【一起听英语】100件讲述人类历史的古物

大英博物馆陈列出了100件展品，通过这100件展品，我们可以探索人类历史的秘密。

Dan: Hello and welcome to this week's 6 Minute English. I'm Dan and today I'm

joined by Kate.

Kate: Hi Dan.

Dan: Hi Kate. Now in today's programme we’re talking about a new exhibition at

the British Museum in London, which is attempting to define the whole of

human history through 100 objects.

Kate: Yes, well from stone-age tools to the modern credit card, the museum says

certain key objects can demonstrate man's development up until the present

day – in particular our important advances in art, technology, religion, warfare 1

and trade.

Dan: So Kate, this week's question for you is: How many objects are there in the

whole of the British Museum collection? Is it:

a) 8 million

b) 11 million

c) 13 million

Kate: That's a hard one. I've got absolutely no idea. But I'm going to go for c, the

largest number: 13 million.

Dan: Well, we'll see if you're right at the end of the programme. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010

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Kate: Now the museum has spent four years organising the exhibition. So Dan how

did they choose the final 100 objects that are being put on display?

Dan: Well, the museum's director, Neil MacGregor, says that they've chosen the

objects that give us an idea of how different cultures have interacted; that is,

how they worked together or formed relationships.

Kate: So let's have a listen to the first extract as he explains how scientific

developments have changed the significance of certain objects. How does he

describe the effect that scientific discoveries have had on our understanding?

Extract 1

Most of us, I think, if we come back to a museum that we visited as a child, have the

sense that we've changed enormously, while the things have remained serenely 2 the same.

But of course they haven't. Thanks to constant research into new scientific techniques,

what we can know about them is constantly growing.

Kate: OK, well he says that what we know about the objects is constantly growing.

The word constant here means continuous or frequent. So to say that what we

know is constantly growing means that it is always expanding or getting

bigger in size.

Dan: He also said that we might think things remain serenely the same. Serene 3

means calm, tranquil 4 or steady. So here he means we think things have steadily 5

remained the same.

The impact of science on our understanding of historical objects is

demonstrated in one of the first pieces in the collection, an ancient Egyptian

mummy – the preserved body of ancient Egyptian priest, which has been

wrapped in linen 6 in preparation for the afterlife. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010

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Kate: In the next clip we're going to hear from a specialist from the museum's ancient

Egypt and Sudan department as he explains how new analysis of mummies can

provide information on trade in the ancient world, and show that cultures

interacted far more than we originally thought.

Dan: He uses the word mummification, which means the process of preserving the

bodies as mummies, by wrapping them in strips of material. And also the term

chemical composition. What does he mean by that Kate?

Kate: Well, the chemical composition is the basic make-up of chemicals in a

particular object. Let's have a listen; how do the mummies help us to

understand trading in the ancient world?

Extract 2:

We can also look at substances used in mummification; we can test them; we can look at

the chemical composition of them; find out what materials were being used; maybe now

we can look at where they were coming from. We can compare these chemical make-ups

with substances found in different parts of the Mediterranean 7, and begin to reconstruct

the trading networks that supplied these things to Egypt.

Dan: So an object that we thought was uniquely Egyptian – a mummy – can give us

information about interaction across the ancient world by analysing what

materials are being used and where they've come from. What these objects

show is that we share more history than we originally thought.

Kate: We also heard the words reconstruct and network. To reconstruct something

means to rebuild it or recreate it.

Dan: And a network means a system of connections and contacts, in this context,

trading contacts in the ancient world. 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010

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Kate: So as our knowledge of the world gets better, we are gaining a deeper

understanding of how cultures have worked together to get to where we are

today.

Dan: The Egyptian writer Ahdaf Soueif describes the history of the world as a 'joint 8

project'. Which area of history does she say she'd focus on to help people

understand their relationship with each other?

Extract three:

If I could decree a universal education programme I would make every child in the

world learn a brief history of the entire world that focussed on the common ground. It

would examine how people perceive their relationship to each other, to the planet, and to

the universe.

Dan: She said she'd focus on the common ground of history. Common ground

usually means an area of shared understanding. So by examining the common

ground of cultures and history, people could gain a wider understanding of the

history of the world.

Kate: Oh it's all fascinating stuff, but we’re almost out of time unfortunately, so let’s

go over some of the vocabulary we’ve come across today:

interact

constant

serenely

mummy

mummification

reconstruct

network

common ground 

6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010

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Dan: And let's go back to today's question. I asked you Kate how many objects there

are in the whole of the British Museum collection? Is it:

d) 8 million

e) 11 million

f) 13 million

Kate: And I took a wild guess at c, 13 million.

Dan: And again you'd be exactly right. Thirteen million objects in the whole of the

British Museum.

Kate: Oh, you'll have to start making your questions a bit harder Dan.

Dan: Well, we'll see about that.

So from all of us here at BBC Learning English, thanks very much for

listening, and goodbye!

Kate: Goodbye!