INGLES 2 MEDIO JO - Textos Escolares

Ashmolean Museum
Beaumont Street
Oxford, UK
OX1 2PH
Tel: (01865) 278000
Fax: (01865) 278018
Report No. 23/ 2008
From: Prof, Geoff Harding
To: Dr. Karen Rasmussen
As requested by you, I am writing this report to inform you of the progress on the brochure we are
preparing for the visitors to our museum and about the investigation on the writing on the Mayan tablet
in the possession of our museum.
Because the brochure is for tourists of all ages, including school children, we need to write it in simple
language. This way, all readers can understand it and make the best use of our work. We also need to
include lots of pictures because we want to make the brochure user-friendly and nice to look at. We need
to get as many original pictures as possible and we need to include pictures of our own museum exhibits.
Our work is going very well and faster than we thought because two graduate students are helping
me with the preparation of the text and the pictures. I think it is best to write the brochure under the
following headings:
• Origin of Mayan writing • Composition - phonetic symbols and ideograms
• Material used for writing • Recent discoveries
Can you please also answer a few questions and requests so that I can continue my work?
1. Are we getting any new students to help with the brochure?
2. Are you sending us a photographer, with all the equipment to take good pictures?
3. Are we printing more than 5,000 copies of the brochure or only 3,000? I need to know because of
the costs.
I'm sure you are very busy with the Roman Coin exhibition, but I need your reply as soon as possible
because we are short of time.
As to the second point of my report and the real origin of the tablet, I believe that it is the city of Palenque
(1) and not Honduras or Guatemala because the tablet we have looks very similar to other tablets found
at the location. And I think that we can decode the message on the tablet quite soon because all the
information we have so far corroborates our theory.
Please remember we are meeting on Tuesday evening for dinner to discuss new plans for the museum.
Yours
Prof. Geoff Harding
______________________________________________
(1) Near the Usumacinta River in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
Source: Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies,
on-line bulletin, and Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK
COMMUNICATION AND UNDERSTANDING
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