四六级

　　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 formany years. One man — Lord Carnarvon of England— was not an archeologist. But he was very muchinterested in the way people lived in Egypt long ago. He was given permission to dig for some of the oldtombs in a place called the Valley of the Kings. 3 He hired4 an archeologist named HowardCarter to take charge . 5

　　For more than five years, the two men worked there with a group of diggers, but they foundvery little . Lord Carnarvon went back to England. Carter had almost lost hope of making animportant 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 astep 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 thework of clearing out7 the tomb. It had to be done so carefully that it took six years to finish thejob!

　　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’shunting bows, and even his gold-trimmed sandals. All these things were put near the king incase 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 theother. The last one was made of gold, and in it was the body of Tutankhamen. The body hadbeen prepared with chemicals and was tightly wrapped in cloth. A body that is protected in thisway is called a mummy. There were three layers of cloth wrappings on the body, and a mask ofpure gold.

　　All the things found in the tomb were taken to museums, andarcheologists have been studyingthem ever since. Because Tutankhamen was a king, everything he left behind is very beautifuland 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 livedin Egypt more than 3 , 000 years ago.

　　阅读自测：

　　Ⅰ. The following a re the meanings of the words in the passage , and try to fin d the correctwords:

　　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 tombwas_______ with many valuable things, which were put near the king in case he should needthem 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. Itssignificance is that the objects show how people lived in_______ more than 3 , 000 years ago.

　　参考答案：

　　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