20100310 America's Treasure Trove (1)

America's Treasure Trove: The Smithsonian Museums

Explore the world's largest museum complex

Have you ever wanted to learn about the complex life of ants or pondered the wonders of aviation and space travel? Or, maybe you find yourself intrigued by African art or ancient human civilization and culture. Believe it or not, you can investigate all of these things and more by visiting a Smithsonian museum.

Beginnings
The year was 1826 and James Smithson, a British scientist, named his nephew as beneficiary in his will. According to the will, if the nephew should die without heirs, the estate would go to the United States of America.


When the situation played out precisely this way years later, the Smithsonian Institution was created. Smithson specified that the establishment, which officially came into existenced on Aug. 10, 1846, was to exist "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge among men." Since then, the Smithsonian has become the world's
largest museum complex and research organization, boasting 19 museums, nine research centers, and a zoo. These hold a collection of over 136 million artifacts and speciments. In 2008 alone, an impressive 25.2 million people visited Smithsonian museums.



ponder v. 深思/默想
=> think about
eg: Nathan has been pondering his next career move lately.
Nathan最近都在思考自己的事業下一部的發展。

ponder over / on something
eg: He took some time to ponder over how to respond to this situation.
=> 他花了一些時間來思考該如何回應這個狀況

bene- 好
-iary 人
beneficiary n. 受益人
eg: The chief beneficiary of the wealthy man's inheritance is his only son.
eg: Low-income families are the major beneficiaries of the new policy.

diffusion n. 散播/使普及
=> spread out
eg: The diffusion of the new technology makes communication much easier and faster.
=> 新科技的普及化使溝通更加快速。
eg: The Health Bureau anounced new regulations to stop the diffusion of this disease.
=> 健康局宣佈新的章程已停止這種疾病擴散。

treasure trove 埋藏物

aviation n. 航空學/航空/飛行

intrigue v. 激起...的好奇心

heir n. 繼承人/嗣子
heir to
eg: The young man is the heir to an oil fortune. One day, he will inherit billions of dollars.
eg: The royal couple has been married for 10 years but still have no heir to the throne(王位).
eg: Eric is the heir to this large estate in Wales.

play out 結束
=> develop all the way to an end

specify v. 具體指定/詳細指明/明確說明
=> state/describe something very clearly/exactly


specimen n. 樣品/樣本
=> example



//== Chat room ==//

complex adj. 錯綜複雜的

the world's largest museum complex
=> 這裡的complex指綜合建築就像apartment complex
=> The Smithsonian Museums是全世界最大的建築群

apartment complex
=> many interconnect buildings that make up the complex

complex n. 情結
eg: inferiority complex 自悲感
eg: Oedipus Complex 戀母情結
=> Oedipus是希臘神話中的悲劇人物，
=> 在不知情的情況下和他母親結婚生子，最後產生悲劇


//== More Information ==//

The first major movie ever to be filmed in the Smithsonian was the recently released Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian. A variety of the Smithsonian museums were used for filming bringing to life such objects as a giant 5-ton. tyrannosaurusrex. Also, female aviation pioneer Amelia Earharts bright red Lockheed Vega airplane was featured, as was Dorothy's famous ruby slippers from the film The Wizard of Oz.