遗失的法老城市04

So we have the whole thing reading Ra-Messe-Shu marry Amon, or Ramesses, beloved of Amon. Pi-Ramesse, we know, had major temples, particularly dedicated¹ to the god Amon. Any site we should claim to be Pi-Ramesse must have evidence for temples.

And finally, that'd be the home of the pharaoh himself.

We know very little about the palaces of the pharaohs, but you'd expect them to be very, very large with great open courtyards. The floors would have been of painted plaster, the walls as well. So that's the sort of things we would expect to find in Ramesses' palace.

So once you'd found the site you believed was Pi-Ramesse, you'd have to find the remains² of these key markers to prove you'd really found the legendary³ city. And they'd all have to be conclusively⁴ dated to the time of Ramesses II. Find all of these, and you've found the lost city of Pi-Ramesse. The story of how Ramesses' lost capital was finally discovered began back in the 1920s when archaeologists were scouring⁵ Egypt's desert landscapes, looking for the lost treasures of the pharaohs. Somewhere out there lay Pi-Ramesse, still waiting to be found.

At the time, few wanted to take on the challenge of searching the vast and remote far eastern delta⁶ in search of Ramesses' lost city. But if anyone wanted to find Pi-Ramesse, this was where they had to go. And one man was prepared to take on that challenge.

Pierre Montet was one of France's leading Egyptologists. He assembled a team to embark⁷ on an expedition that he hoped would secure his name in the history books. He'd heard of a strange ancient site deep in the Nile Delta that'd gone largely unexplored, and he thought it might be significant. It was just possible that this site could be a lost treasure.

1 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

2 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。

3 legendary   

adj.传奇（中）的，闻名遐迩的；n.传奇（文学）

参考例句：

• Legendary stories are passed down from parents to children.传奇故事是由父母传给孩子们的。
• Odysseus was a legendary Greek hero.奥狄修斯是传说中的希腊英雄。

4 conclusively   

adv.令人信服地，确凿地

参考例句：

• All this proves conclusively that she couldn't have known the truth. 这一切无可置疑地证明她不可能知道真相。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• From the facts,he was able to determine conclusively that the death was not a suicide. 根据这些事实他断定这起死亡事件并非自杀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 scouring   

擦[洗]净，冲刷，洗涤

参考例句：

• The police are scouring the countryside for the escaped prisoners. 警察正在搜索整个乡村以捉拿逃犯。
• This is called the scouring train in wool processing. 这被称为羊毛加工中的洗涤系列。

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

7 embark   

vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机

参考例句：

• He is about to embark on a new business venture.他就要开始新的商业冒险活动。
• Many people embark for Europe at New York harbor.许多人在纽约港乘船去欧洲。