VOA常速英语听力2012年07月合辑（文本）：LIVING-MUSEUMS-BRING-STATIC-HISTORY-TO-LIFE.doc

1、This is the time of year when thousands upon thousands of tourists descend upon Washington, D.C., to see the capitals great monuments and museums, including the National Gallery of Art and an array of Smithsonian museums.These are what might be called “static” museums. You walk in, see the pioneer W

2、right Brothers plane hanging from the ceiling or a great Vermeer painting, or a display of American Indian artifacts.You look at them, maybe read a placard, or perhaps wear a headset in which a narrator gives you more background about what youre seeing.But in todays world of spectacular theme parks

3、and dazzling electronic diversions, curators at smaller museums around the country found that busy travelers - especially those with kids - were not coming the way they used to.Looking at pictures of, or by, long-dead artists or cultural pioneers just wasnt entertaining.They needed to make history a

4、nd art come to life, to somehow transport visitors to time periods or experiences being displayed.So a whole new kind of museum was born - the “living history” museum.Places such as Williamsburg, Virginia, the first and perhaps most successful of these models. Its a completely re-created village fro

5、m the days when the town was the colonial capital of Virginia.This is an example of a carefully collected, fascinating, but traditionally static museum exhibit - in this case, of old-time farm implements at the Mercer Museum in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. (Carol M. Highsmith)There, characters in 18th-

6、Century costumes fire off cannons, parade like British soldiers, farm gardens using massive plow horses, sing drinking songs, and even serve up tankards of beer to go with them.And visitors get to put their heads and hands in the stocks for a photograph, help the tinsmith make spoons, or feed yarn t

7、o women in costume who are weaving.But historical purists say all this fun stretches the truth of what life was really like which, in many cases, was hard, even brutal. They fuss that tourists come away enchanted but having learned very little.The counter argument is that if visitors can discover even a few things about, say, Americas whaling tradition or the real First Thanksgiving - and have a good time doing it - thats more than theyd get out of looking at a bunch of boring displays.