新概念英语第二册77课课文

《新概念英语》第二册第77课: Successful operation

【课文】

First listen and then answer the question.

听录音，然后回答以下问题。

Did the doctors find out how the woman died?

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.

【课文翻译】

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光片子上有点奇怪的斑点，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。

【生词汇总】

mummy n. 木乃伊

Egyptian adj. 埃及的

temple n. 庙

mark n. 斑点

plate n. (照相)底片

disease n. 疾病

last v. 持续

prove v. 显示出

resin n. 树脂

skin n. 皮肤

section n. 切片

figure n. (人的)体形;人像

normally adv. 通常地

survive v. 幸免于

课文详注 Further notes on the text

1. The mummy is that of Shepenmut…这是……赛潘姆特的木乃伊。

that用以指代前面的 the mummy，以避免重复。在指代特指的事物时，尤其是在比较状语从句中，常用that和those指代前面提到的事物：

The cost of living here is lower than that in London.

这里的生活费用比伦敦的要低。

that of和those of一般用于较正式的文体中：

The area of the USA is larger than that of Britain.

美国的面积比英国的大。

Tom's pen is better than that of the other boys.

汤姆的笔比其他男孩的要好。

课文中使用that of结构的原因之一是 Shepenmut需要后面跟一个补充说明她身份的关系从句。

2.die of,死于……，因……而死(后面跟名词)。

His grandfather died of a bad cold/died of hunger.

他爷爷死于重感冒/是饿死的。

3.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……

(1)last表示“持续”、“延续”时为不及物动词，后面通常跟一个表示时间的名词/短语，for可有可无：

The war between the two countries lasted (for) over three years/until 1453.

这两个国家之间的战争持续了3年多/一直持续到1453年。

(2)prove表示“证明”、“证实”，后面可以跟从句、形容词、名词、不定式等：

We've been trying to sell our house, but it's proved to be very difficult.

我们一直试图把房子卖掉，不过事实证明这很困难。

You should first prove that you bought these goods here.

你应该首先证明这些物品你是从这里买的。

(3)which引导的分句为非限定性关系从句，因为它前后都有逗号。非限定性关系从句提供补充信息，往往可以略去。逗号的取舍有时对句子的意思有很大影响：

The government which promises to cut taxes will be popular.

承诺减税的政府将赢得人心。(限定性)

The government, which promises to cut taxes, will be popular.

这个政府承诺减税，它将会赢得人心。(非限定性)

在非限定性关系从句中，指人的关系代词只能用who/whom, 不能用that(限定性从句则可以);指物的关系代词只能用which,不能用that;带介词的非限定性关系从句中也不能用that:

The astronauts, who are said to be very excited, are ex pected to land on the moon shortly.

那些宇航员们可望不久登上月球，据说他们很激动。

This garage, which my father built in his lifetime has lasted for a long time.

我父亲生前建的这个车库已经有很长时间了。(which 不可省略)

在非限定性关系从句中，which有时可用来代替前面提到的整个分句：

She married Joe, which(=and this/that) surprised everyone.

她嫁给了乔，这使大家都感到意外。

4.The doctors have not yet decided how the woman died.医生们至今还未确定这位妇女的死因。

decide在这里不是指“下决心/决定”，而是指“对……下判决”、“解决(悬案)”等：

The police cannot decide yet which of the two men is guilty.

警方尚不能确定这两人中哪一个有罪。

5. fall to pieces,散掉，成为碎片(也可以说go to pieces)。

During the storm, the old house fell to pieces.

在暴风雨中，那座老房子塌了。

After two years their marriage fell to pieces.

两年以后，他们的婚姻破裂了。

6.The mummy successfully survived the operation. 这具木乃伊成功地经受了这次手术。

survive表示“经历(灾难等)之后还活着”：

Only a young woman and her two baby daughters survived the plane crash.

只有一位年轻的妇女和她的两个女婴在那次飞机失事中生还。