英国新闻听力 对大英博物馆展览品的思考（在线收听）

Good morning. The British Museum opened its doors on this day in 1759, the first national public museum in the world.

早上好，大英博物馆于1759年的今天对外开放，它是全世界第一座国家级公共博物馆。

Sir Hans Sloane had gathered 71,000 artefacts from many parts of the world and these formed the core of the collection.

汉斯·斯隆爵士从世界各地收集了7.1万件文物，并构成了博物馆藏品的核心。

5,000 visitors a year to begin with has grown to six million annually now. As success stories go, the British Museum is hard to beat.

最初每年只有5000名游客，现在已经发展到每年600万人。作为这方面的成功故事，大英博物馆无可匹敌。

I must have been eleven when I first went there. I recall being surprised that not everything in the British Museum came from Britain.

我第一次参观大英博物馆时应该是11岁，我还记得令我吃惊的人，大英博物馆中并非每一件藏品都来自英国。

My juvenile and literal mind needed broadening. Fortunately my education provided windows onto different cultures and histories.

我少年的心灵需要得到扩展，幸运的是通过接受教育，我了解了各种文化和历史。

At places like the British Museum many of us realise how much we have to learn from countries we've never visited, people we've never met and things which happened long before we were born.

在像大英博物馆这样的地方，我们很多人都意识到自己能从那些从未到过的国家、那些从未遇到过的人、那些在我们出生之前就发生的事那里学到多少东西。

Recent events in France have prompted people everywhere to defend freedom of expression and assert their right to say what they think.

法国最近的事件使得各地的人们开始捍卫言论自由，维护说出心中所想的权利。

Understandably. But we rarely have much that's informed or challenging to say about different cultures, religions and ideologies if we know little about them.

这都是可以理解的。但如果我们对不同的文化、宗教和意识形态了解不多，我们几乎不会明智地这么说。

Those who want to destroy western culture will have done so very effectively if they stop us being curious about what makes others different.

那些希望毁掉西方文化的人，如果他们让我们对造成其他人不同的原因不再感到好奇，那么他们会很轻易地毁掉西方文化。

Diminished sympathies curb our curiosity.

同情心的减弱抑制了我们的好奇心。

The current exhibition at the British Museum Germany: memories of a nation finishes in ten days' time.

目前大英博物馆的德国馆有展览，展出了一个国家在10天内所完成事件的记忆。

Together with its associated radio series, it's taught us a great deal about the triumphs and tragedies of German history and culture.

同时还有相关的广播系列，让我们了解到关于德国历史和文化的胜利和惨败。

I was born a few years after the end of the Second World War.

我出生在二战结束后几年，

My parents' war time experience meant that as a child I feared Germany though I'd never met any Germans.

我父母的战时经历意味着，儿童时代的我很恐惧德国，尽管那时我从未遇到过任何德国人。

My attitude changed after a visit to Germany when I was 19.

19岁那年我访问德国后，态度就改变了。

Perhaps a good response to what's happened recently would be to learn more about Islamic art, religion and culture,

可能对于最近所发生事件的最佳应对就是了解更多有关伊斯兰教艺术、宗教和文化的知识，

some of which can be explored at the Victoria and Albert Museum, for example.

其中一些知识可以从维多利亚和阿尔伯特博物馆那里获得。

We should try to experience other faiths and cultures at their strongest if we are to understand them well.

如果我们想很好地了解其他的信仰和文化，就应该努力体验这种信仰和文化最强盛时的状态。

During the time of the Crusades, Francis of Assisi went on a missionary journey to Egypt.

在十字军东征期间，圣方济各前往埃及进行传教。

He was sickened by the fighting but met the Sultan, probably hoping either to convert him or die a martyr.

他对战争感到厌倦，但他会见了苏丹，可能希望让他皈依天主教或者殉道而死。

Instead, Francis came away changed not in his Christian faith but in his attitude, instructing his followers to live with Muslims in peace.

结果，方济各没有改变自己的基督教信仰，而是改变了态度，并教导信徒们与穆斯林和平相处。

It's one of the reasons why wherever you go in the Holy Land today, you'll often find Franciscans manning the shrines and holy places.

也部分因为这一点，今天无论你去圣地的哪个地方，都能发现神殿和圣地有方济各会修士。

Encounter often enlarges sympathies. And can lead to unexpected outcomes.

相遇通常都能加深同情心，并促成意想不到的结果。