六級閱讀：古埃及陵墓之謎精講

　　六級閱讀：古埃及陵墓之謎 A Rich King Of Old Egypt1

　　The kings of old Egypt were very rich and powerful, and their tombs tell much about their lives. Archeologists2 have looked for these tombs for many years. One man — Lord Carnarvon of England — was not an archeologist. But he was very much interested in the way people lived in Egypt long ago. He was given permission to dig for some of the old tombs in a place called the Valley of the Kings. 3 He hired4 an archeologist named Howard Carter to take charge . 5

　　For more than five years, the two men worked there with a group of diggers, but they found very little . Lord Carnarvon went back to England. Carter had almost lost hope of making an important discovery. But he kept on with the work.

　　Then one day in the fall of 1922 , one of his workers uncovered something that looked like a step cut into a rocky hill. He brushed away6 some loose stones and saw a second step below. It took four days to clear sixteen steps leading down into the hill. At the bottom of the steps, there was a wall of stone blocks. On the wall, they found the seal of a king called Tutankhamen.

　　When Lord Carnarvon heard the news, he sailed on the first ship to Egypt. They began the work of clearing out7 the tomb. It had to be done so carefully that it took six years to finish the job!

　　There were four rooms in the tomb. Three of them were piled high with boxes, vases, jewels, and many other beautiful things. There was a golden throne, several golden chariots, the king’s hunting bows, and even his gold-trimmed sandals. All these things were put near the king in case he should need them in his own special afterworld.

　　The fourth room held a huge , carved coffin. In it, there were three more coffins, one inside the other. The last one was made of gold, and in it was the body of Tutankhamen. The body had been prepared with chemicals and was tightly wrapped in cloth. A body that is protected in this way is called a mummy. There were three layers of cloth wrappings on the body, and a mask of pure gold.

　　All the things found in the tomb were taken to museums, andarcheologists have been studying them ever since. Because Tutankhamen was a king, everything he left behind is very beautiful and very valuable . The gold itself is worth millions of dollars.

　　But most important of all is the meaning of the objects themselves. They show how people lived in Egypt more than 3 , 000 years ago.

　　閱讀自測

　?、? The following a re the meanings of the words in the passage , and try to fin d the correct words:

　　1. to employ———

　　2. to fold, bind———

　　3. to collect, gather———

　　4. agreement, approval———

　　5. to go by river, set out on a voyage———

　?、? According to the p as sage , fill in the blanks with proper words or phrases :

　　1. Lord Carnarvon, who was not an_______ , employed Howard Carter to take_______ .

　　2. Without finding anything, Lord Carnavon went back to England while Carter_______ with it.

　　3. In the fall of _______, Carter and his workers found the tomb of Tutankhamen. The tomb was_______ with many valuable things, which were put near the king in case he should need them in his special_______ .

　　4. It was really a tough job to_______ the tomb for it took them six years to finish it.

　　5. The body that is protected with chemicals and tightly wrapped in cloth is called a_______ .

　　6. All the things found in the tomb were taken to_______ to let the archaeologists study. Its significance is that the objects show how people lived in_______ more than 3 , 000 years ago.

　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. hire 2 . wrap 3. pile 4 . permission 5 . sail

　?、? 1. archeologist / charge 2 . kept on 3 . 1922 / piled / afterworld 4. clear out 5. mummy 6 . museums / Egypt

　　六級閱讀：古埃及陵墓之謎 參考譯文

　　古埃及陵墓之謎

　　古埃及的國王們非常有錢有勢, 而且他們的陵墓也顯現(xiàn)出他們的生活狀況?？脊艑W(xué)家 們已經(jīng)尋找這些墓群好多年了。有一個人——— 英格蘭的卡納馮勛爵——— 并不是考古學(xué)家, 可他對遠古時期埃及居民的生活方式非常感興趣。他獲得許可, 在一個叫帝王谷的地方發(fā) 掘某些古墓, 還雇了一位名叫霍華德· 卡特的考古學(xué)家來負責(zé)此事。

　　這兩人與一群挖掘工在那兒工作了五年多, 可收獲甚微?？{馮勛爵返回了英格蘭。雖 然卡特對發(fā)現(xiàn)重要文物幾乎不抱什么希望了, 但是他仍繼續(xù)工作。

　　1922 年秋季的一天, 一個工人挖到一些東西, 那東西看起來很像是切入巖石山的一級 臺階?；羧A德?lián)荛_一些松動的石塊, 看到下面又有一級臺階。清理出通向小山深處的地下 的十六級臺階花去了四天的時間。在最下面的一級臺階旁, 有一堵石墻。在這堵墻上, 他 們發(fā)現(xiàn)了圖坦卡蒙國王的封戳。

　　卡納馮勛爵一聽到這個消息就搭乘最早一班航船駛回埃及。隨后, 他們開始對文物進 行挖掘清理。他們清理得非常仔細, 總共花了六年的時間才完工!

