美推出木乃伊安葬服务

These are the modern day mummies. Already, more than 1500 people across the world have contacted Summum, the world's only mummification company, to be mummified after they die.

美国萨门公司推出全新安葬方式：把尸体制成“现代木乃伊”。全球已经有1500多人联系这家独一无二的木乃伊安葬公司，预订死后的木乃伊安葬服务。

Nine lives: Summum mummifies pet dogs and cats and puts them into steel or bronze caskets
The company based in Salt Lake City, Utah have revealed that their clientele（客户） includes celebrities¹, from all over the world, including Britain, and added that they also cater² to requests from pet owners.

Dozens of pets, including everything from dogs and cats, to peacocks, finches（雀类） and even rats have undergone the traditional Egyptian burial routine.

The process takes 90 days. The organs are taken out and cleansed³, then the body is hydrated for more than 70 days, submerged in a tank.

Then it is covered with lanolin（羊毛脂） and wax, followed by layers of cotton gauze（纱布） and a fibre glass finish. The body is then encased in a steel or bronze casket（棺材，骨灰盒） .

Ron Temu, who works at Summum's appropriately pyramid-shaped building as a counsellor for clients, said: 'The chemicals we use are so permeable（有渗透性的） that if a drop was put on the hand, just seconds later it can be tasted in the mouth.

'The olden day mummies look very dry and that's because it was believed the best way to preserve them for the afterlife was to completely dehydrate⁴（脱水） them. We do the opposite and believe that hydrating the body fully⁵ is the best way to preserve it.

'That's why the bodies will still look like the day they died - even thousands of years later.'

But the process isn't cheap. Cats cost £3,600 and dogs at £15,000. Human mummification costs approximately £40,000.

Summum have already mummified human beings but their progress has been checked after 18 months and then state law says that as they have been opened, they must be incinerated（焚化） .

But many are signed up to be mummified in the future - and the company says it has tremendous implications for cloning. It is feasible that DNA⁶ could be removed at a later date by drilling into the casket.

Mr Temu said: 'Being able to take out DNA at a later date has real appeal for people. People like the idea of being able to clone themselves.

'We have a lot of people signed up to be mummified. They signed up in their 30's and 40's, and are now in their 50's and 60's, so we have a lot of work ahead of us.'