The British Museumuseum

□劉曉妮

The British Museumuseum

□劉曉妮

Do you know the world’s three largest museums？They are the British Museum，the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and Louvre Museum in Paris.Today let’s learn about the biggest museum in the world——the British Museum.There are a lot of famous collections of world culture in the museum.Every year，a lot of peop le go to visit the British Museum.

你們知道世界三大博物館嗎？它們分別是大英博物館、紐約的大都會藝術博物館和巴黎的盧浮宮。今天讓我們一起了解一下世界上最大的博物館——大英博物館。這里有著許多著名的世界文化收藏。每年，有很多人去參觀大英博物館。

The story of the British Museum goes back three hundred years ago to an unusual man，Sir Hans Sloane，doctor to King George II.The doctor collected books，drawings，clothes，money，animals，flowers，things from all over the world.The doctor wanted everything to stay together when he died，so that people could come and have a look.The British Museum began.King George II gave him a library，and the museum started to grow.

大英博物館的故事可以追溯到三百年前一個不尋常的人——斯隆爵士，國王喬治二世的醫生。這位醫生收集了書、畫、衣服、錢幣、動物、花卉等來自世界各地的收藏品。這位醫生想當他離世時能讓所有的東西都放在一起，以便人們能來觀看。大英博物館就這樣開辦了。國王喬治二世給了他一個圖書館，從此博物館開始發展壯大。

The British Museum opened in 1759，six years after Sir Hans Sloane died.A t first the museum was only open three days a week and only ten peop le could enter in an hour.There wasn’t much time to see things.Visitors had to run.

大英博物館于1759年開幕，在斯隆爵士去世六年后。起初博物館一周只開放三天，并且在一個小時內只有十個人能進入。參觀者必須得邊跑邊看，因為沒有太多的時間看完那些東西。

By about 1800，things began to get better.W onderful statues，three thousand years old，arrived from Egypt.King George IV sold all his books to the museum secretly.A hundred years ago not only old books but also new ones arrived at the museum，and more peop le came to read them.Since then many famous men have w ritten and studied there.And the library is grow ing faster and faster.There are four kilometers of new shelves and there are about two million visitors every year.

大約到19世紀，情況開始好轉。一批具有三千年歷史的美妙的雕像從埃及到達。喬治國王四世還把所有的藏書都偷偷賣給了博物館。一百年前，舊書與新書都收藏進了博物館，越來越多的人來這里讀書。自從那時起就有許多名人在那里寫作和研究。圖書館發展越來越快。每年增加的新書架可以排成四公里長，并且每年大約有二百萬名游客前來參觀。

There is a touring exhibition now.To let more peop le see the collections of China easily，the museum holds a touring exhibition called"China:Journey to the East".It is the second touring exhibition after the ancient Greek collection exhibition.The touring exhibition will help British kids aged between 7 and 14 know more about Chinese culture，such as Chinese languages，arts，inventions，foods，traditional clothes and so on. Jessica，an official of the museum，says，“The Chinese history is an important part of the world history.It influences many other countries，including Britain.Our kids should know more about China，not just chopsticks，pandas and the Beijing Olympics.”

而現在博物館還會舉辦世界巡回展覽。為了讓更多的人看到中國的收藏，博物館舉辦了一個叫做“中國：東方之旅”的巡回展覽。它是繼古希臘收藏展后的第二次巡回展覽。巡回展覽將有助于7至14歲的英國孩子們了解中國文化，如中國語言、藝術、發明、食品、傳統服裝等。博物館的官員杰西卡說：“中國歷史是世界歷史的重要組成部分，它影響了許多其他國家，包括英國。我們的孩子應該更多地了解中國，而不僅僅是筷子、熊貓和北京奧運會。”