The article review(文章导读):
EXPLORATIONS – The National Museum of Natural HistoryBy Marilyn Christiano
Broadcast: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember with EXP
Text(正文):
EXPLORATIONS – The National Museum of Natural History
By Marilyn Christiano
Broadcast: Wednesday, January 19, 2005
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
I'm Barbara Klein.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we visit the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
"I'll meet you by the elephant." That comment is heard a lot in Washington, D.C. The elephant is in an unusual place. It is in the center of a large building on the grassy Mall area of the capital city. It is the first thing visitors see when they enter the National Museum of Natural History.
The elephant in the rotunda of the National Museum of Natural History. (All pictures - MNH)
The African elephant was fifty years old when it died in Angola in nineteen fifty-five. It weighed eight tons. It was so large the hunter decided to give its remains to the Smithsonian Institution. Scientists at the National Museum of Natural History used the bones and skin to rebuild the elephant.
As you enter the museum, you see a huge elephant that appears to be walking across the grassy area where it once lived. Visitors of all ages stop to look up in wonder at its size. Then they walk around the elephant. They read facts about the animal, hear sounds of its natural environment and watch short films. This is what makes the Natural History museum so popular. Visitors learn about the natural world in many different ways.
VOICE TWO:
The National Museum of Natural History is one of the most visited museums the world. From six million to nine million people visit the building every year. More than one million of them are international visitors. The visitors come to the museum to see many interesting things: Examples of huge ancient dinosaurs. Beautiful rare diamonds and other jewels. Live insects. Remains of creatures that lived in ancient seas. Ancient and present day mammals. Objects from African, Asian and Pacific cultures.
The Hall of Mammals.
The museum has the largest collection of any natural history museum in the world. There are more than one hundred twenty-five million objects in its collection.
Scientists have been collecting these specimens for almost two hundred years. The collection keeps growing as scientists working for the museum continue to explore and collect around the world.
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
The National Museum of Natural History opened in nineteen ten. It was the third museum to be created as part of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a center for the study of humans and their natural surroundings through history. So the museum's collection includes specimens of animals, plants, rocks, ancient and present day organisms, and objects related to human development.
Through the years, how the collection is shown to the public has changed. The newest exhibit is about the history of mammals in the world. The purpose of the new Hall of Mammals is to show how all mammals, including humans, are related. Almost three hundred mammals that look very life-like are shown in their different natural environments. |