　　陵墓內(nèi)有四間墓室, 其中三間都堆滿了箱子、花瓶、珠寶和其他許多漂亮的物品, 還有 一把金御座, 很多輛金戰(zhàn)車, 國王狩獵用的弓, 甚至還有鑲金邊的拖鞋。所有這些都放在國 王身旁, 以備他自己在與眾不同的陰世生活所需。

　　第四間墓室內(nèi)存放著一口巨大的帶有雕刻圖案的棺材。這口棺材里面一個套一個地 放了三層棺材。最內(nèi)層的那個由黃金制成, 里面放著圖坦卡蒙的尸體。尸體經(jīng)過化學(xué)物品 的處理, 緊緊地裹在布里。以這種方式保存的尸體就是木乃伊。圖坦卡蒙的尸體裹了三層 布, 臉上戴著一幅純金面具。

　　在陵墓里發(fā)現(xiàn)的所有物品都被送到了博物館, 從此考古學(xué)家們一直致力于此項研究。 因為圖坦卡蒙是位國王, 他遺留下的所有東西都很漂亮也很貴重, 黃金本身就價值不菲。 但是, 最重要的還是物品本身的內(nèi)涵。這些物品展現(xiàn)了三千多年前埃及人民的生活 狀況。

　　閱讀導(dǎo)評

　　圖坦卡蒙墓室之門被打開的一剎那, 時間凝固了, 人們不禁喟嘆: 原來, 歷史與現(xiàn)實竟 是一脈相連, 昨日與今天近在咫尺。注視著石棺, 人們發(fā)現(xiàn)古代埃及藝術(shù)恰恰反映了一種 宗教信仰: 與永恒的來生相比, 現(xiàn)世的生命只不過是一個短暫的插曲。各階層人們搜集來 用于陪葬的物品則為我們今天研究歷史提供了契機。

　　閱讀導(dǎo)釋

　　1. 本篇講述的是古埃及第十八王朝國王圖坦卡蒙( 1361—1352 BC 在位) 的陵墓。雖然該 陵墓與古埃及歷史上其他有名的法老的金字塔相比, 簡直就是“ 小巫見大巫”, 但是它的 發(fā)現(xiàn)卻震驚了全世界, 因為它是古埃及唯一的一座未遭盜掘的王陵。這為今人提供了距 今三千多年前古埃及墓葬狀況的活生生的完好例證。提起古埃及, 大家會想到一些詞 匯: 金字塔( pyramid) , 法老( pharaob) , 木乃伊( mummy) , 帝王谷( the Valley of the Kings) 。

　　2. 這個詞也可寫作archaeologist,“考古學(xué)家”的意思。

　　3. 帝王谷。帝王谷是個充滿神秘和傳奇色彩的地方, 是畢班·埃爾·穆魯克的古埃及帝王 陵墓建筑群所在地, 坐落在尼羅河( the Nile) 西岸底比斯山的懸崖峭壁上。新王國 ( New Kingdom, 約1552—1069 BC) 時期, 古埃及人在這些人跡罕至的峭壁上, 開鑿了 許多巖窟, 用來安放國王及達官貴人的遺體。從新王國第十八王朝的第三位國王圖特摩 斯一世( Tuthmosis Ⅰ) 開始, 直到第二十王朝最后一位法老拉美西斯十一世( Ramses Ⅺ) 都葬于此?？脊艑W(xué)家自1817 年開始至今在這里發(fā)現(xiàn)了62 座墳?zāi)? 圖坦卡蒙的墓是 唯一完整的一座。

　　4 - 5. 在這個句子中, hire 是“ 雇傭”的意思, 與employ 同義。take charge 指“ 開始管理, 接 管”, 如: John was elected the new president of the club and will take charge at the next meeting. ( 約翰已當(dāng)選為俱樂部的新會長, 在下一次會議時將主持會務(wù)。)

　　6. 這個詞組的意思是“刷去, 撣掉, 推開”。brush 的本義是指“ 刷子”, 這里用作動詞, 意思 是“ 刷, 撣, 拂擦”。 7. 這個詞組的意思是“清除, 出空”, 如: clear out a closet ( 把壁櫥出空) ; All these hospital expenses have cleared me out. ( 這一筆筆住院費把我的積蓄都花光了。