BritishMuseum大英博物馆中英双语介绍

London, England: British Museum博物馆巡礼英国：⼤英博物馆

At the peak of its empire, when the Union Jack flewover a quarter of the planet, England collected art and artifacts as fast as itcollected colonies. Thisplace, the British Museum, is the showcase for those e xtraordinary treasures.

在⼤英帝国的巅峰，在英国国旗飘扬于地球四分之⼀⼟地上时，英国收集艺术和⼯艺品的速度就和它收集殖民地⼀样快。这个地⽅，⼤英博物馆，是那些出⾊宝物的展⽰处。

Its centerpiece is the Great Court—an impressive example of Europe's knack for preserving oldarchit ectural spaces by

making them fresh, functional, and inviting. The stately Reading Room—a temple of knowledge and high thinking—was thestudy hall for Oscar Wilde, Rudyard Kipling,and T.S. Eliot. Ka rl Marx researched right here while writing Das Kapital.它的物是“⼤中庭”－－⼀个欧洲维护古⽼建筑空间技巧的出⾊例⼦，借由使⽼建物变新、具功能性，且吸引⼈。宏伟的阅览室－－⼀座知识及崇⾼思想的殿堂－－曾是 Oscar Wilde、Rudyard Kipling，以及 T.S.Eliot 的⾃习室。Karl Marx 在写《资本论》时正是在这⾥做研究的。

The British Museum is the chronicle of Western civilization. You can study three greatcivilizations—Egy pt, Assyria, andGreece—in one fascinating morning. The Egyptian collection is the greatest outside of Egypt. It's kicked off with the RosettaStone, which provided the breakthrough in deciphering anci ent Egyptian hieroglyphs. Discovered in 1799, it told thesamestory in three languages: Greek, a mod ern form of Egyptian, and ancient Egyptian.

⼤英博物馆是西⽅⽂明的记录。你可以在⼀个迷⼈的早晨⾥看到三⼤⽂明(埃及、亚述以及希腊)。埃及展品是埃及境外最杰出的。它从罗赛塔⽯碑开始，罗赛塔⽯碑提供解开古埃及象形⽂字之谜的突破性发展。于1799 年被发现，罗赛塔⽯碑描述⼀段相同的故事，使⽤三种语⾔：希腊⽂、当代的埃及字体以及古埃及⽂。

This enabled archaeologists to compare the two languages they understood with the ancientEgyptian, which was yet to bedeciphered. Thanks to this stone, they broke the code, openingthe door to under standing a great civilization.

这使考古学家得以将两种他们理解的语⾔和古埃及⽂做对照，当时古埃及⽂尚未被解开。托这块⽯碑的福，他们破解那密码，开启了解⼀个伟⼤⽂明的⼤门。

The Egypt we think of—you know, pyramids, mummies, pharaohs, and guys who walk funny—lasted fr om about 3,000 to1,000 B.C. It was a time of unprecedented stability—very littlechange in govern ment, religion, or arts. Imagine 2,000 years ofEisenhower. Egyptian art wasart with a purpose. It pla cated the gods—the entire pantheon, a cosmic zoo of deities,

wassculpted and worshipped—and it ser ved as propaganda for the pharaohs. They ruled withunquestioned authority andwere considered g