遗失的法老城市03

　　You might think this would make the search for Pi-Ramesse easy. But you'd bewrong.
Well, the big problem of finding Pi-Ramesse was the problem of the easternbranch of the Nile which we know it lay on had gone.
Over time. the branches of the Nile in the Delta¹ often change course. Soit's impossible to know where the easternmost branch was in Ramesses' time.
This ancient branch of the Nile had silted² up and disappeared long ago.
Without this knowledge, finding the lost city would mean scouring³ the wholeeastern side of the Nile Delta. The absence of this single most importantclue was a crucial obstacle to finding Ramesses capital. Luckilyarchaeologists knew exactly what remains⁴ to look for because ancient textshave given a detailed⁵ description of Pi-Ramesse.
First thing we knew about Pi-Ramesse was that it was a military garrison⁶. Itwas the place from which King Ramesses II launched his campaigns into Syria-Palestine. Therefore, the presence of soldiers, chariotry would clearlyhave to be something which any candidate for the site(s) of Pi-Ramesse wouldhave to have. Well, we certainly expect in Pi-Ramesse to have a lot ofstatues and other monuments of Ramesses II.
Ramesses had a production line of workers in quarries⁷ churning out statuesof himself carved out of the living rock. Pi-Ramesse was filled withhundreds of images of the pharaoh. Some as big as 28 meters high. Next,Ramesses II's personal mark, his cartouche would have been carved into thecity's great monuments. Each cartouche was like a brand, placed on objectsas a stamp of ownership.
Look here at the cartouche here of Ramesses. Here this seated figure with ahawk's head and a sun disc on its head is the sun god Ra. We then go down tothis sign here which reads Messe. And the following two signs read Shu. Sowe have Ra, Messe, Shu. This is married or beloved. And then the sign on thetop left-hand corner of the cartouche which is the great god Amon, the kingof the gods.
cartouche: an oval or oblong figure in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics thatencloses characters expressing the names or epithets of royal or divinepersonages

1 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。

2 silted   

v.（河流等）为淤泥淤塞( silt的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）淤塞

参考例句：

• The riverbed is silted up, so there's no outlet for the floodwater. 河道淤塞，水无出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The river is silted up and the water flows sluggishly. 河道淤塞，水流迟滞。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 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。

4 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。

5 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

6 garrison   

n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防

参考例句：

• The troops came to the relief of the besieged garrison.军队来援救被围的守备军。
• The German was moving to stiffen up the garrison in Sicily.德军正在加强西西里守军之力量。

7 quarries   

n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石

参考例句：

• This window was filled with old painted glass in quarries. 这窗户是由旧日的彩色菱形玻璃装配的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They hewed out the stones for the building from nearby quarries. 他们从邻近的采石场开凿出石头供建造那栋房子用。 来自辞典例句