Who Was King Tut 图坦卡蒙法老 Chapter 3 The Boy King

Still, growing up in ancient Egypt was full of pleasures. Especially if somebody belonged to the royal famly. Tut was born a prince. He spent his childhood in a brand-new palace in Amarna.
Egyptian palaces were huge. All over the palace grounds were beautiful gardens and giant pools the size of lakes. Palace buildings were made of brick and covered in white plaster. The walls were covered with colorful paintings. There were separate buildings for the pharaoh’s wives.
A typkal royal Palace
The same palace from outside
Servants would have seen to all of Tut’s needs. Each day they brought his food. Peasants ate bread and drank beer. But for a royal prince, there were meat and vegetables. Figs¹ and dates. Wine was made from grapes grown in the north of Egypt, or from dates or figs or pomegranates.
It appears that young Tut was a member of “the clean plate club.” A small statue of him reveals a chubby² child with a plump belly³ and arms.
His servants also bathed and dressed him. They shaved his head, leaving only a braid of hair at the side. This was the hairstyle for a prince. While he slept, they fanned him with ostrich⁴-plume fans. That way, the heat would not disturb him.
Crocodiles lived in the Nile River. So guards kept watch every time Tut went swimming. Once he got older, he could ride his own chariot drawn⁵ by two fine horses with plumed⁶ headdresses. Or he could sit back and enjoy a boat trip on the Nile.
Tut took his bow and arrow and went hunting with his hounds. In the desert, he might shoot an ostrich. Near the river there were ducks to hunt. Evidently Tut liked playing a popular board game called Senet. (He made sure four sets were put in his tomb.)
Did he like to play music? Perhaps so. Trumpets⁷ were found in his tomb. If he didn’t want to play himself, musicians would play for him. They would play the harp⁸ and lute⁹ and pipe.
Because of the heat, even princes and princesses wore light, simple clothing.
Paintings of Tutankhamun show him in a pleated kilt of white linen¹⁰.
His clothes were simple, but his jewelry¹¹ was not. He wore heavy gold bracelets¹² and rings. Some necklaces of beads¹³ and gold were so large that they covered his chest. His wife wore lots of heavy, beautiful jewelry. So did other royal children. Young boys wore heavy earrings¹⁴. (Two pairs of Tut’s were placed in his tomb.)
Ancient Egypt was the first place to develop a written language. Boys learned to read and write starting at four years old. Did Tut know how? Probably. Writing materials were put inside his tomb. A beautiful brush case belonging to Tut was made from wood covered in gold foil with gemstones. If Tut didn’t feel like doing his own writing, he could have had a scribe do it for him. A scribe’s job was to write down all the pharaoh’s orders and letters for him.
The Egyptians didn’t have pens or pencils. Instead, they took a reed and chewed on the end of it. When the tip split apart, it could be used as a brush. Black ink was made from soot¹⁵ or charcoal¹⁶. It came in a small, round block. A student had to dip the brush in a water pot before rubbing it on the ink.
Egyptians made a kind of heavy paper, from papyrus¹⁷ plants along the banks of the Nile. (Our word “paper” comes from “papyrus.”) The stem of the plant was cut into long strips. The strips then were placed in two layers, crossways, and pounded with a hammer. When all the juice was pounded out, the two layers formed a single sheet. That was put under a heavy stone until it dried out even more and became flatter. The last step was to rub the papyrus sheet back and forth¹⁸ with a stone until it was smooth.
Instead of binding¹⁹ sheets of papyrus into books, the sheets were rolled up into scrolls²⁰. Papyrus paper was very strong. Some scrolls have been found that are thousands of years old. They are still in good shape. Papyrus was also easy to erase²¹. A dab²² of water was all that was needed to get rid of a mistake.
As a child, Tut probably made lots of mistakes learning to write. Our alphabet has only twenty-six letters. His had about one thousand different symbols called “hieroglyphs²³.” Many hieroglyphs look more like pictures than letters.
After the ancient empire of Egypt came to an end, the meaning of hieroglyphs was lost for many centuries. No one could translate the writing. It was like a secret code that could not be broken.
Then, in 1822, a Frenchman named Jean-Fran?ois Champollion finally figured out how to decipher (translate) hieroglyphs. Many of the objects in King Tut’s tomb are inscribed²⁴ with the pharaoh’s name in hieroglyphs.
It looked like this:
THE ROSETTA STONE
IF IT WEREN’T FOR A LUCKY ACCIDENT, THE MEANING OF HIEROGLYPHS MIGHT STILL BE A MYSTERY. IN 1799 FRENCH SOLDIERS FOUND A LARGE PIECE OF BLACK STONE, CALLED “BASALT.” THE STONE HAD CARVINGS²⁵ IN THREE DIFFERENT SCRIPTS: HIEROGLYPHS, GREEK, AND A THIRD KIND CALLED “DEMOTIC²⁶.” THE WORDS ON THE STONE WERE WRITTEN IN 196 B.C. TO PRAISE A PHARAOH NAMED PTOLEMY V. ALL THREE LANGUAGES WERE COMMONLY USED AT THE TIME SO THAT WHOEVER SAW THE STONE COULD READ IT.
BY THE 1800S, NO ONE KNEW HOW TO READ HIEROGLYPHS. BUT IF SOMEONE COULD MATCH UP THE GREEK AND THE DEMOTIC TO THE HIEROGLYPHS, THEY COULD CREATE A KEY TO HIEROGLYPHS.
JEAN-FRAN?OIS CHAMPOLLION FINALLY FIGURED OUT THE BASIC RULES OF HIEROGLYPHS—AFTER STUDYING THE STONE FOR FOURTEEN YEARS! FINALLY, AFTER ALMOST FIFTEEN HUNDRED YEARS OF SILENCE, THE LANGUAGE OF ANCIENT EGYPT COULD AT LAST BE “HEARD.”
THE STONE IS CALLED THE ROSETTA STONE AFTER THE TOWN WHERE IT WAS FOUND. TODAY IT IS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM IN LONDON.

