双语有声阅读：博物馆

 博物馆

 

从波士顿到洛杉机，从纽约到芝加哥、到达拉斯，所有的博物馆或者正在筹划、建造或者正在完成大规模的扩建计划。 这些计划或者已经根本性地改变了博物馆门面与展厅的设计，或者预期在不久的将来会这样做。 单单在纽约市，六个主要机构或者已经向空中和周围扩展，或者正准备这样做。大家一致行动的原因是复杂多样的，但其中的一个因素是普遍 考虑的空间问题。 随着收藏品的增多，也随着博物馆的需要和功能的变化，空间已经变成了一项非常珍贵的商品。在我国，也许没有任何其他地方比费城艺术博物馆更符合这个事实。

 

这个博物馆几十年来一直需要额外的空间，十年前进行了最后一次重大的翻新。 由于空间紧缺，该艺术博物馆在考虑购买与受赠艺术品已越来越谨慎，有时甚至放弃增强艺术收藏的机会。由于博物馆的空间问题，将艺术品脱手或者说卖掉已经有了新的重要意义。 博物馆馆长们被迫巧妙轮换利用陈列馆的空间，轮流着把一些艺术杰作向公众展出，而把另一些送入存储室中。虽然对额外的陈列室和存储室空间需要很明显，但据费城艺术博物馆经理讲： "博物馆还没有在未来十五年打破这个束缚的计划。"

 

Museums

 

From Boston to Los Angeles, from New York City to Chicago to Dallas, museums are either planning, building, or wrapping up wholesale¹ expansion programs. These programs already have radically² altered facades³ and floor plans or are expected to do so in the not-too-distant future.

 

In New York City alone, six major institutions have spread up and out into the air space and neighborhoods around them or are preparing to do so.

 

The reasons for this confluence⁴ of activity are complex,but one factor is a consideration everywhere -- space. With collections expanding, with the needs and functions of museums changing, empty space has become a very precious commodity.

 

Probably nowhere in the country is this more true than at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which has needed additional space for decades and which received its last significant facelift ten years ago. Because of the space crunch⁵, the Art Museum has become increasingly cautious in considering acquisitions and donations of art, in some cases passing up opportunities to strengthen its collections.

 

Deaccessing --or selling off -- works of art has taken on new importance because of the museum's space problems. And increasingly, curators have been forced to juggle⁶ gallery space, rotating one masterpiece into public view while another is sent to storage.

 

Despite the clear need for additional gallery and storage space, however, "the museum has no plan, no plan to break out of its envelope in the next fifteen years," according to Philadelphia Museum of Art's president.

1 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。

2 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

3 facades   

n.（房屋的）正面( facade的名词复数 )；假象，外观

参考例句：

• Terraces of asphalt are placed by the building's south and west facades. 沥青露台位于建筑的南面和西面。 来自互联网
• Preserving historic buildings or keeping only their facades (or fronts) grew common. 保存历史建筑或是保持它们普通的正面增长。 来自互联网

4 confluence   

n.汇合，聚集

参考例句：

• They built the city at the confluence of two rivers.他们建造了城市的汇合两条河流。
• The whole DV movements actually was a confluence of several trends.整个当时的DV运动，实际上是几股潮流的同谋。

5 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

6 juggle   

v.变戏法，纂改，欺骗，同时做；n.玩杂耍，纂改，花招

参考例句：

• If you juggle with your accounts,you'll get into trouble.你要是在帐目上做手脚，你可要遇到麻烦了。
• She had to juggle her job and her children.她得同时兼顾工作和孩子。