By Michelle Roberts, BBC Health Reporter

媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。

Background: Tutankhamun (图坦卡蒙) 是三千年前的一位埃及法老，其墓穴中的宝藏世界闻名，不过，令专家们百思不得其解的是，为什么图坦卡蒙过世这么早，现在一项新调查对这一疑问提供了可能的答案。

Ever since Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, scholars have speculatedover why the 19-year-old boy king died so young.

Some believe he was killed by a fall from his chariot, conspiracy theorists say he was murdered, but scientists who painstakinglystudied the pharaoh's remains think Tutankhamun died from a bout of malaria that attacked his already weakened body. They say he had a cleft palate and club foot, likely forcing him to walk with a cane.

In the journal of the American Medical Association, lead scientist Dr ZahiHawass says how he found traces of the malariaparasite in Tutankhamun's blood along with signs of bone disease. The scientists' DNA studies also suggest the true identity of the king's parents and grandparents, something that has dividedarchaeologists for decades.

• background [´bækgraund]   n.背景；经历；幕后   (初中英语单词)
• valley [´væli]   n.谷；河谷；流域   (初中英语单词)
• journal [´dʒə:nəl]   n.日记；日报；杂志   (初中英语单词)
• medical [´medikəl]   a.医学的；医疗的   (初中英语单词)
• chariot [´tʃæriət]   n.古时双轮战车   (高中英语单词)
• conspiracy [kən´spirəsi]   n.密谋；协同作用   (高中英语单词)
• studied [´stʌdid]   a.故意的；有计划的   (高中英语单词)
• scientist [´saiəntist]   n.(自然)科学家   (高中英语单词)
• malaria [mə´leəriə]   n.疟疾   (英语六级单词)
• parasite [´pærəsait]   n.寄生动(植)物；食客   (英语六级单词)
• identity [ai´dentiti]   n.身份；同一性；一致   (英语六级单词)