谷，墓是在岩壁上鑿出來的。
✗ Myth · 迷思There were only four ancient civilizations.古代文明只有四個。
✓ Fact · 事實Liangzhu and Caral were early and complex too, and the Olmec came a little later. “Four” is a teaching habit.良渚和卡拉爾也都很早、也很複雜，奧爾梅克稍晚一些。「四」是一種教學習慣。
✗ Myth · 迷思The Indus cities were destroyed suddenly by invaders.印度河的城市是被入侵者一下子毀掉的。
✓ Fact · 事實There is no evidence of an invasion. The cities declined slowly, and changing rivers are a leading explanation.沒有入侵的證據。這些城市是慢慢衰落的，河流的改變是主要的解釋之一。
Remember It · 記憶口訣
A city is full of people who do not farm. Someone has to grow their food.
城市裡滿是不種田的人，總得有人替他們種糧食。
The Nile was regular, Mesopotamia's floods came at the wrong time, the Indus floods weakened.
尼羅河很規律，美索不達米亞的洪水來錯時間，印度河的洪水變弱了。
Add the Yangtze and the Supe. Early cities grew in many places.
加上長江和蘇佩河。早期的城市長在很多地方。
A river gives a chance. People turn it into a city.
河給了機會，是人把它變成城市。
Classroom Activity 1 · 課堂活動一
You need · 準備材料
Steps · 步驟
Step 3 is the lesson. Students see that living by a river means planning for its moods, which is what every early river city had to do.
第三步就是這堂課的重點。學生會發現，住在河邊就得為它的脾氣做準備，這正是每一座早期的河邊城市都得做的事。
Classroom Activity 2 · 課堂活動二
You need · 準備材料
Steps · 步驟
This turns a surprising number into something students can hold. The top of a pyramid is small but hard to reach, which is why the ramp question matters.
這個活動把一個讓人意外的數字變成摸得到的東西。金字塔的頂端很小卻很難到達，這就是坡道的問題重要的原因。
Go Further · 延伸閱讀
Sources · 資料出處
Checked October 2026. Dates for early cities and for the Great Pyramid differ between sources; where they do, the lesson gives the range · 2026 年 10 月查證。早期城市和大金字塔的年代各資料不一；遇到不一致時，課文寫出範圍