1 figs   

figures 数字，图形，外形

参考例句：

• The effect of ring dyeing is shown in Figs 10 and 11. 环形染色的影响如图10和图11所示。
• The results in Figs. 4 and 5 show the excellent agreement between simulation and experiment. 图4和图5的结果都表明模拟和实验是相当吻合的。

2 chubby   

adj.丰满的，圆胖的

参考例句：

• He is stocky though not chubby.他长得敦实，可并不发胖。
• The short and chubby gentleman over there is our new director.那个既矮又胖的绅士是我们的新主任。

3 belly   

n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛

参考例句：

• The boss has a large belly.老板大腹便便。
• His eyes are bigger than his belly.他眼馋肚饱。

4 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

5 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

6 plumed   

饰有羽毛的

参考例句：

• The knight plumed his helmet with brilliant red feathers. 骑士用鲜红的羽毛装饰他的头盔。
• The eagle plumed its wing. 这只鹰整理它的翅膀。

7 trumpets   

喇叭( trumpet的名词复数 )； 小号； 喇叭形物； （尤指）绽开的水仙花

参考例句：

• A wreath was laid on the monument to a fanfare of trumpets. 在响亮的号角声中花圈被献在纪念碑前。
• A fanfare of trumpets heralded the arrival of the King. 嘹亮的小号声宣告了国王驾到。

8 harp   

n.竖琴；天琴座

参考例句：

• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。
• He played an Irish melody on the harp.他用竖琴演奏了一首爱尔兰曲调。

9 lute   

n.琵琶，鲁特琴

参考例句：

• He idly plucked the strings of the lute.他漫不经心地拨弄着鲁特琴的琴弦。
• He knows how to play the Chinese lute.他会弹琵琶。

