Reading NCE 3, Lesson 3

Some time ago163;172;an interesting discovery
was made by archaeologists on the Aegean
island of Kea163;174;An AmeriCan team explored a temple which stands in an
ancient city on the promontory of Ayia Irini163;174;The city at one time must have
been prosperous163;172;for it enjoyed a high
level of civilization163;174;Houses--often three
storeys high--were built of stone163;174;They
had large rooms with beautifully decor163;173;
ated walls163;174;The city was even equipped
with a drainage system163;172;for a great many
clay pipes were found beneath the narrow
streets163;174;
The temple which the archaeologists
explored was used as a place of worship
from the fifteenth century B.C. until Roman times. In the most sacred room of
the temple, clay fragments of fifteen statues were found. Each of these repre-
sented a goddess and had, at one time, been painted. The body of one statue
was found among remains dating from the fifteenth century B.C. Its 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 very old and
precious even then. When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they
were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking
woman. She stood three feet high and her hands rested on her hip. She was
wearing a full-length skirt which swept the ground. Despite her great age,she
was very graceful indeed, but, so far,the archaeologists have been unable to
discover her identity.