There are many legends about the world famous Egyptian Pharaohs' tombs,
which have lain silent for thousands of years along the Nero River. In reality
though, this silence has constantly been disturbed by a great variety of people.
While considering their different motivations in doing so, we must examine
whether disturbing the ancient tombs is justifiable or worthy of condemnation.
A. [■] When Howard Carter and his party opened the tomb of the
Egyptian king Tutankhamen in 1922, there was rejoicing around the world.
B. [■] The tomb was largely intact and not seriously pillaged by ancient grave
robbers, so it still contained the wonderful artifacts that had been buried with
the young king more than three millennia earlier. C. [■] Over the next
several years Carter and his team systematically photographed and catalogued the
objects from the tomb, then transported them to the Cairo Museum.D. [■]
There is a certain irony in this story that raises complex
ethical questions. Why are Carter and his {{U}}party{{/U}} not called grave robbers?
Why are their actions in stripping the tomb acceptable—even praiseworthy—when
similar behavior by common thieves would be deplored? No matter who opens a tomb
and takes away its contents, that person is violating the intentions of
{{U}}those{{/U}} who sealed the tomb originally. No matter what the motivation, a
human body that was meant to rest in peace for all time has been disturbed.
Should this not make us feel uncomfortable? From the
beginning, some were uneasy about the propriety of unearthing Tutankhamen's
remains. When Lord Carnarvon, Carter's sponsor, died suddenly from a mosquito
bite, and several others connected with the project experienced tragedies,
rumors arose about the "curse of King Tut". But Carter himself died peacefully
many years later, and the talk subsided. {{U}}Perhaps it is the
passage of time that transforms grave robbing into archaeology.{{/U}} Carter would
no doubt have been outraged if, say, his grandmother's coffin had been dug up to
strip the body of its jewelry. But after three thousand years Tutankhamen has no
living relatives to protest his disturbance. Perhaps it is a
question of the words we use to describe such ancient finds. We speak of
Tutankhamen's "mummy", and mummy is a clean, historical-sounding word. Parents
bring their children to museums to see the mummies and mummy cases. We can
almost forget that a mummy is the embalmed body of a dead human being, pulled
out of its coffin so that we can marvel at the coffin and sometimes the body
itself. Or, perhaps the difference between grave robbing and
archaeology lies in the motives of the perpetrators. Common thieves are
motivated by greed, by their quest for money to be made by selling stolen
objects. Carter and his team did not sell the treasures from Tutankhamen's tomb
but stored them safely in the Cairo Museum, where art lovers from around the
world can see them. {{U}}They{{/U}} were, in effect, making a glorious gift to the
people of our century and centuries to come (while at the same time, one must
point out, acquiring significant glory for themselves). The
basic issue is a {{U}}clash{{/U}} of cultural values. To the Egyptians, it was
normal and correct to bury their finest artworks with the exalted dead. To us,
the idea of all that beauty being locked away in the dark forever seems an
appalling waste. We want to bring it into the light, to have it as part of our
precious artistic {{U}}heritage{{/U}}. Almost no one, having seen these magnificent
treasures, would seriously propose they be put back in the tomb and sealed up.
In the end, inevitably, our cultural values will prevail
simply because we are still here and the ancient Egyptians are not. After three
thousand years, Tutankhamen's grave really isn't his anymore. Whether right or
wrong, it belongs to us.
单选题
The word {{U}}party{{/U}} in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to______.
A. a social gathering
B. a political organization
C. a group of people
D. a social event
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为词汇题，主要考查考生根据上下文对单词party的理解。party一词所在的原句“why are Carter and his party not called grave robbers?”即“为什么Carter等人没有被称为盗墓者?”将四个选项A(社交聚会)、B(政党)、C(一群人)和D(社会事件)分别代入，只有C的意思适合原文的语境，故选C项。
单选题
What can be inferred about the irony mentioned in Paragraph 3?
