Read the article below from the magazine Scientific American. Underline the key facts in Para. 2-4. The first paragraph is done for you as an example. Centuries of silence cannot keep ancient mummies from sharing their secrets with scientists. From archaeologists考古学家 determining cultural practices to chemists studying embalming尸体防腐, mummies have revealed libraries of information. Now such mummies are also yielding产生;提供 evidence about the diseases of the past by giving up the facts encoded in their preserved DNA, and new research may have established the ancient origin of a modern disease. Leishmaniasis 黑热病 —a disease caused by microscopic 极小的 parasites 寄生虫 , like malaria 疟疾 , and transmitted 传播 by sand flies—results in painful skin sores 疼痛 and, in its most vicious 恶毒的 form, causes at least 500,000 deaths worldwide every year. Today it affects communities 社区;社会 in many parts of the world. The lethal 致命的 form—visceral leishmaniasis, also known as black fever—is particularly prevalent 流行的 in North Africa. Albert Zink of Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich 慕尼黑(德国城市) and his colleagues tested the DNA of bone samples from 91 ancient Egyptian mummies and 70 from Nubia—modern Sudan 苏丹(国) —to determine if they had suffered from leishmaniasis. In 9 of the 70 Nubian mummies, taken from graves 坟墓 stretching as far back as AD 550, DNA of the parasite was discovered, proving the disease was endemic 地方性的 at least that far back. It is highly probable that it has even more ancient origins: four of the Egyptian mummies carried the parasite’s DNA, each dating form the Middle Kingdom 中埃及王国 period of 2050 to 1650 BC, when trade ties with Nubia were strongest. Egyptian mummies from prior and later periods showed no sign of the disease. In addition to highlighting the old cultural ties between Egypt and Nubia, it also adds further weight to the theory that visceral leishmaniasis first developed in Nubia. And the technique has been applied to other disease, such as tuberculosis 肺结合 and malaria, to trace their development. “We can contribute to a better understanding of the evolution 演变 of infectious 传染的 diseases and, thereby, to a more efficient treatment and control of those diseases,” Zink says. The infections and viruses that proved a curse 诅咒 to ancient mummies may yet provide a cure for ancient scourges 灾难;祸患 that still plague 折磨 humanit