1 . Even thousands of years before the “selfie” was invented, people were concerned with the image of themselves they presented to the world. The rulers of ancient Egypt had artists carve portraits of them to decorate their tombs and preserve their images even after death.

King Tutankhamen lived more than 3,000 years ago. He ruled ancient Egypt for 10 years, until his death at age 19. “King Tut” remained practically unknown in the modern world until 1922, when scientists discovered his tomb, buried and forgotten for centuries. The treasures inside gave the world the first detailed picture of ancient Egyptian life.

The ancient Egyptians worshipped (崇拜) many gods. They also believed that all people had a life spirit, called “ka” that needed a place to live after the body died. Tombs inside huge pyramids protected the pharaohs’ (法老) ka. The ka could also exist in portrait sculptures like the one of a seated Hatshepsut. The wife of a pharaoh, Hatshepsut took on the role of king after her husband died. Carved from limestone, this life-size sculpture shows the life force of Hatshepsut’s ka. The artist suggests Hatshepsut’s strength by placing her feet firmly on the ground and resting her hands on her knees in a firm, powerful pose.

Viewers are meant to look at the sculpture of Hatshepsut from a frontal angle only. But artist Thutmose created his portrait of Queen Nefertiti as a sculpture in the round, meaning viewers should observe it from many points of view. The work is a highly realistic portrait of a queen who ruled beside her husband, a pharaoh. Painted with delicate features, the impressive colors in her portrait resemble the makeup Nefertiti probably wore in life.

Long before any of these portraits were created, a huge creature with a lion’s body and a human head stood guarding in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings. No one knows who created the Great Sphinx, or why, but it is said to resemble an early pharaoh. Carved out of solid rock on a large-than-life scale, it is possibly the oldest and most imposing portrait in the world.

2 . There are many types of tombs in Egypt. However, throughout Egypt’s past, the tombs of kings and high officials, upper class artists and craftsmen, and poor people were very different. For poor people, the types of tombs they used stayed about the same, but the tombs of kings and high officials changed a lot over time.

At first, the kings of Egypt were buried in what are known as mastabas in southern Egypt, mainly at a place called Abydos. They had a pit where the dead were buried in the ground covered by stones above ground. Later mastabas sometimes had many rooms below and above ground to store the items that the dead person wished to take with him or her into the afterlife.

Later, during a period known as the Old Kingdom, the kings decided to be buried in a more northern location around the capital of Egypt. It was a city called the White Walls, but the Greeks called it Memphis. There were several cemeteries around Memphis. The first was a place called Saqqara, where the earliest pyramids were located. These were not true pyramids, as they had stepped sides rather than being smooth. Later kings experimented with true pyramids at a place called Dashure, where they finally built the first true pyramid tomb. However, the largest and grandest pyramids were later built at a place called the Giza Plateau, which is now just outside of the modern city of Cairo, Egypt. However, there were a number of other locations where the kings of Egypt built pyramids, but almost all of them were built near Memphis in the north or only as far south as a place called the Fayoum.

3 . A new four-legged whale species was recently discovered by a team of researchers in Egypt. The fossil which was encased in a tomb of rock dates back to over 43 million years ago!

This ancient creature had four functional legs, so it could dwell on both land and in water. Ironically, Egypt’s Fayum Depression, the desert where the fossil was discovered, was an ocean millions of years ago.

Researchers believe this fossil is an example from an era when land animals were adapting to marine life. Modern whales evolved from deer-like land mammals over the course of millions of years, and this unique whale could travel across land and swim in the ocean.

The new species is named Phiomicetus Anubis because the whale’s skull resembles the Egyptian jackal-headed god of death, Anubis. Scientists have also been able to recover the whale’s partial skeleton. They inferred that the ancient whale was about three meters in length and weighed 1,300 pounds. The mammal had a long mouthful of teeth, which indicated that it fed on smaller mammals and other sea life.

After analyzing the remains at Mansoura University in the Nile River Delta, scientists supposed that P. Anubis is the oldest semi-aquatic whale species found in Africa. Although the fossil itself was discovered thirteen years ago, researchers just completed the analysis and made the exciting announcement of a new species. Other whale fossils with legs have been found before, but the P. Anubis is the earliest, of its kind found in Africa.

Many people are usually     1     (puzzle) by the meaning of the different names of the United Kingdom, Great Britain, Britain, and England. Getting to know a little bit about British history will help solve this puzzle.

In the 16th century, the nearby country of Wales was joined to the Kingdom of England. Later, the country of Scotland became part of the Kingdom of Great Britain in the 18th century. In the 19th century, the Kingdom of Ireland was added       2     (create) the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Finally, in the 20th century, the southern part of Ireland broke away,     3     (result) in the full name we have today.

The four countries use the same flag, referred to as the Union Jack, as well as share the same currency and military     4     (defend).     5     , they also have some differences.

London is the capital of the UK with     6     history dating all the way back     7     the Roman times and — with almost nine million people — Europe’s     8     (large) city. Almost everywhere you go, you will     9     (surround) by evidence of the four different groups of people       10     took over at different times throughout history.

New research suggests     1     the story of Franklin’s famous experiment with lightning may be fiction instead of fact. More than one generation of school children has been amazed by his bravery and his     2     (science) approach to     3     (look) for the truth. However, neither the story nor the details of the experiment are entirely true. Although it has been proved that Franklin’s experiment     4     (take) place, more than one scientist has questioned what really happened.     5     detail about the string and the key is true. But     6     (science) all agree that if he had     7     (actual) touched the key, he would certainly have died from the electric shock. Fiction is     8     (interesting) than the truth. People have been more inspired by Franklin’s spirit of scientific     9     (explore) than by the facts themselves. But in science, facts should be proved     10     experiments and research.