A. Scientists and thieves both opened the coffins.
B. Only clever people could be this type of thief.
C. Nobody wants to be a thief but is forced to sometimes.
D. This kind of thief is respected by some people.
【答案解析】[解析] 本题属于指代题，考查考生认定代词与篇章中其他词语的指代关系的能力。题目问：文章中的those指代的是什么?根据第3段，those后有一个who引导的定语从句“who sealed the tomb originally”，即“最早封墓的人”，来修饰限定those。而最早封墓的人应该是古代埃及人，因此选C项。
单选题
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information
in the highlighted sentence in the passage? Incorrect answer choices change the
meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
A. Excavating a tomb is a scientific practice of archaeology and should not
be viewed as wrong.
B. Excavating a tomb is part of archaeology, which is essential to humans'
understanding of history.
C. Unearthing an ancient grave is regarded as grave robbing, which would
outrage the relatives of the dead.
D. Unearthing an ancient grave is not considered grave robbing but
archaeology since the grave is thousands of years old.
【正确答案】
D
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是句子简化题，要求考生能够理解文章中某一复杂句，并能用简化的句子来表达原句的基本意思。文中涂黑句子“Perhaps it is the passage of time that transforms grave robbing into archaeology”的意思为“或许，随着时间的推移，盗墓行为就成了考古学”。也就是说，既然古墓已有千年历史，挖掘古墓再也不会被认为是盗墓行为，从以后几段的叙述中也可以判断出这一意思，所以选D项。
单选题
According to the passage, what is the essential difference between
grave robbing and archaeology?
A. Archaeologists are permitted to obtain the treasures of ancient tombs
while grave robbers are not.
B. Grave robbers are allowed to discover the mysteries of ancient tombs
while archaeologists are not.
C. Grave robbers' motivations are monetary whereas archaeologists are
interested in uncovering ancient cultures.
D. Archaeologists open an ancient tomb to sell stolen objects while grave
robbers do so for money.
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为事实信息题。题目问：盗墓和考古的主要区别是什么?根据第七段，“Or, perhaps the difference between grave robbing and archaeology lies in the motives of the perpetrators”，即“盗墓和考古的最大区别就在于两者的动机不同”，盗墓是为了钱而考古是为了将人类的文明展示给公众，所以选C。
单选题
The word {{U}}clash{{/U}} in Paragraph 8 is closest in meaning to
单选题
The word {{U}}heritage{{/U}} in Paragraph 8 is closest in meaning to______.
A. legacy
B. hero
C. proof
D. controversy
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题仍为词汇题，主要考查考生根据上下文对单词heritage的理解。结合第32题的解析，heritage所在句子“We want to bring it into the light, to have it as part of our precious artistic heritage”的意思是“我们想将所有美好的东西展示给世人，将它们作为我们珍贵艺术遗产的一部分”。所以答案应为选项A(遗产)。而选项B(英雄)、C(证据)和D(争论)均不合适。
单选题
According to Paragraph 7, what is the contribution of Carter and his
party?
A. They brought into light valuable treasures for ordinary people to
enjoy.
B. They stored the valuable treasures in the Cairo Museum.
C. They sold the valuable treasures to art lovers.
D. They put back the valuable treasures in the tomb.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题仍为事实信息题。题目问：根据第七段，Carter和他的队友所作出的贡献是什么?根据第七段的最后一句话“They were, in effect, making a glorious gift to the people of our century and centuries to come(他们实际上为这个世纪以及未来世纪的人们奉献了丰厚的礼物)”。倒数第二句也说“Carter and his team…stored them safely in the Cairo Museum, where art lovers from around the world can see them”，即“他们将这些财宝安全地存入开罗博物馆，以便世界各地的艺术爱好者能够来欣赏”，正确答案是A(他们将宝贵的财富展示给了世人)。
单选题
According to the passage, what can be inferred about the author's
stance toward the issue discussed in the passage?
