Lesson 77
A successful operation
一例成功的手术
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.
New words and expressions 生词和短语
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
参考译文
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。
Lesson 78
The last one?
最后一枝吗？
First listen and then answer the question.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。
For how long did the writer give up smoking?
After reading an article entitled 'Cigarette Smoking and Your Health' I lit a cigarette to calm my nerves. I smoked with concentration and pleasure as I was sure that this would be my last cigarette. For a whole week I did not smoke at all and during this time, my wife suffered terribly. I had all the usual symptoms of someone giving up smoking: a bad temper and an enormous appetite. My friends kept on offering me cigarettes and cigars. They made no effort to hide their amusement whenever I produced a packet of sweets from my pocket. After seven days of this I went to a party. Everybody around me was smoking and I felt extremely uncomfortable. When my old friend Brian urged me to accept a cigarette, it was more than I could bear. I took one guiltily, lit it and smoked with satisfaction. My wife was delighted that things had returned to normal once more. Anyway, as Brian pointed out, it is the easiest thing in the world to give up smoking. He himself has done it lots of times!
New words and expressions 生词和短语
entitle v. 以......为名
calm v. 使镇定
nerve n. 神经
concentration n. 集中，专心
suffer v. 受苦，受害
symptom n. 症状
temper n. 脾气
appetite n. 胃口，食欲
produce v. 拿出
urge v. 力劝，怂恿
satisfaction n. 满意，满足
delighted adj. 欣喜的
参考译文
读完一篇题为《吸烟与健康》的文章之后，我点上了一枝香烟，来镇定一下自己紧张的神经。我聚精会神而又愉快地吸着这枝烟。因为我确信这是我最后一枝烟了。整整一个星期我根本没有吸烟。在此期间，我妻子吃尽了苦头。我具备了戒烟者通常表现出来的所有症状：脾气暴躁和食欲旺盛。我的朋友们不断地向我递香烟和雪茄。每当我从口袋里掏出一包糖果时，他们都毫不掩饰地表现出他们对此感到非常好笑。这样过了7天以后，我去参加一次聚会。我周围的每个人都在吸烟，我感到非常不自在。当我的老朋友布赖恩极力劝我接受一枝香烟时，我再也忍不住了。我内疚地接过一枝点上，心满意足地抽起来。一切又都恢复了正常，为此我妻子十分高兴。不管怎么说，正如布赖恩指出的那样，戒烟是世界上最容易的事情，他自己就已戒了很多次了！
