Lesson 3: An unknown goddess無名女神
Some time ago, and interesting discovery was made by archaeologistson the Aegean island of Kea. An American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city on the promontory of AyiaIrini. The city at one time must have been prosperous, for it enjoyed a high level of civilization. Houses -- often three storeys high -- were built ofstone. They had large rooms with beautifully decorated walls. The city wasequipped with a drainage system, for a great many clay pipes were found beneath the narrow streets.
The temple which the archaeologists explored was used as a place ofworship from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacredroom of temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of theserepresented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of onestatue was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century B.C. It's missing head happened to be among remains of the fifth century B.C. This head must have been found in Classical times and carefully preserved. It was veryold and precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments,they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a verymodern-looking woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hips. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite hergreat age, she was very graceful indeed, but, so far, the archaeologists havebeen unable to discover her identity.
Part 1: Lead-in question:
Q:How did the archaeologists know that the statue was a goddess?
A: When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments,they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a verymodern-looking woman. She was wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground.
Part 2: Words and Expressions
1. archaeologist: n.考古學(xué)家
archaeology: n.考古學(xué)
后綴-ology通常指學(xué)科，知識體系。如 Biology 生物學(xué)，ecology 生態(tài)學(xué)，geology 地質(zhì)學(xué)，climatology 氣候?qū)W，futurology 未來學(xué)，zoology 動物學(xué)，psychology 心理學(xué)。
2. explore: 探索：explore space: 探索宇宙
研究：explore the issue/question/topic 研究問題
3、be built of: be made of 由...建成，由...做成。
The house is built of wood. 房子由木頭造成。
4、statue: 雕像，塑像。自由女神像怎么說呢？
易混詞：
stature: 身高，水平. an artist of great stature: 一位高水平的藝術(shù)家。
status: 身份，地位. marital status: 婚姻狀況（填表格時常見到）
statute: 法令，法規(guī): college statute: 校規(guī)
5、full-length: 拖地長的，一般指裙衣。full-length dress, full-length coat.
全身的。full-length mirror 全身鏡，full-length photograph 全身照
6、identity: 身份。identity card (ID card): 身份證。
Part 3: Sentence Appriciation
An American team explored a temple which stands in an ancient city...
She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hips.
這三個詞都可以替換成be動詞，但是這樣一來效果大打折扣，會顯得平淡無奇，不生動。
More examples：
The Eiffel Tower stands 300 meters high.
A bunch of flowers were siting on my desk.?
The bicycle rested against the wall.
Part 3:Culture
希臘神話
古希臘留下大量的文化遺產(chǎn)，很多文化遺產(chǎn)已經(jīng)成為英語語言中的一部分。下面給大家兩個例子。
1、The Achilles’ Heel. 直譯是阿基里斯的腳踵，意思是：唯一弱點；薄弱環(huán)節(jié)；要害
來源：阿基里斯瓜瓜墜地以后，母親想使兒子健壯永生，把他放在火里鍛煉，又捏著他的腳踵倒浸在冥河(Styx)圣水里浸泡。因此阿基里斯渾身象鋼筋鐵骨，刀槍不入，只有腳踵部位被母親的手捏住，沒有沾到冥河圣水，成為他的唯一要害。在特洛伊戰(zhàn)爭中，阿基里斯驍勇無敵，所向披靡，殺死了特洛伊主將，著名英雄赫克托耳(Hector)，而特洛伊的任何武器都無法傷害他的身軀。后來，太陽神阿波羅(Apollo)把阿基里斯的弱點告訴了特洛伊王子帕里斯，阿基里斯終于被帕里斯誘到城門口，用暗箭射中他的腳踵，負(fù)傷而死。
2、narcissistic [?nɑrs??s?st?k] 自戀的，自我陶醉的
來源：來自narcissus這個詞，narcissus是河神刻斐索斯與水澤女神利里俄珀之子。他在當(dāng)時是天下第一美少年，卻對任何姑娘都不動心，只對自己的水中倒影愛慕不已，最終在顧影自憐中抑郁死去?；魉苫?，仍留在水邊守望著自己的影子。后來，Narcissus就成了“孤芳自賞者”、“自我陶醉者”的代名詞。
