新奇事件簿 埃及考古学家发现“死亡之城”（在线收听）

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a huge cemetery hidden under the sands south of Cairo. The 2,000-year-old necropolis was found south of Egypt's capital in the Nile Valley city of Minya. The word necropolis is from ancient Greek and means "city of the dead". The necropolis contains thousands of artifacts, including coffins and statues. Archaeologists started excavation work on the site late last year. They found tombs belonging to priests of Thoth. He was the ancient god of the moon and wisdom. Thoth was also believed to be the inventor of writing. Egypt's Antiquities Minister, Khaled al-Anani, said: "We will need at least five years to work on the necropolis. This is only the beginning of a new discovery."

埃及考古学家发现在开罗南部的沙地下隐藏着一个巨大的墓地。在明亚省尼罗河谷地的埃及首都南部发现了两千年前的大墓地。大墓地一词源于古希腊语，指的是“死亡之城”。大墓地中包含千件史前古器物，包括棺材和雕像。考古学家于去年底开始挖土工程。他们发现了属于透特祭司的墓穴。透特是古代月亮和智慧之神。他被认为是书写发明者。埃及文物部长阿纳尼表示：“我们需要至少五年的时间进行大墓地的挖掘工作。而这只是新发现的开始而已。”

Mostafa Waziri, the head of the archaeological dig, said he was very excited about the contents of the site. He said he and his colleagues have uncovered eight tombs so far. He expects many more to be found soon. The tombs contain a wealth of historic treasures. One tomb includes more than 1,000 statues and four pottery jars that contain the remains of the internal organs of important ancient Egyptians. Mr Waziri also said there were 40 sarcophagi. A sarcophagus is a stone coffin in which dead bodies were placed. Waziri hopes the new site will help to attract more tourists to Egypt. There has been a downturn in tourism since the revolution that took place there in 2011.

考古团团长Mostafa Waziri表示自己对这个墓址里边的文物很兴奋。他说到目前为止，自己和同事已发现了八个墓穴。他期待能够发现更多墓穴。墓穴中有大量的历史文物。其中一个墓穴就有一千多座雕像以及四只瓦罐，里边还留有重要古埃及人的内脏。Waziri还提到40座石棺。石棺是放置尸体的石椁。Waziri希望这个新墓址能帮助吸引更多游客来到埃及。自2011年爆发革命后，埃及旅游业一直处于低迷。