SECTION A MINI-LECTUREDirections: In this section you sill hear a mini-lecture. You will h

SECTION A MINI-LECTURE

Directions: In this section you sill hear a mini-lecture. You will hear the lecture ONCE ONLY. While listening, take notes on the important points. Your notes will not be marked, but you will need them to complete a gap-filling task after the mini-lecture. When the lecture is over, you will be given two minutes to check your notes, and another ten minutes to complete the gap-filling task on ANSWER SHEET ONE. Use the blank sheet for note-taking.

听力原文： Marriage in Ancient Egypt

Good afternoon, everybody. In ancient times Egypt was a flourishing kingdom and one of the earliest known civilizations, producing magnificent structures and delicate works of art. Today we will discuss one aspect of its social life. That is the marriage in ancient Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians held marriage as a sacred bond. The family was broken down into roles that each would play in order for things to run smoothly. The father was the one who would work all day. In smaller households the mother was in charge of all things pertaining to the house. Cooking, cleaning and watching the children were all her responsibilities. Egyptians seem to have taken mates in what most often appears to be lifelong monogamous relationships. Marriage and a close family played an integral role in ancient Egypt.

A bride would be young, about 14 or 15 years old. Her husband could be anywhere from 17 to 20 -- or older if he was divorced or a widower. The ancient Egyptians were encouraged to marry young, considering that the life span at this time was relatively short.

Interestingly, one of the most affectionate titles you could call your love was "brother" or "sister" in ancient Egypt. This had nothing to do with sibling relations, but led many archaeologists and scholars to wrongly, assume that most ancient Egyptians married their siblings. Actually, this usually occurred only among royalty -- and was not a common occurrence.

First let's talk about the wedding day.

The day of the marriage was really quite simple. The bride merely moved her belongings into the home of her husband. He might be living alone or with his parents.

So what did the bride wear？ She probably wore a long dress or tunic made of linen, which may have been covered from head to too with bead-net. If she owned any gold, silver or lapis, she probably adorned herself with those, too.

Even though there was no official ceremony, knowing how much the ancient Egyptians loved music, dance and food, there were bound to be family celebrations in honor of the uniting couple.

Museums are filled with statues and paintings showing husbands and wives with their arms around each other's waists, holding hands or offering each other flowers or food. Love and affection was indeed a part of the Egyptian marriage, and our Egyptian bride could expect to be loved and respected by her husband.

Entering into a marriage was described as "making a wife" or "taking a wife", but it seems that the girl's father had the main say. If the girl had no father, an uncle would step in. In the absence of any preexisting agreement it seems that the girl's consent to a marriage was unimportant until the 26th dynasty, when brides also began to have a say.

Then let's talk about the marriage contract.

Most marriages had a contract drawn up between the parties. The poorer classes probably did not do this because they probably had few possessions to consider and also the cost of a scribe would have been costly. Marriage settlements were drawn up between a woman's father and her prospective husband, although many times the woman herself was part of the contract. The sole purpose of the contract was to establish the rights of both parties to maintenance and possessions during the marriage and after divorce if it should occur.