A. It is still a controversial issue.
B. The archaeologists are, in fact, grave robbers.
C. The ancient treasures should be presented to the public.
D. The work of archaeologists should be put to a stop.
单选题
The word {{U}}they{{/U}} in Paragraph 7 refers to______.
A. art lovers
B. the people
C. carter and his team
D. the public
【正确答案】
C
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为指代关系题，考查考生能否认定代词与篇章中其他词语的指代关系。题目问：文 章中的they指代的是什么?根据they所在的句子“Theyr were, in effect, making a glorious gift to the people-of our century and centuries to come(他们实际上为这个世纪以及未来世纪的人们奉献了丰厚的礼物)”。将财宝奉献给世人的人应该指的是Carter和他的队友，因为是他们将这些财宝从古墓中挖出来的，所以应该选C项。
单选题
According to Paragraph 8, which of the following is true of ancient
Egyptians?
A. It was normal to store beautiful artwork in the tomb with their dead
relatives.
B. They would like to have all the valuables in the tomb to be exhibited in
public.
C. They intended to preserve their ancient culture in the tomb.
D. They regard all the artwork in the tomb as part of a precious artistic
heritage for all human beings to enjoy.
【正确答案】
A
【答案解析】[解析] 本题为正误判断题，考查的是考生根据文章中阐明的信息，判断什么信息是正确的，什么信息是错误的，什么信息是文章中没有提到的。题目问：根据第七段，关于古埃及人，下列哪一项是正确的?根据该段的第二句话“To the Egyptians, it was normal and correct to bury their finest artworks with the exalted dead(古埃及人认为将他们最精美的艺术品和他们高贵的逝者葬在一起是再正常不过的事了)”可以断定A项为正确答案。
单选题
Look at the four squares [■] that indicate where the following
sentence could be added to the passage. Howard Carter and his
assistant unwrapped the innermost of Tutankhamen's three nested coffins. The
third coffin is solid gold and contained the king's mummified body.
Where would the sentence best fit?
A. Square Ａ.
B. Square Ｂ.
C. Square Ｃ.
D. Square Ｄ.
【正确答案】
B
【答案解析】[解析] 本题是插话题，考查考生能否将一句话按其逻辑关系正确地插入顺序相连的四个句子之间。根据上下文，所插入的话语含有关于挖掘墓葬等信息，第一句描述Carter一帮人打开Egyptian king Tutankhamen墓后的情景，插入句提到了一些细节，尤其提到第三个古墓里埃及法老的木乃伊和金子。这些细节是第一句话的顺应发展，保持了意思的完整性并具有逻辑性，所以插入句应该插入第二个方框处。
问答题Directions: An introductory sentence for a brief
summary of the passage is provided below. Complete the summary by selecting the
THREE answer choices that express the most important ideas in the passage. Some
sentences do not belong in the summary because they express ideas that are not
presented in the passage or are minor ideas in the passage. This question is
worth 2 points. There has been a bitter controversy over the question of why we
treat archaeologists and grave robbers differently.
·
·
·
Answer Choices
A. Our
cultural values outweigh those of Egyptians and the treasures should be
displayed for the public to appreciate. B. What Carter and his
team did is correct because there are no relatives left of the ancient Egyptian
kings. C. Carter and his team have excavated the tombs of
ancient Egyptian kings and brought the contents to museums for the public's
benefit. D. It is unfair that grave robbers are condemned
while the archaeologists are praised, considering what they both do.
E. Carter and the grave robbers are of the same nature because they both
opened tombs and took away their contents. F. The difference
between grave robbing and archaeology lies in the different motives and
intentions of the perpetrators.
【正确答案】
A. Our cultural values outweigh those of Egyptians and the treasures should be displayed for the public to appreciate.
C. Carter and his team have excavated the tombs of ancient Egyptian kings and brought the contents to museums for the public's benefit.
F. The difference between grave robbing and archaeology lies in the different motives and intentions of the perpetrators.