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Ancient statues discovered in Egypt
埃及發現古老神像
Tuesday, Mar 21, 2006,Page 14
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One of the newly discovered statues of Sekhmet.
新出土的塞赫邁特女神雕像之一。 (照片：歐新社)
PHOTO: EPA
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An Egyptian-German archaeological team has discovered 17 more statues of Sekhmet, an ancient Egyptian goddess who has the head of a lion and the body of a woman, Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni has said.
The life-sized statues were found when the team was doing restoration on a temple on the west bank of the Nile river in the southern Egyptian city of Luxor.
Early this month, the team had discovered six similar black statues which show Sekhmet sitting on a throne and holding the ``key of life'' in her left hand. Two of those statues were broken, and only the bottom parts were found.
Hosni did not say whether or not the newest 17 statues had been broken. Each statue will be removed from the site for maintenance.
The name of the king that the temple was built for, Amenhotep III, was delicately engraved on both sides of the statues. The beauty of the statues shows that art had become very advanced by the time they were made. Amenhotep III lived around the 14th century BC.
Sekhmet was considered the goddess of war and recovery. Ancient Egyptians also believed that she protected the king, which could explain why so many statues of her were found at his temple. (AP)
埃及文化部長法魯克．胡斯尼表示，一個由埃及與德國共組的考古隊又發現了十七尊古埃及女神塞赫邁特的獅頭人身雕像。
這支考古隊在埃及南部路克索市的尼羅河西岸進行一間神廟重建工作時，發現了這些真人大小的雕像。
這個考古隊在本月初已發現了六尊相似的黑色雕像，模樣為塞赫邁特坐在寶座上，左手拿著「生命鑰匙」。其中有兩尊雕像已毀損，只有底部被發現。
胡斯尼並未說明最新出土的十七具雕像是否已損壞。所有雕像將被搬離原址以便維護。
這處神廟是為了國王阿門諾特三世建造的，他的名字被精細地刻在這些雕像的兩側。這些雕像精美，顯示當時的藝術已相當先進。阿門諾特三世大約活在西元前十四世紀左右。
塞赫邁特被視為戰爭與復甦女神。古埃及人也相信她保護著國王，這點可以解釋在阿門諾特三世的神廟為何可以發現如此多的雕像。
（美聯社／翻譯：賴美君）
| Today's words 今日單字 |
1. archaeological adj.
考古的 (kao3 gu3 de5)
例： Egypt's pyramids and China's Great Wall both have been popular places for archaeological research.
（埃及金字塔與中國長城一向是考古研究的熱門地點。）
2. restoration n.
重建 (chong2 jian4)，修護 (xiu1 hu4)
例：When the old, historic building started to fall apart, people gave money to pay for its restoration.
（這座古老的歷史建築開始傾毀時，民眾捐款來重建。）
3. maintenance n.
維護 (wei2 hu4)，保養 (bao3 yang3)
例：My car was cheap to buy, but the maintenance is expensive.
（我的車子價格便宜，但維修費用貴。）
4. engrave v.i.
雕刻 (diao1 ke1)
例：The archaeologists found writing engraved on the wall.
（考古學家發現牆上刻著文字。） |
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Reading Comprehension
閱讀測驗 |
1. Sekhmet is both a woman and a ...
a. tiger.
b. lion.
c. bear.
2. What was the team doing when it found the statues?
a. Building a temple.
b. Looking for statues.
c. Fixing the temple.
3. How many of the 17 new statues are broken?
a. Two.
b. Six.
c. The story doesn't say.
4. What is engraved on the sides of the statues?
a. The artist's name.
b. Amenhotep III's name.
c. Sekhmet's name. |
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