最新牛津高中英语模块1-5全部英语课文及中文翻译(6)

In 1922, Howard Carter made his most amazing discovery of all, in the Valley of the Kings, in Egypt. He had received money from Lord Carnarvon, a British man who was very interested in Egypt. Carter’s team was working at a place near the city of Luxor. There, they came across the to mb of King Tutankhamun. It was the most important tomb that had ever been found. ‘The tomb contained more treasure than any of us had ever seen before, as well as the mummy of the king,’ said Carter. ‘After we looked into the tomb, we closed it and hid its entrance. We wanted to study the tomb later when we had more time. Afterwards, all of its contents would go into a museum.’However, not long after the discovery, people in Carter’s team began to fall ill and die. Upon their entering the tomb, Carter’s lu cky pet bird, which he had left in Cairo, was swallowed by a snake. Then, a few months after Carter had opened the tomb, Lord Carnarvon, who was also present when the tomb was opened, fell ill with a fever and died in Egypt. At the moment of Carnarvon’s de ath, the lights went out in Cairo, the capital of Egypt. Back in England, his dog died at approximately the same time.

George Gould, a friend of Carnarvon’s, went to Egypt after hearing of his strange death. He too visited the tomb, only to catch a high fe ver the next day. Twelve hours later, he was dead. Carter’s secretary, Richard Bethell, died of heart trouble four months after the tomb was opened. Arthur Mace, another member of the team, also died shortly after the discovery.

Within seven years, 21 people who had something to do with the opening of the tomb died. Howard Carter, however, lived on until the age of 65. Some people say the deaths were just coincidence. Others believe that they were in connection with a mummy’s curse, as a punishment for those who enter the resting place of the dead.

However, still others believe that there is a scientific explanation. Inside the tombs, there are many viruses. When a tomb is opened, fresh air disturbs the viruses. If breathed in, they can result in illness or even death. Today, when scientists examine mummies, they wear special clothing for protection.

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What is certain, though, is that ‘the curse of the mummy’ remains a riddle to this day.

木乃伊的诅咒

霍华德?卡特是有史以来世界上最出名的探险家之一。他勇敢无畏，爱好去从未去过的地方探险。在其一生中他发现了许多令人惊奇的东西。

霍华德?卡特没有上过学，但是他从画家父亲那里学会了画画。他天资聪颖，对家乡之外的世界充满了好奇心。1891年，在17岁的时候，他扬帆远航到了埃及的亚历山大。到了20世纪20年代，他已成为一名探险家，致力于寻找古埃及国王的陵墓。他找到了不少重要的陵墓。在这些陵墓中，他发现了大量的珠宝和黄金，同时还有已故国王经过处理的遗体，这些经过处理的遗体就是为人所知的木乃伊。

1922年，在埃及的国王谷，霍华德?卡特做出了他最惊人的发现。此次探险之前，他得到了卡那封勋爵的资助。卡那封是个对埃及非常感兴趣的英国人。卡特的探险队当时在卢克索城附近的地方进行工作。在这个地方，他们发现了图坦卡蒙国王的陵墓。这是有史以来所发现的最重要的陵墓。“除了国王的木乃伊之外，这座陵墓还藏有大量的珍宝，比我们任何人先前所见过的都要多。”卡特说，“在探查过这座陵墓之后，我们将其封起来，并掩藏了其入口。以后我们要在有更多的时间时来研究这座陵墓。此后，其所有的东西都要收进博物馆。”

然而，不久之后，卡特探险队的成员就开始生病，并相继死去。进入陵墓的那一刻，卡特的那只被他留在开罗的幸运爱鸟被一条蛇给吞吃了。接着，在卡特打开陵墓数月后，当时也在陵墓发掘现场的卡那封勋爵生病发高烧，死在埃及。在卡那封勋爵病死的那一刻，埃及首都开罗所有的电灯突然熄灭。而在英国老家，卡那封勋爵的狗几乎在同一时间死亡。

乔治?古尔德，卡那封勋爵的朋友，在获悉其奇怪死讯后赶赴埃及。他也去了陵墓，结果第二天就发高烧，12小时后便去世了。卡特的秘书理查德?贝塞尔在打开陵墓四个月后死于心脏病。另外一名探险队员阿瑟?梅斯也在发现陵墓后不久死去。

七年间，与陵墓发掘工作有关的人员之中有21人死亡。但是，霍华德?卡特却一直活到了65岁。有人说所有那些死亡只是巧合。另一些人则相信这与木乃伊的诅咒有关，是对闯入亡灵安息地的人的惩罚。

尽管如此，仍有其他一些人认为，此事有一个科学的解释。那些陵墓中藏有大量病毒。陵墓被打开时，新鲜的空气搅动了这些病毒。一旦被人吸入，它们就可能导致疾病甚至死亡。如今，科学家们在检查木乃伊的时候都要穿上特殊的服装以保护自己。

但有一点可以肯定的是，“木乃伊的诅咒”至今仍是个谜。

Reading strategy：predicting information

Good readers learn to think ahead and predict information in advance.

If you are trying to predict the contents of a passage based on the title and you find your expectations too general, read the first paragraph to make your prediction more specific.

The first paragraph usually tells you what the reading passage will be about . Look for key words such as famous, brave, adventurous and amazing when you read the first paragraph of the above article. These words may help you prepare for and predict what will come next.

Fill in the blanks with the following words, there is an extra word: mummies, famous ,curse, preserved, lucky, snake, amazing, entering, searching Egypt, going

Since I arrived in__1__ in the early 1920s,I have spent most of my time _ 2__for lost treasures. In ancient Egyptian tombs, I have found gold, jewels and the ___3___ dead bodies of former kings. These bodies are called _ 4_ .Actually , my__5__pet bird found the place. Words can’t express how excited I was! It was__6__. In it we found the mummy of Tutankhamun, gold and jewels. We decided to empty the tomb .I’m sure we’ll soon be rich and ___7__! The only sad thing about today is that my bird died. A __8__ ate him just upon our__9___the tomb. I hope there isn’t a

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__10___.

Suggested answers: 1.Egypt 2.searching 3.preserved 4. mummies 5.lucky 6.amazing 7.famous 8.snake 9.entering 10.curse

M3U3 project EXPLORER 16 October 2003

What is the most fun you can have in 21 hours and 23 minutes? On 15 October 2003, Yang Liwei answered this q …… 此处隐藏：5163字，全部文档内容请下载后查看。喜欢就下载吧 ……