Who Was King Tut 图坦卡蒙法老

In June of 2005, pharaoh fever struck California. In just one month, half a million people streamed into the Los Angeles County¹ Museum of Art. They wanted to see the dazzling² jewelry³ and household items that once belonged to a king of Egypt.
For hours they waited in line to see beautiful furniture and lamps, musical instruments, and board games. So many people came, the museum had to stay open until eleven o’clock at night.
There was a small chair the king used as a child. There was a chariot that he used to ride. There was a couch⁴ in the shape of two spotted⁵ cows. The nesting coffins⁶ that once held his body were also on display—one was all gold. There were about one hundred and twenty-five objects, including fans and vases and folding chairs and clothes.
Although many things looked brand-new, they weren’t. They were more than three thousand years old. For all that time, everything lay hidden under the sands of Egypt in a secret tomb.
Early in the twentieth century, a man named Howard Carter spent years searching for the tomb. He knew the king’s name: Tutankhamun. And he thought he knew where the king was buried. Finally, in 1922, just when he was about to give up, he found it.
The discovery made headlines all over the world. Before this, nobody had ever heard of King Tutankhamun. Suddenly, everyone knew his name. People began calling him King Tut for short.
Today, King Tut is probably the most famous of all the pharaohs. Yet he was not an important or powerful ruler. He was pharaoh for only about nine years. We know he got married. However, we do not even know whether he had children.
Tut died very young—when he was eighteen or nineteen years old. And the reason he died remains⁷ a mystery. Some historians⁸ think he may have been murdered.
It is strange to think that he became famous because of what was buried with him. But all the beautiful things in his tomb are important. They tell us about what life was like in ancient Egypt. And together they form a picture of who King Tut was.
 

1 county   

n.县，郡

参考例句：

• When the good news reached there,the whole county rejoiced.喜讯传到那里时，全县的人都欢欣鼓舞起来。
• In that year county after county fell to the enemy.那一年一个又一个的县城沦入敌人手中。

2 dazzling   

adj.眼花缭乱的；耀眼的

参考例句：

• The sky is clear and blue, the sunlight dazzling. 蔚蓝天空，阳光灿烂。
• The light reflecting off the snow was dazzling. 雪的反光很刺眼。

3 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

4 couch   

n.睡椅，长沙发椅；vt.表达，隐含

参考例句：

• Lie down on the couch if you're feeling ill.如果你感觉不舒服就躺到沙发上去。
• The rabbIt'sprang from its grassy couch.兔子从草丛中跳出。

5 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

6 coffins   

n.棺材( coffin的名词复数 )；使某人早亡[死，完蛋，垮台等]之物

参考例句：

• The shop was close and hot, and the atmosphere seemed tainted with the smell of coffins. 店堂里相当闷热，空气仿佛被棺木的味儿污染了。 来自辞典例句
• Donate some coffins to the temple, equal to the number of deaths. 到寺庙里，捐赠棺材盒给这些死者吧。 来自电影对白

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 historians   

n.历史学家，史学工作者( historian的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Historians seem to have confused the chronology of these events. 历史学家好像把这些事件发生的年代顺序搞混了。
• Historians have concurred with each other in this view. 历史学家在这个观点上已取得一致意见。