VOA慢速英语2015 200年后托马斯·杰斐逊的收藏仍令人惊艳

 

AS IT IS 2015-02-10 Thomas Jefferson's Collection Still Impresses 200 Years Later 200年后托马斯·杰斐逊的收藏仍令人惊艳

The United States Library of Congress is the largest library in the world. It has a huge collection of books and other sources of information, including documents, maps and photographs. The Library of Congress carries out research for the U.S. Congress. But the library’s three buildings in Washington are open to the public. People can visit, use the reading rooms and see the exhibits.

The Library of Congress opened in 1801. Its first home was the U.S. Capitol building. The United States and Britain fought during the War of 1812. During the war, British forces burned the Capitol, destroying many of the library’s 3,000 books.

The third U.S. president, Thomas Jefferson, offered his personal library as a replacement¹. At the time, Jefferson had the largest personal collection of books in the country. In those times, books were costly². Most were made in Europe and shipped to the United States. Jefferson bought some of the books when he was serving as a diplomat³ in France.

Jefferson had been born into a wealthy family so he was able to buy the books he wanted. Two hundred years ago, on January 30, 1815, Congress bought Jefferson’s collection of 6,487 books for $23,950. After the purchase, the Library of Congress had more than two times as many books as it had when the British attacked. Today, many of Jefferson’s books are permanently⁴ displayed at the library.  

Thomas Jefferson loved books and learning. He collected books on almost any subject.

Mark Dimunation is Chief of Rare Books and Special Collections at the Library of Congress.

“He liked books about clever invention. Massive⁵ holdings on law and then his great love, architecture.”

He says the original library was very different from Jefferson’s collection.

“It was a working library that members of Congress would need -- law, trade, dictionaries, some classical history.”

Mark Dimunation says Jefferson’s many interests changed the Library of Congress’ approach to collecting.

“It completely altered the notion⁶ of what was appropriate for that collection -- from needlepoint designs to architecture.”

Marcelo Alvez is an engineer and college professor from Brazil. He closely studied some of Jefferson’s books.

“It’s quite surprising to see a leader, a president that is interested in philosophy, mathematics, physics, agriculture. So he was a man of huge knowledge that we won’t find today.”

Jefferson wrote the American Declaration⁷ of Independence from Britain. He read some of the most important and influential⁸ books on philosophy and politics. He also had an English-language copy of Islam’s holy book, the Koran. He got it when he was studying to be a lawyer.

“Jefferson, we think, acquired it because the teaching was that the Koran was Arabic law (so) this would cover his understanding of international law on the part of Muslim countries.”

In 1851, a fire in the U.S. Capitol destroyed many books in the library and almost two-thirds of Jefferson’s collection. After the fire, a large and beautiful building was put up across the street from the Capitol for the Library of Congress.

Mr. Dimunation says the library is seeking replacements⁹ of all of Jefferson’s books that were burned. It has been successful in that effort -- the collection is almost complete.

“So out of the 4,000 or so books that I needed to replace to reconstruct Jefferson’s library as it was before the 1851 fire, I am down to just less than 250 books to go.”

After Jefferson sold his beloved books, he never saw them again.

But he soon began building another collection of books. When he was finished he had several thousand. They were sold in 1829 after his death to pay his debts. 

The former president loved books, but he also wanted to share them. So even today the Library of Congress still lets researchers use his books. Almost two hundred years after he died, Jefferson is still serving the nation he helped create.

Words in This Story

source(s) – n. someone or something that provides what is wanted or needed

exhibit – n. displays of documents, paintings, sculptures or other works of art for people to see

clever – adj. showing intelligent thinking

massive – adj. large in amount or degree

alter(ed) – v. to change (something)

acquire(d) – v. to get (something); to come to own (something)

beloved – adj. very much loved; dearly loved

1 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。

2 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

3 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

4 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

5 massive   

adj.巨大的，大规模的，大量的，大范围的

参考例句：

• A massive sea search has failed to find any survivors.经过大规模的海上搜救仍未找到幸存者。
• He drank a massive amount of alcohol.他喝了大量的烈酒。

6 notion   

n.概念，意念，看法

参考例句：

• One common Chinese notion is that the elders ought to be respected.中国人共有的一种观念是长者应受到尊敬。
• He had a sudden notion to visit all his relatives.他心血来潮，突然想去拜访他所有的亲戚。

7 declaration   

n.宣布，宣告，宣言，声明（书），申报

参考例句：

• We read the declaration posted on the bulletin board.我们读了贴在布告板上的声明。
• At the recent convention a declaration was adopted.在最近举行的大会上通过了一项宣言。

8 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

9 replacements   

n.代替( replacement的名词复数 )；替换的人[物]；替代品；归还

参考例句：

• They infiltrated behind the lines so as to annoy the emery replacements. 他们渗透敌后以便骚扰敌军的调度。 来自辞典例句
• For oil replacements, cheap suddenly looks less of a problem. 对于石油的替代品来说，价格变得无足轻重了。 来自互联网