365个英语简短小故事-247.Murals Are Over 200 Years Old

Two men chanced upon a trap door in a back room of a historic¹ church near San Francisco. They discovered 23 religious murals painted by Native Americans more than 200 years ago. The murals record scenes from the Bible². Arthur Anderson, an artist, and Eric Bush, a painter, had been to the church many times before. But they were not aware of any trap doors in the building.

The only reason they discovered it was that Arthur dropped a coin onto the floor while pulling a small knife out of his pants pocket. He heard the coin hit the floor and roll. He started searching. A minute later, he found his dime³. “Gotcha!” he said proudly. But then he saw what looked like an unusual gap⁴ in the floor board. With his knife, he began digging around the gap.

The floor board suddenly loosened⁵. Arthur felt that he was onto something. He removed the floor board and saw a rope handle attached to what looked like a trap door. Eric helped Arthur remove four more floor boards. Then Arthur slid open the trap door.

Beneath it was a hole in the ground about 15 feet long, 10 feet wide, and 2 feet deep. They shined a flashlight into the hole and saw the murals. They were not wrapped, covered, or otherwise protected. Yet they were in wonderful condition, according to Eric.

“God truly does work in mysterious ways,” said Arthur. The murals use only the colors black, red, and yellow. The smallest are about 12 by 12 inches, and the biggest are about 24 by 24 inches. Digital photographs were taken of all the murals before they were loaded onto a truck.

All 23 murals, created about 1791, are now at the Museum of Native American Art. They will be inspected, cleaned, archived, and examined by experts. They will not be put on public display until early next year. Museum officials expect a huge turnout when that day occurs. “This is truly rare,” said one official. “I wonder how many more treasures are out there waiting for someone to drop a dime on them.”

 

1 historic   

adj.历史上著名的，具有历史意义的

参考例句：

• This is a historic occasion.这是具有重大历史意义的时刻。
• We are living in a great historic era.我们正处在一个伟大的历史时代。

2 bible   

n.《圣经》；得到权威支持的典籍

参考例句：

• According to the Bible we are all the seed of Adam.根据《圣经》所说的，我们都是亚当的后裔。
• This dictionary should be your Bible when studying English.学习英语时，这本字典应是你的主要参考书。

3 dime   

n.（指美国、加拿大的钱币）一角

参考例句：

• A dime is a tenth of a dollar.一角银币是十分之一美元。
• The liberty torch is on the back of the dime.自由火炬在一角硬币的反面。

4 gap   

n.缺口；间隔；差距；不足，缺陷

参考例句：

• We must see that there is no gap in our defence.我们必须确保我们的防御没有漏洞。
• There is a gap of five miles between towns.镇与镇之间相隔五英里。

5 loosened   

v.解开( loosen的过去式和过去分词 )；放松；松弛；（使）放松

参考例句：

• He has loosened the soil up with a fork. 他用耙松过土了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new policies loosened up foreign trade. 新政策使对外贸易有了更大的灵活性。 来自《简明英汉词典》