VOA慢速英语2014 纽约博物馆大大小小的展品

 

From Huge to Extra Small, at New York City Museum 纽约博物馆大大小小的展品

Welcome to American Mosaic¹ from VOA Learning English. I’m Caty Weaver².

Inside the Queens Museum in New York City there is another New York City.  It is a 50-year-old model, or a kind of copy, of the town in which every street, building and park was reproduced in small.

The so-called “Panorama³ of the City of New York” was built as an exhibit for the New York World’s Fair in 1964. Over time, artists added to the model.  Now it represents the way the city looked in 1992.

The model is huge. It covers 870 square meters. Visitors to the Panorama observe from beside and above it as day turns to night every 20 minutes. Little lights shine from buildings until the morning light appears.

Iwasaki is the museum exhibitions organizer and director.  She says the Panorama presents an unusual problem – even though it is the museum’s main appeal. 

“No matter what fantastic exhibition you think you put outside everybody goes back to the Panorama and goes ‘wow!’”

Currently the Queens Museum is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the fair and the Panorama. The show is called “Bringing the World Into the World.”  Ms. Iwasaki said she decided⁴ not to try to compete with the Panorama.  Instead she made it part of the exhibition.  

The show includes the museum’s largest piece, the Panorama.  It also includes its smallest piece: a microscopic⁵ reproduction of the Queens Museum itself. Artist and engineer Jessica Rylan created that piece using nanotechnology.  It is just 120 micrometers long and it cannot be seen by visitors. Guess why? It is hidden inside the model of the Queens Museum itself within Panorama of New York City.

Other objects include a scale model of our solar system made in 1983 by artist Chris Burden. The sun hangs over the area of New York City called the Bronx.  Earth, Mercury, Mars and Venus hang in other museum rooms.

But, the outer planets are not even on museum property.  Jupiter hangs at the nearby Queens Zoo.  Neptune is in a restaurant more than a kilometer and a half away.

The show at the Queens Museum in New York City will end October 14th.

1 mosaic   

n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的

参考例句：

• The sky this morning is a mosaic of blue and white.今天早上的天空是幅蓝白相间的画面。
• The image mosaic is a troublesome work.图象镶嵌是个麻烦的工作。

2 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。

3 panorama   

n.全景，全景画，全景摄影，全景照片[装置]

参考例句：

• A vast panorama of the valley lay before us.山谷的广阔全景展现在我们面前。
• A flourishing and prosperous panorama spread out before our eyes.一派欣欣向荣的景象展现在我们的眼前。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 microscopic   

adj.微小的，细微的，极小的，显微的

参考例句：

• It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
• A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。