VOA标准英语2011--Fabergé Revealed at Virginia Museum

Fabergé Revealed at Virginia Museum

People are fascinated by the objects created by Karl Fabergé, not just because they are beautiful and crafted from precious metals and jewels, but also because they are associated with the last tsar of Russia, Nicholas II and his family, who were murdered in 1918 by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution.
“One of the major reasons people bought and buy Fabergé is the connection with the imperial family. He was very close to them and they commissioned things for their personal use,” says Geza von Habsburg, curator of the exhibition, “Fabergé Revealed” at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
Habsburg is a descendant of the 19th century Habsburg rulers of Austria and Hungary, and he's an expert on Fabergé, having written books on his work. Habsburg assembled more than 500 objects, including seven of the jeweler’s most famous works, the Imperial Easter Eggs.
“Only 50 were ever created. Forty or 42 are known to exist. Seven are here all at the same time,” says Alex Nyerges, director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, which has five Imperial Easter Eggs in its permanent collection. “The eggs are miraculous², marvelous works of detail. They are not just works of art in terms of beauty, but they are mechanically precise.”
Each egg has moveable parts and a surprise inside. The most precious are estimated to be worth up to $30 million dollars. They were commissioned as Easter gifts beginning in 1885, by Alexander III for his wife. His son, Nicholas II, continued the tradition.
One Imperial Egg is made of lapis lazuli and gold. Inside is a portrait of the tsar's son painted on ivory and framed by platinum³ and diamonds.
Another golden egg, is known as the Pelican⁴ Egg, because of the enameled⁵ bird that sits on top of it. It opens into eight miniature paintings.
However, the Imperial Easter Eggs represent only a small portion of Fabergé’s production.
During his career, he employed 500 people and his workshop produced over 150,000 unique objects. Not all were for the tsar’s family.
Fabergé was also a silversmith who created the Russian crown jewels. But very little jewelry⁶ or silver remains⁷.
“Of the jewelry, 95 percent was destroyed by the Bolsheviks," says von Habsburg. "Of the silver, 95 percent was melted down by the Bolsheviks. They were in dire¹ need of money after the revolution.”
What they didn't destroy, they sold to collectors.
“These works started coming out of Russia in the 1920s and the 1930s, and there was a great mania⁸ for collecting Fabergé starting in the 1930s in this country," says Nyerges. "And there were a couple of key collectors.”
Lillian Pratt was one of them. When she died in 1947, she bequeathed more than 150 Fabergé pieces to the Virginia Museum. Today, it houses the largest collection of Fabergé outside of Russia.
As for Fabergé, he fled Russia during the revolution and died in Switzerland two years later.

1 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

2 miraculous   

adj.像奇迹一样的，不可思议的

参考例句：

• The wounded man made a miraculous recovery.伤员奇迹般地痊愈了。
• They won a miraculous victory over much stronger enemy.他们战胜了远比自己强大的敌人，赢得了非凡的胜利。

3 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

4 pelican   

n.鹈鹕，伽蓝鸟

参考例句：

• The pelican has a very useful beak.鹈鹕有一张非常有用的嘴。
• This pelican is expected to fully recover.这只鹈鹕不久就能痊愈。

5 enameled   

涂瓷釉于，给…上瓷漆，给…上彩饰( enamel的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The grey walls were divided into artificial paneling by strips of white-enameled pine. 灰色的墙壁用漆白的松木条隔成镶板的模样。
• I want a pair of enameled leather shoes in size 38. 我要一双38号的亮漆皮鞋。

6 jewelry   

n.（jewllery）（总称）珠宝

参考例句：

• The burglars walked off with all my jewelry.夜盗偷走了我的全部珠宝。
• Jewelry and lace are mostly feminine belongings.珠宝和花边多数是女性用品。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。