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EXPLORATIONS – The National Museum of Natural History

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EXPLORATIONS – The National Museum of Natural History
By Marilyn Christiano

Broadcast: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we visit the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

"I'll meet you by the elephant." That comment is heard a lot in Washington, D.C. The elephant is in an unusual place. It is in the center of a large building on the grassy1 Mall area of the capital city. It is the first thing visitors see when they enter the National Museum of Natural History.

 
The elephant in the rotunda2 of the National Museum of Natural History. (All pictures - MNH)
The African elephant was fifty years old when it died in Angola in nineteen fifty-five. It weighed eight tons. It was so large the hunter decided3 to give its remains4 to the Smithsonian Institution. Scientists at the National Museum of Natural History used the bones and skin to rebuild the elephant.

As you enter the museum, you see a huge elephant that appears to be walking across the grassy area where it once lived. Visitors of all ages stop to look up in wonder at its size. Then they walk around the elephant. They read facts about the animal, hear sounds of its natural environment and watch short films. This is what makes the Natural History museum so popular. Visitors learn about the natural world in many different ways.

VOICE TWO:

The National Museum of Natural History is one of the most visited museums the world. From six million to nine million people visit the building every year. More than one million of them are international visitors. The visitors come to the museum to see many interesting things: Examples of huge ancient dinosaurs5. Beautiful rare diamonds and other jewels. Live insects. Remains of creatures that lived in ancient seas. Ancient and present day mammals. Objects from African, Asian and Pacific cultures.

 
The Hall of Mammals.
The museum has the largest collection of any natural history museum in the world. There are more than one hundred twenty-five million objects in its collection.

Scientists have been collecting these specimens6 for almost two hundred years. The collection keeps growing as scientists working for the museum continue to explore and collect around the world.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

The National Museum of Natural History opened in nineteen ten. It was the third museum to be created as part of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a center for the study of humans and their natural surroundings through history. So the museum's collection includes specimens of animals, plants, rocks, ancient and present day organisms, and objects related to human development.

Through the years, how the collection is shown to the public has changed. The newest exhibit is about the history of mammals in the world. The purpose of the new Hall of Mammals is to show how all mammals, including humans, are related. Almost three hundred mammals that look very life-like are shown in their different natural environments.

 
The Museum contains hundreds of exhibits.
While seeing realistic- looking animals found in Africa, visitors hear sounds of a violent rainstorm around them. Adults look up on the wall to see a video of a giraffe, zebras and a hippo around a water hole. At the same time, children look down at the floor to see a video of what small animals are doing under ground.

VOICE TWO:

Hans Sues7 is the associate director for Research and Collections. He is the chief scientist at the museum. Mister Sues says the specimens collected through the years help scientists find out how animals and plant life developed. The scientists learn by using new technologies such as DNA8 research on the specimens. Or they learn by just being able to study older specimens.

For example, some fishermen and scientists were concerned about spots they found on sea animals called crabs9. They wondered if human-made pollution caused the spots. So they looked at the museum's specimens of crabs collected almost one hundred years ago. Some of them had the same spots. This was evidence that the spots happened naturally.

No one can observe the changes in our natural world during hundreds of years. So the collections of the National Museum of Natural History, and other natural history museums, are the only way for scientists to observe these changes over time.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Scientists working for the Natural History museum are doing research in fifty to one hundred countries at any time. Mister Sues says museum scientists have been almost every place on Earth. Through their research they continue to find new information about the natural world and its people, animals and plants.

For example, in two thousand three, a team of scientists explored the little known islands of Kula Ring, near New Guinea. They found three new kinds of fish, five new kinds of insects called damselflies, and sixty new kinds of water bugs10.

Other museum scientists have made recent discoveries about the earliest history of the solar system, early man, and the continuing damage to coral reefs11. Mister Sues says there are many more discoveries to be made. This is because there is so much to learn about the four thousand million years of this planet's history.

Each year museum scientists report their research findings in more than seven hundred scientific publications. They report important discoveries to the public in newspapers, popular magazines and on television. Now, the huge worldwide expansion of the Internet is making it possible for people around the world to get this information.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Millions of people who are unable to visit the National Museum of Natural History in Washington can see part of the museum's collection on computers. In the future, museum officials hope to make it possible for people to use computers to explore all of the museum.

Robert Sullivan is associate director for Public Programs for the National Museum of Natural History. He says museum officials are excited about how the Internet is expanding the reach of the museum and what it can offer.

