英语口语畅谈世界文化之英国87:The British Museum大英博物馆mp3

英语口语畅谈世界文化

之英国

87 The British Museum 大英博物馆

C: Chincse tourist              B: British Museum director
C:中国游客                        B:大英博物馆主任

C: It's kind of you to show me round the British Museum, Can you tell me something about its history?
C：感谢你带我参观大英博物馆。能给我讲讲它的历史吗？

B: Well. it was founded in 1753 0n the principle that people should be able to see in one placc art and antiquities from all the world's civilisations.
B:好的。大英博物馆建于1753年．旨在让人们能够在一个地方同时看到来自世界各地的艺术品和古董文物。

C: So who founded it?
C:是谁建立的呢？

B: It was started by Sir Hans Sloane who had a coUection of over 71, 000 0bjects and not wishing them to be splir up or sold on his death. He bequeathed them to the nation in return for 20, 000 pounds.
B:是汉斯·斯隆爵士。他有71.000件收藏品，临死时他不希望自己死后这些收藏被卖掉或流散到各地，兢以2万英镑的低价将全部蕺品遗赠给国家。

C: So do you know how many objects you have now?
C：那你知道这里有多少件收藏品吗？

B: At the latest count there are approximately 7 million.
B：最近的数字表明大约有700万件。

C: But I'm sure you cannot possibly show all of them.
C:但我肯定你们不可能把所有的收藏品都陈列来。

B: That's right. Some of them are in the process ofbeing restored, some are in store for future showing and some are being shown in museums or exhibitions around the world.
B:是的。有一些正在修复过程中，有一些被保存起来为了将来陈列用，还有一些正在世界各地的博物馆或展览会上展。

C: I saw one exhibition in Beijing art the Capital Museum in the summer of 2006 but I was surprised not to see any Chinese objects. Why was that?
C：20U6年夏天我在北京首都博物馆看过一次展览，但很奇怪的是我没看到一件中国收藏品。这是为什么呢？

B: Simply because China has better an than we have! No other reason.
B:只是因为中国的艺术品比我们国家的要好！没别的原因。

C: Were you not afraid that China might want some of them back? After all many Chinese art held abroad were looted by foreign armies.
C:你们有没有担心过中国可能想要回一些藏品？毕竟陈列在国外的很多中国艺术品都是由外围士兵从中国掠夺走的。

B: The vast majority of the Museum's collections have beeii acquired le8jtimately and thcy are openly displayed free of charge to the 5 million visitors we have every year.
B:博物馆收藏的大多数藏品都是合法获得的，而且它们都是免费展出的，每年我们都有500万的游客参观。

C: I know that the greek govemment wants the return of its statues from the Parthenon.
C:我知道希腊政府就想把他们的帕特农神庙的雕像要回去。

B: The Elgin Marbles, as they are more commonly called ,  were purchased legally from the Ottoman Empire and rescued from further weather damage and held here on permanent display.
B:人们通常把它称作“埃尔金大理石雕”’，这也是当年从奥斯曼帝国合法购买的，目的是避免其再遭受气候的侵蚀，后来就永久地陈列在此。

C: Is there any possibility of further British Museum exhibitions in China?
C：大英博物馆有没有可能再到中国来举办展览呢？

B: Yes, in 2007 we will be holding an exhibition that looks at the relationship between Britain and China in the 18th century.
B:有可能．2007年我们将举办一个以18世纪中英大系为主题的展览会。

C: Where does the British Museum get its money from to look after the building, buy new pieces and hold exhibitions abroad?
C：大英博物馆要维护建筑，购买新的展品以及在国外展览，那资金都是哪儿来的?

B: 70 percent of our money comes from the govemment and the rest comes from donations and interest on our investments
B：70%的钱都是政府拨款，其它的是捐款和我们投资所得的利润。

【单词词组】

Bequeath.....to the nation   遗赠给了国家
at the latest cout据量近的数据
As they are’more commonly called通常被称为
free of charge免费
no other rason没有别的原因

【背景介绍】

英国国家博物馆（British Museum），又名不列颠博物馆，位于英国伦敦新牛津大街北面的大罗素广场，成立于1753年，1759年1月15日起正式对公众开放，是世界上历史最悠久、规模最宏伟的综合性博物馆，也是世界上规模最大、最著名的博物馆之一。博物馆收藏了世界各地的许多文物和珍品，藏品之丰富、种类之繁多，为全世界博物馆所罕见。英国国家博物馆拥有藏品600多万件。由于空间的限制，还有大批藏品未能公开展出。