新博物馆展现丘吉尔生平

New Museum Celebrates Life of Churchill

新博物馆展现丘吉尔生平

 

Crowds are flocking to London's new Churchill Museum, which delves¹ into the life and times of Britain's World War II-era prime minister, Winston Churchill, recently voted the greatest Briton of all time.

 

As visitors step into the Churchill Museum, the sights and sounds of London in World War II come alive, as the exhibits use 21st century technology to illustrate² the times of a 20th century giant.

 

More than 170 objects from Winston Churchill's life are on display in the 1,000 square-meter exhibit. It is a newly opened section of the Cabinet War Rooms, the underground bunker where Mr. Churchill and his staff worked as Nazi³ German aircraft pummeled London during the Battle of Britain.

 

A Churchill historian, David Reynolds, says the museum impresses visitors with just how important Winston Churchill still is to their own lives.

 

David Reynolds: This man was the leader of the country in one of the greatest crises of its modern history. And, of course, a crisis that still, as it were, still has its effects on us today. If you think of our relationship with Europe, with France, it's very much born out of 1940, still. If you think of our relationship with America, the same is true.

 

Among those attending opening day ceremonies was Winston Spencer Churchill, the wartime leader's grandson and namesake. He says there is a deplorable lack of knowledge about his grandfather among young people, and he hopes the museum can enlighten them.

 

Winston Spencer Churchill: How many of the younger generation know that it is thanks to Britain and the courage of the British nation that Europe is free today? Because had Britain surrendered in the summer of 1940, it is entirely⁴ possible that the Nazi swastika would still be floating not just over the Palace of Westminster and Buckingham Palace, but over all the capital cities of Europe.

 

Among the many recordings⁵ of Prime Minister Churchill's speeches available at the museum is his famous "finest hour" address to Parliament on June 18, 1940. He used the speech to rally his countrymen for the fight ahead, as France was falling under Nazi occupation, and Britain became Adolph Hitler's next target.

 

Churchill: Let us, therefore, brace⁶ ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British empire and its Commonwealth⁷ lasts for a 1,000 years, men will still say: 'This was their finest hour.'

 

Winston Churchill, the grandson, lived, during the war, in an annex⁸ directly above the new museum. He says his grandfather had little time for family life in those burdensome days, but he does recall one fond memory.

 

Winston Spencer Churchill: When I was about three-and-a-half-years-old, so that would have been about the spring of 1944, I had peremptorily⁹ demanded my own little railway system. And, of course, there were no toyshops open in London, but enquiries were set afoot, and one day, to my grandfather's huge delight, a young marine¹⁰ guard brought into the bedroom upstairs a battered¹¹ cardboard box with somebody's no-longer required second-hand¹² train set. And, so, my grandfather and I get down on our hands and knees on the carpet, and it's a circular track, and he and I set it up together. To his huge delight, he sees that there are, not one, but two little clockwork locomotives, and he gives one to me, and said: 'Winston, you wind that one up, I'll wind this one up. Let's put them back-to-back. Let's have a crash!'

 

While Prime Minister Churchill is best remembered for his role in World War II, the museum also examines many other aspects of his long life in public service, the arts and letters, from the time he left Sandhurst military academy in 1895 until his death, at age 90, in 1965.

 

Visitors learn, for example, that Winston Churchill was not always on the right side of history, as illustrated¹³ by his confrontation¹⁴ with India's Mahatma Gandhi.

 

Churchill: For I feel that the Indian danger will raise a crisis equal in importance to the greatest events in the history of Great Britain.

 

Narrator: The Indian boycott¹⁵ of British cotton was one of the reasons Churchill spoke¹⁶ out vehemently¹⁷ against Mahatma Gandhi, spiritual leader of the Indian independence movement.

 

Among the exhibit's pieces is an actual door of Number 10 Downing Street that was there at the residence when Winston Churchill was prime minister. There's a quote beside it saying: "I felt as if I were walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour, and for this trial. I was sure I should not fail. "

 

Michael Drudge¹⁸, VOA news, at the Churchill Museum in London.

 

注释：

illustrate [5ilEstreit] vt. 举例

deplorable [di5plC:rEbl] adj. 可叹的

swastika [5swRstikE] n. 纳粹党所用的十字记号

clockwork [5klCkwE:k] n. 时钟机构，发条装置

boycott [5bCikEt] n. 联合抵制

vehemently adv. 激烈地，暴烈地

1 delves   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• That delves the grave duly. 误不了你的洞房。 来自互联网
• The exhibition delves deep into the physics, aromatics and even the timbre of flatulence. 此次展览向人们介绍了人体物理、气味甚至肠胃胀气的声音等各方面知识。 来自互联网

2 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

3 Nazi   

n.纳粹分子，adj.纳粹党的，纳粹的

参考例句：

• They declare the Nazi regime overthrown and sue for peace.他们宣布纳粹政权已被推翻，并出面求和。
• Nazi closes those war criminals inside their concentration camp.纳粹把那些战犯关在他们的集中营里。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 recordings   

n.记录( recording的名词复数 )；录音；录像；唱片

参考例句：

• a boxed set of original recordings 一套盒装原声录音带
• old jazz recordings reissued on CD 以激光唱片重新发行的老爵士乐

6 brace   

n. 支柱,曲柄,大括号; v. 绷紧,顶住,(为困难或坏事)做准备

参考例句：

• My daughter has to wear a brace on her teeth. 我的女儿得戴牙套以矫正牙齿。
• You had better brace yourself for some bad news. 有些坏消息,你最好做好准备。

7 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

8 annex   

vt.兼并，吞并；n.附属建筑物

参考例句：

• It plans to annex an England company in order to enlarge the market.它计划兼并一家英国公司以扩大市场。
• The annex has been built on to the main building.主楼配建有附属的建筑物。

9 peremptorily   

adv.紧急地，不容分说地，专横地

参考例句：

• She peremptorily rejected the request. 她断然拒绝了请求。
• Their propaganda was peremptorily switched to an anti-Western line. 他们的宣传断然地转而持反对西方的路线。 来自辞典例句

10 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

11 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

12 second-hand   

adj.用过的，旧的，二手的

参考例句：

• I got this book by chance at a second-hand bookshop.我赶巧在一家旧书店里买到这本书。
• They will put all these second-hand goods up for sale.他们将把这些旧货全部公开出售。

13 illustrated   

adj. 有插图的，列举的 动词illustrate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• His lecture was illustrated with slides taken during the expedition. 他在讲演中使用了探险时拍摄到的幻灯片。
• The manufacturing Methods: Will be illustrated in the next chapter. 制作方法将在下一章说明。

14 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

15 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

16 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

17 vehemently   

adv. 热烈地

参考例句：

• He argued with his wife so vehemently that he talked himself hoarse. 他和妻子争论得很激烈，以致讲话的声音都嘶哑了。
• Both women vehemently deny the charges against them. 两名妇女都激烈地否认了对她们的指控。

18 drudge   

n.劳碌的人；v.做苦工，操劳

参考例句：

• I feel like a real drudge--I've done nothing but clean all day!我觉得自己像个做苦工的--整天都在做清洁工作！
• I'm a poor,miserable,forlorn drudge;I shall only drag you down with me.我是一个贫穷，倒运，走投无路的苦力，只会拖累你。