10 linen   

n.亚麻布，亚麻线，亚麻制品；adj.亚麻布制的，亚麻的

参考例句：

• The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
• Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。

11 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。

12 bracelets   

n.手镯，臂镯( bracelet的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The lamplight struck a gleam from her bracelets. 她的手镯在灯光的照射下闪闪发亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• On display are earrings, necklaces and bracelets made from jade, amber and amethyst. 展出的有用玉石、琥珀和紫水晶做的耳环、项链和手镯。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 beads   

n.（空心）小珠子( bead的名词复数 )；水珠；珠子项链

参考例句：

• a necklace of wooden beads 一条木珠项链
• Beads of perspiration stood out on his forehead. 他的前额上挂着汗珠。

14 earrings   

n.耳环( earring的名词复数 )；耳坠子

参考例句：

• a pair of earrings 一对耳环
• These earrings snap on with special fastener. 这付耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 soot   

n.煤烟，烟尘；vt.熏以煤烟

参考例句：

• Soot is the product of the imperfect combustion of fuel.煤烟是燃料不完全燃烧的产物。
• The chimney was choked with soot.烟囱被煤灰堵塞了。

16 charcoal   

n.炭，木炭，生物炭

参考例句：

• We need to get some more charcoal for the barbecue.我们烧烤需要更多的碳。
• Charcoal is used to filter water.木炭是用来过滤水的。

17 papyrus   

n.古以纸草制成之纸

参考例句：

• The Egyptians wrote on papyrus.埃及人书写用薄草纸。
• Since papyrus dries up and crumble,very few documents of ancient Egypt have survived.因草片会干裂成粉末所以古埃及的文件很少保存下来。

18 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

19 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

20 scrolls   

n.（常用于录写正式文件的）纸卷( scroll的名词复数 )；卷轴；涡卷形（装饰）；卷形花纹v.（电脑屏幕上）从上到下移动（资料等），卷页( scroll的第三人称单数 )；（似卷轴般）卷起；（像展开卷轴般地）将文字显示于屏幕

参考例句：

• Either turn it off or only pick up selected stuff like wands, rings and scrolls. 把他关掉然后只捡你需要的物品，像是魔杖(wand)，戒指(rings)和滚动条(scrolls)。 来自互联网
• Ancient scrolls were found in caves by the Dead Sea. 死海旁边的山洞里发现了古代的卷轴。 来自辞典例句

21 erase   

v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹

参考例句：

• He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
• Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。

22 dab   

v.轻触，轻拍，轻涂；n.(颜料等的)轻涂

参考例句：

• She returned wearing a dab of rouge on each cheekbone.她回来时，两边面颊上涂有一点淡淡的胭脂。
• She gave me a dab of potatoes with my supper.她给我晚饭时，还给了一点土豆。

23 hieroglyphs   

n.象形字（如古埃及等所用的）( hieroglyph的名词复数 )；秘密的或另有含意的书写符号

参考例句：

• Hieroglyphs are carved into the walls of the temple. 寺庙的墙壁上刻着象形文字。 来自辞典例句
• This paper discusses the fundamental distinctions between the hieroglyphs andforerunner of writing. 英汉象形文字的比较是建立在象形文字具体内涵的基础上。 来自互联网

24 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

25 carvings   

n.雕刻( carving的名词复数 )；雕刻术；雕刻品；雕刻物

参考例句：

• The desk was ornamented with many carvings. 这桌子装饰有很多雕刻物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Shell carvings are a specialty of the town. 贝雕是该城的特产。 来自《简明英汉词典》

26 demotic   

adj. 民众的，通俗的；n.（古埃及）通俗文字

参考例句：

• It is television's demotic style of language.这是电视通俗的语言风格。
• The socioligist maintained that a demotic society would lower the nation's standards.这个社会学家认为平民社会会降低国家的素质。