Three Ways Museums Will Change in 20 Years

⊙ By Marc Sollinger ⊙ 翻譯：Portia

有參觀博物館習慣的人都知道，博物館引入新技術的步伐不算快。似乎在不太久以前才有了語音導覽，后來可以掃二維碼，再后來，AR技術也被引入了，但要排隊使用，而且好像不太靈光。不過，致力于博物館發展的專家說，科技的飛速發展會讓不可能變成可能，而且變化已經在路上啦。

There’s something calming about museums. Everyone moves slowly and seems1)engrossed [?n?ɡr??st] adj. 全神貫注的engrossed by those2)rectangular [rek?t??ɡjul?] adj. 長方形的rectangular3)plaque [?pl?k] n. 牌plaques next to the paintings.

It can be tough to imagine such4)static [?st?t?k] adj. 靜止的，靜態的static institutions clawing their way into the 21st century, iPhone and FitBit in tow. But that’s exactly what museums should, and will do, according to5)entrepreneur [?ntr?pr??nз?(r)] n. 企業家entrepreneur Brendan Ciecko and Elizabeth Merritt, the6)founding [?fa?nd??] adj. 創辦的，創始的founding director of the Center for the Future of Museums.

Here are three ways the museum will be7)radically [?r?d?k?l?] adv. 根本上radically different in 20 years:

1. Emotional 8) response [r??sp?ns] n. 回答，反應Response Measures

There are some paintings, sculptures and historical artifacts that9)quicken [?kw?k?n] v. 加快quicken the blood, make you feel10)engaged [?n?ɡe?d?d] adj. 注意力被吸引的engaged, and somehow, deeply human. Other pieces can bore you to dead. What if museums were able to know the difference? Brendan Ciecko says this isn’t out of the11)realm [relm] n. 領域，范疇realm of possibility.

“I saw a fascinating demonstration in Switzerland where they were using12)biometric [?ba???me?tr?k] adj. 生物計量的biometric information. It measures your heart rate and sweat, your emotional and physical response to the art, to determine certain things about your experience with the work. It’s the13)intersection [?nt??sek?(?)n] n. 相交，交點intersection of art,technology and science that makes this such a powerful time right now.”

14)device [d??va?s] n. 器件，裝置Devices that measure heart rate and body temperature are becoming more and more mainstream, making this an even bigger possibility.

2. Helpful Apps

Lots of people spend their entire museum visit glued to their smartphone.So, some museums are looking at smartphones to15)enhance [?n?h?ns] v. 增加，提高enhance exhibits. Ciecko started a company called Cuseum, which uses electronic beacons to do just that.

“As I get closer and closer to that particular art piece and I enter the viewing range,16)content [?k?ntent] n. 內容content can be delivered to my device17)seamlessly [?si?ml?sl?] adv. 無縫地seamlessly,” he explains. “I didn’t need to scan anything or type anything into my phone.It becomes a very18)fluid [?flu??d] adj. 流暢的fluid experience.”

Apps, like the ones Ciecko designs, can give museum visitors a wealth of information,all19)tailored [?te?l?d] adj. 特制的tailored to what they’re actually interested by.

3. 20) augmented reality 增強現實Augmented Reality

As augmented reality continues to develop, there are ways museums can tap into those opportunities. Merritt is reminded of a small child who believed that dinosaurs consisted21)solely [?s??l?] adv. 只是solely of22)skeleton [?skel?t(?)n] n. 骨骼skeletons, because that’s what he saw in museums.

“There’s where an augmented reality app that shows the flesh on top of the bones,and shows the dinosaur walking, can really help make that leap from what you’re seeing to what it represents.”

With museums’23)core [k??(r)] adj. 核心的core audience growing older, Merritt feels that they need to come up with different, innovative ways to connect with a new audience. That can be augmented reality, apps, body feedback. By becoming part of our lives, Merritt believes,museums will become more and more24)relevant [?rel?v?nt] adj. 有重大作用的relevant.

