Mark :What did you do during you holiday?

Lily :I went to Egypt and visited the Pyramid of Khufu. This is a picture.

Mark : how big the Pyramid of Khufu is!

Lily : Yes. It`s magnificent. The tour guide told us that more than two million stone blocks were used to build it, weighing an average of 2.5 tons each.

Mark : How did the ancient Egyptians do that? 4,000 years ago there was no machinery. How could they move such enormous blocks to build such a huge pyramid?

Lily :During the annual flood of the Nile, the stone blocks were floated down the river on barges to the construction site.

Mark : How did they lift those huge blocks to make such a tall structure?

Lily :Ramps were built and extended around the pyramid and used as the road to drag up the blocks. When the pyramid was done, they took the ramps away. Susan, do you know who built the pyramid?

Mark :I`ve heard that the pyramids were built by the pharaoh`s slaves.

Lily :It isn`t really correct. The pyramids were built by skilled workers, and the unemployed farmers also came to work during the flood season.

Mark : Were they forced to build the pyramid?

Lily :Some history books said they were, but research says "No". It was considered a religious duty because the people believed that the pharaoh was Sun God living on earth. If his corpse was not preserved, the pharaoh could not enjoy life after death.

Mark :Oh, so people were not forced to build the pyramid!

Lily In fact they were proud to do the work.

Mark :interesting!