第一节 阅读理解

　　If you visit the new Mummies(木乃伊) show at the American Museum of Natural History(AMNH), in New York City, don't miss the Gilded Lady. Scientists say she probably died of lung disease when she was in her 40s---about 2,000 years ago---in Egypt. They even have a model of her skull(头骨). Based on that, an artist was sure how she may have looked when she was alive. And yet, the mummy's coffin has never been opened. Instead, scientists used a machine called a CT scanner(扫描仪) to look inside.

　　CT scanners were developed to help doctors examine patients. But the machines turned out to be perfect for studying mummies, too.

　　"A hundred years ago, scientists would usually open mummies' coffins. This did a great deal of harm to those mummies," say AMNH president Ellen V. Futter. "We just don't do that anymore. We can do so much better. By using CT scanners, scientists can know about an ancient person's diet from some of a mummy's hair. Pieces of bone can show who was related to whom."

　　Some mummies in Peru were buried with a skull hanging from their neck. Scientists thought these mummies wore the skull of an enemy. But DNA evidence showed that the mummies were buried with the skull of an ancestor(祖先).

　　The 19 mummies in the show are from Egypt and Peru. They had completely different reasons for mummifying the dead. The ancient Egyptians believed that mummification allowed an ancestor to live on in the next world. The people who prepared the Gilded Lady thought she would continue to see, hear, and smell. In ancient Peru, people practiced mummification to stay connected with their ancestors. Some families kept mummies in their home.

　　Futter calls the mummies in the show "messengers from another time." With the help of technology, scientists will continue to uncover mummies' secrets so we can understand it.

1. What did scientists find about the Gilded Lady?

A. She was a great artist.

B. She died a natural death.

C. She lived in ancient Egypt.