詞匯學習

● in tow

Tow作名詞時是“拖，拉”的意思，指一物拖著另一物在后面。而該詞組最初也只是“拖著某物”之意，后慢慢地多了“隨著，陪伴著”的意思，特別在涉及的內容與車船無關時，in tow多使用后面的意思。例如：

? A woman with a child in tow boarded a bus.（一個帶著孩子的婦女上了公共汽車。）

? The couple had a reporter and a photographer in tow.（這對夫婦有一個記者和一名攝影師跟隨左右。）● come up with

這個詞組有兩種用法，一是在針對特定問題想出解決的辦法，二是就想辦法拿出錢來解決某個問題。注意：兩種用法都不能用被動語態。例如：? Dad could always come up with a solution for problems in the family.（老爸總能想辦法解決家里的問題。）? If we can come up with $3,000, Dad will have the operation.（如果我們能拿出三千美元，那爸爸就能動手術了。）

參考譯文

博物館有一種讓人平靜下來的特性。在博物館里，所有人都會放慢腳步，似乎都被那些畫作旁邊的方牌子吸引住了。

因此，人們很難想象這些一成不變的機構也將與蘋果手機和智能手環一起，慢慢地步入21世紀。企業家布蘭登·西亞庫和伊麗莎白·梅里特是未來博物館中心的創辦負責人，他們認為，博物館理應邁入21世紀，而且它們也會朝著這個方向發展。

以下是博物館在20年后將與今天截然不同的三個方面：

1. 測量情感變化

博物館里有些畫作、雕塑作品和歷史文物會加速你的血液流動，引人入勝，在某種程度上非常有人情味，但另外一些展品卻讓你煩得要死。如果博物館可以知道你對展品的不同感受那會怎么樣呢？布蘭登·西亞庫說，這是可能的。

“我在瑞士看到一個使用生物計量學信息的神奇演示。他們測量你的心跳和汗水，測量你對藝術品的情感與身體反應，用以確定你對某件作品的體驗。這種做法是藝術、技術與科學的交匯，讓參觀變成一種震撼人心的感覺。”

由于測量心跳和體溫的裝置現在越來越成為我們主流生活的一部分，讓其在博物館的應用更具可能性。

2. 有用的應用軟件

許多人在參觀博物館時，全程都盯著自己的智能手機。鑒于這種情況，有些博物館正尋求用智能手機提高展覽質量的途徑。西亞庫創辦了一個叫Cuseum的公司，用燈光信標來做這個事兒。

“隨著我離某件藝術品越來越近，我進入了展品的觀賞范圍，展品的內容介紹就可以直接發送到我的手機上，”他解釋道，“我并不需要用手機掃描什么或者在手機上輸入什么東西，這會是一個非常流暢的體驗。”

像西亞庫設計的此類應用可以為博物館參觀者提供許多相關資料，而且都是為他們確實感興趣的展品定制的。

3. 增強現實

隨著增強現實技術的不斷開發，博物館可以通過各種途徑利用這些資源。梅里特想起她遇到的一個小孩子，他一直以為恐龍就只有骨骼，因為他在多家博物館看到的恐龍都是這樣的。

“這就需要一個增強現實應用，給恐龍骨骼加上皮肉，讓恐龍走動起來，這就有助于人們把在博物館里看到的東西轉化為它真正的形象。”

隨著博物館核心訪客年齡的增長，梅里特覺得他們需要找到不一樣的新方式，與新一代訪客取得共鳴。新方式可以是增強現實，或者手機應用，還可以是身體的反饋信息。梅里特相信，隨著博物館成為我們生活的一部分，它們就會變得越發重要。

怎么樣？看了這三篇文章，你是不是迫不及待地想到博物館去？在到博物館參觀之前，別忘了學幾個參觀用詞哦。快到第62頁看看小編送的詞匯福利吧。