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 away 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 out 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

　　Ⅰ. 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———

　　Ⅱ. 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

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

　　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出他們的生活狀況。考古學家 們已經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 掘某些古墓, 還雇了一位名叫霍華德· 卡特的考古學家來負責此事。

　　這兩人與一群挖掘工在那兒工作了五年多, 可收獲甚微。卡納馮勛爵返回了英格蘭。雖 然卡特對發現重要文物幾乎不抱什么希望了, 但是他仍繼續工作。

　　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。霍華德撥開一些松動的石塊, 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 們發現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。最內層的那個由黃金制成, 里面放著圖坦卡蒙的尸體。尸體經過化學物品 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。

　　在陵墓里發現的所有物品都被送到了博物館, 從此考古學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涵。這些物品展現了三千多年前埃及人民的生活 狀況。