The mummy of an Egyptian woman who died in 800 B. C . has just had an operation. The mummy is that of Shepenmut who was once a singer in the Temple of Thebes. As there were strange marks on the X-ray plates taken of the mummy, doctors have been trying to find out whether the woman died of a rare disease. The only way to do this was to operate. The operation, which lasted for over four hours, proved to be very difficult because of the hard resin which covered the skin. The doctors removed a section of the mummy and sent it to a laboratory. They also found something which the X-ray plates did not show: a small wax figure of the god Duamutef. This god which has the head of a cow was normally placed inside a mummy. The doctors have not yet decided how the woman died. They feared that the mummy would fall to pieces when they cut it open, but fortunately this has not happened. The mummy successfully survived the operation.
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New words and expressions 生词和短语
mummy(1.1)/'mʌmi/n.木乃伊
prove(1.7)/pru:v/v.显示出
Egyptian(1.1)/ı'dʒıpʃən/adj.埃及的
resin(1.7)/'rezin/n.树脂
temple(1.3)/'tempəl/n.庙
skin(1.8)/skin/n.皮，皮肤
mark(1.3)/mɑ:k/n.斑点
section(1.8)/'sekʃən/n.切片
plate(1.4)/pleit/n.（照相）底片
figure(1.9)/'figə/n.（人的）体形；人像
disease(1.5)/di'zi:z/n.疾病
normally(1.10)/'nɔ:məli/adv.通常地
last(1.6)/lɑ:st/v.持续
survive(1.12)/sə'vaiv/v.幸免于
1 800 B.C.,公元前800年。B.C.是Before Christ的缩略语。
2 …plates taken of the mummy, taken是过去分词作定语修饰plates, take the plates of…作“给……拍片子”讲。
3 die of…，因（患）……而死。
4 The operation, which lasted for over four hours, proved to be very difficult.手术持续了4个多小时，非常难做。
在这句话中which引导的从句是一个定语从句，用来修饰前面的名词operation。但这是一个非限定性定语从句，它与主句用两个逗号隔开，它所提供的仅是补充信息，可以略去而不影响主句所表达的意思。
5 fall to pieces,散掉，成为碎片。
死于公元前800年的一位埃及妇女的木乃伊刚刚接受了一次手术。这是曾在底比斯神殿里当过歌手的赛潘姆特的木乃伊。由于在给这个木乃伊拍摄的X光片子上有奇怪的斑点，所以，医生们一直试图搞清这位妇女是否死于一种罕见的疾病。搞清的唯一办法就是手术。手术持续了4个多小时，非常难做，因为皮肤上覆盖着一层硬硬的树脂。医生们从木乃伊身上取下一个切片，送去化验。他们还发现了X光片所没有显示的东西：一个蜡制的杜瓦木特夫神小塑像。这种牛头人身的神像通常被放在木乃伊体内。医生们至今还未确定这位妇女的死因。他们曾担心在把木乃伊切开后，它会散成碎片，但幸运得很，这种情况并未发生。这具木乃伊成功地经受了这次手术。
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