【明報專訊】Researchers at the University of Manchester and Manchester Museum used the latest technology to scan over 800 animal mummies from Ancient Egypt, ranging from cats and birds to crocodiles. They found only a third of them contained complete animal remains, while another third contained partial remains. As for the rest, what they contained was nothing but mud, eggshells and nest materials and suchlike.

The curator of Egypt and Sudan (蘇丹) at Manchester Museum explained that Ancient Egyptians worshipped gods in animal forms. Animal mummies, used as religious gifts, were very much in demand. As mummy makers could not keep up with it, they turned to using pieces of animals or things relating to animals, such as nest materials and eggshells.

Nevertheless, Dr Lidija McKnight, the research team leader, did't think it was a scam. She believed the makers just made use of anything they could find. She said it was even the buyers themselves knew they were not buying complete creatures. (Source: Ming Pao, BBC)

■Words

mummy 木乃伊

Ancient Egypt 古埃及

remains 遺體

curator 博物館館長

■Quiz

Choose the correct answers to the following questions.

1. What was the proportion of the scanned mummies that did not contain any animal remains?

a. 1/3

b. 1/2

c. 2/3

2. Why did Ancient Egyptians need animal mummies?

a. They used them for religious purposes.

b. They liked to collect them.

c. They wanted something to play with.

3. What does the highlighted "it" in paragraph 2 refer to?

a. Ancient Egyptians

b. religious gifts

c. the demand for animal mummies

4. Which of the following statement about Dr McKnight is true?

a. She was disappointed with the outcome of the research.

b. She thought mummy buyers were silly.

c. She was a member of the research team.

■Glossary

worship (v) 崇拜

religious (adj) 宗教的

keep up with (phr v) 跟上

scam (n) 騙局