Mister Sullivan says that for years museum officials have known that learning by doing is the best way to teach people. He says the new broadband computer technology will make that kind of learning possible. People will be able to take "virtual12 tours" of the museum. They will be able to use computers to walk through exhibits, move and measure objects, visit scientific laboratories and ask questions of scientists. Mister Sullivan says the new Internet technology will let museum officials create a space to explore, not just offer pictures and words.

VOICE ONE:

The Website of the National Museum of Natural History -- www.mnh.si.edu --offers a lot of information. For example, you can go to the museum Web site to find out about the Earth and how it changes. By typing in "The Dynamic Earth", you can read about how rocks tell the history of the Earth. You can see the famous jewel called the Hope Diamond. Soon you will be able to learn about volcanoes.

If you are interested in animals, you can go to the North American Mammals site. It is a guide to the living mammals of North America with detailed13 descriptions and images of more than four hundred animals.

Or you can find out about Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. They explored the western part of the United States in the early nineteenth century. Computer users can follow the path the two explorers took and learn about the plants and animals they found.

VOICE TWO:

The museum Web site is very popular with computer users and will become more so as it expands. Yet the real museum building will not be forgotten. Museum officials say a visit to the National Museum of Natural History will continue to be a family education experience.

They are developing new ways to make the exhibits provide a learning experience that works in many different ways. The next major change in the exhibit space is in progress now. Near the elephant, a large new exhibit is being built that will show why the ocean is important to understanding the natural world. Ocean Hall will open in two thousand eight. It will use the newest technology to help people of all ages learn about life in the ocean. It will be one more way millions of visitors can have fun learning from the National Museum of Natural History.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

This program was written by Marilyn Christiano and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 grassy DfBxH     
adj.盖满草的;长满草的
参考例句:
  • They sat and had their lunch on a grassy hillside.他们坐在长满草的山坡上吃午饭。
  • Cattle move freely across the grassy plain.牛群自由自在地走过草原。
2 rotunda rX6xH     
n.圆形建筑物;圆厅
参考例句:
  • The Capitol at Washington has a large rotunda.华盛顿的国会大厦有一圆形大厅。
  • The rotunda was almost deserted today,dotted with just a few tourists.圆形大厅今天几乎没有多少人,只零星散布着几个游客。
3 decided lvqzZd     
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。
4 remains 1kMzTy     
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。
5 dinosaurs 87f9c39b9e3f358174d58a584c2727b4     
n.恐龙( dinosaur的名词复数 );守旧落伍的人,过时落后的东西
参考例句:
  • The brontosaurus was one of the largest of all dinosaurs. 雷龙是所有恐龙中最大的一种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Dinosaurs have been extinct for millions of years. 恐龙绝种已有几百万年了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
6 specimens 91fc365099a256001af897127174fcce     
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 );范例;(化验的)抽样;某种类型的人
参考例句:
  • Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。
  • The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
7 sues 4e2768d59767dbfc5765c0cab97b0bfb     
v.(为要求赔偿损失而)起诉( sue的第三人称单数 );控告;请求;要求(尤用于法庭)
参考例句:
  • Finally, sues under other owner pressure property company Mr. Wen. 最终,迫于其他业主压力物业公司将闻先生起诉。 来自互联网
  • The grade of service is unsatisfied, sues on the apology pledge. 服务质量不满意,投诉就道歉的承诺。 来自互联网
8 DNA 4u3z1l     
(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸
参考例句:
  • DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
  • Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。
9 crabs a26cc3db05581d7cfc36d59943c77523     
n.蟹( crab的名词复数 );阴虱寄生病;蟹肉v.捕蟹( crab的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • As we walked along the seashore we saw lots of tiny crabs. 我们在海岸上散步时看到很多小蟹。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The fish and crabs scavenge for decaying tissue. 鱼和蟹搜寻腐烂的组织为食。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 bugs e3255bae220613022d67e26d2e4fa689     
adj.疯狂的,发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 );病菌;虫子;[计算机](制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的)错误
参考例句:
  • All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞,都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》
11 reefs 0b9ff9fe6897bd050ab9e7711960aeb0     
礁体
参考例句:
  • The motorboat cut across swift currents and skirted dangerous reefs. 汽艇穿过激流,绕过险滩。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Fish are abundant about the reefs. 暗礁附近鱼很多。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 virtual yhfwi     
adj.实质上的,事实上的,实际上的
参考例句:
  • This reply is a virtual acceptance of our offer.这一回答实质上是接受了我们的建议。
  • At that time the East India Company was the virtual ruler of Bengal.那时东印度公司是孟加拉的实际统治者。
13 detailed xuNzms     
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

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