探索频道英语听力 Cosmos 宇宙的边疆12
2009-10-17来源:和谐英语
Update Required
To play the media you will need to either update your browser to a recent version or update your Flash plugin.
Look at this place. The Greek kings of Egypt who succeeded Alexander regarded advances in science, literature and medicine as among the treasures of the empire. For centuries, they generously supported research and scholarship. And enlightenment shared by few heads of state then or now.
Off this great hall were 10 large research laboratories. There were fountains and colonnades, botanical gardens, and even a zoo with animals from India and Sub-Saharan Africa. There were dissecting rooms and an astronomical observatory.
But the treasure of the library consecrated to the God Serapis built in the city of Alexander was its collection of books. The organizers of the library combed all the cultures and languages of the world for books. They sent agents abroad to buy up libraries. Commercial ships docking in Alexandria harbor were searched by the police, not for contraband, but for books. The scrolls were borrowed, copied and returned to their owners. Until studied, these scrolls were collected in great stacks called "books from the ships". Accurate numbers are difficult to come by, but it seems that the library contained, at its peak, nearly 1 million scrolls.