VOA双语新闻:8、美国911博物馆(在线收听

 

美国911博物馆

Eleven years after the September 11 terror attacks leveled the World Trade Center, work on a museum at the site, which was to open on the anniversary this year, has stopped - because of financial and power disputes. At the same time, family members of some of the victims are fighting the museum’s plan to preserve unidentified human remains in an underground repository.

在911恐怖袭击把纽约世界贸易中心夷为平地的11年之后,由于金钱和权力方面的纷争,在世贸遗址上修建一个博物馆的工作已经停止了,尽管这个博物馆原计划在今年911恐怖袭击事件的周年纪念日对外开放。与此同时,一些911受害者的家属正在为反对博物馆将未确认的人体遗骸保存在一个地下存储室的计划而斗争。

The National September 11 Memorial in New York has been open since last year - drawing more than four million visitors.  But work stopped months ago on the attached museum - because of financial disagreements between the Port Authority, which owned the destroyed Twin Towers, and the foundation that is building the museum. Monica Iken's husband, Michael, died in the attacks.

纽约的911国家纪念碑从去年开放以来吸引了400多万来访者。 但是几个月前,由于拥有被摧毁的双子塔的港口当局和建馆基金会在财政上的分歧,纪念碑旁边的911博物馆的修建却停工了。

“It’s an embarrassment for the world to see," said Monica Iken. "They come there, and I’ve been there several times where people come up to me and say, ‘Where’s the museum, why is it not open?’ How do you explain that: ‘Oh, because we’re fighting over some money?’”

莫妮卡·艾肯的丈夫在911恐怖袭击中遇难, 她说: “这在全世界面前丢脸。他们来到这里,我已经遇到好几次了, 大家走过来问我,博物馆在哪里?为什么到现在还不开放? 你怎么解释? 就告诉他们我们因为钱在争吵?”

The museum's exhibits will tell the stories of the attacks and of the people who died.  There will also be displays about al Qaida and the 9/11 plotters - although some family members, like Jim Riches, who lost his son Jimmy, think those should be limited to side-displays.

博物馆的展览讲述恐怖袭击和那些逝去的人们的故事。馆内还有有关基地组织和911策划者的展览。但一些遇难者家属,比如痛失儿子吉米的吉姆·里奇斯就认为,应该对这些枝节性展览加以限制。

“If you want to see their pictures, let them go into the kiosk and look at their picture, but I think you’ve made it more like a Hall of Fame for the terrorists, and that’s the way I feel, by putting their pictures up there," said Jim Riches.

他说:“如果你想看他们的照片,那就让他们去小亭子内去看。但这就让我觉得这更像是为恐怖分子准备了一个名人堂。你把他们的照片挂在哪儿,就让我产生这种感觉。”

But it is a collection that will never be shown that has caused the fiercest controversy: a repository for 9,000 unidentified fragments of human bone and tissue. It will be seven stories underground and off-limits to all but family members and the medical examiner. Riches and members of 16 other families have filed a lawsuit: they want the remains entombed above ground.

但是,引发最激烈争议的一组展览是一个储藏9千件无法核实身份的尸骨组织的储藏室。这个储藏室位于地下7层,只允许亲属和医检人员进入。里奇斯和其他16名遇难者家属已经向法院起诉:他们想让尸骨重见天日。

“There’s no museums, I don’t think, in the whole country that put human remains in the museum, and you also would have to get the permission of the family members to do such a thing," said Riches.

他说:“我认为全国没有任何一家博物馆会保存人体尸骨,即便如此,你也应该先征得其亲属的同意才行。”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the museum foundation, says the repository is needed for possible future DNA identification.

纽约市长彭博也是博物馆基金会的主席,他说建立这样的储藏室是为了未来能实现DNA检验。

“One of the centerpieces of the museum, in terms of visibility and respect, is where you put the unidentified remains, and it is not just in a small place, it is in a facility that also has what the medical examiner thinks will be necessary down the road as technology gets better," said Bloomberg.

他说:“整个博物馆的一个重点就是保存无法核实身份的尸骨的地方,以此来引起人们的关注和表达敬意,这个地方还不是个小地方,而是一个医检人员认为必需的整体设施,为未来验证技术成熟时做准备。”

Another issue: an atheists’ group has filed suit to stop the display of a cross-shaped steel beam that became an icon for recovery workers at Ground Zero. The foundation responds that it is being displayed as an artifact, not as a religious object.

另外还有个问题,一个无神论组织向法院起诉,要求停止用一个十字架形的钢梁来代表911废墟的修复。博物馆基金会回应说,十字架形钢梁是作为艺术品来展示,而不是出于宗教目的。

  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/voabn/2012/09/223994.html