Sound effects and background from The Museum of London

Lily: Hello and welcome to BBC Learning English from London. I am Lily.

Sun Chen: I am Sun Chen. 今天我跟Lily要带你去的地方，是全世界最大的城市历史博物馆。Can you guess which one it is?

Lily: The largest city history museum in the world? Well, it has to be The Museum of London, doesn't it?

Sun Chen: Yes. You're right. Here is Marian Williams, one of the press officers at the museum:

Insert

The Museum of London is one of the biggest social history museums in the world and covers an enormous amount of history to do with the people that are at the heart of this country.

Sun Chen: 伦敦博物馆收录了一部浩瀚的历史。 Enormous.

Lily: Yes, when we talk about the size of a museum we normally refer to the amount of the collection.

Sun Chen: 这里还拥有相当巨大的馆藏。 How big is the collection of this museum then?

Lily: I talked to Alex Werner, a curator at the museum.

Sun Chen: Curator 就是馆员。我们先来听听她是怎么跟我们介绍的。他跟我们说到了几个很有意思的数字，你可得好好听。一会儿我们还要考考你。

Insert

Hello, my name is Alex Werner. I'm a curator at the museum of London. We are standing¹ here in what is really the world's largest city history museum. We have an enormous collection with over 2 million objects in our collection. Not all the objects are on display but it's a very rich and varied² museum.

Lily: Did you catch the number of objects in their collection, Sun Chen?

Sun Chen: Yes, it has over 2 million objects 两百万件藏品 in their collection.

Lily: And that's enormous!

Sun Chen: 巨大的。

Lily: It’s a very rich and varied museum.

Sun Chen: 真的是一家馆藏丰富，涵盖面齐全的博物馆。

Lily: London is one of the most dynamic and cosmopolitan³ cities in the world and The Museum of London tells its story.

Sun Chen: 生机勃勃的国际大都市。It's definitely one of the best places to visit!

Lily: Then there is the extra benefit for students learning English: you’ll learn words and expressions associated with the famous landmarks⁴ of London and of the different periods of its history.

Sun Chen: 在这儿，你还能学到很多有关伦敦著名景点的新词汇，还有新的表达方式。这些词汇，还都代表着伦敦的各个历史时期。 Famous landmarks of London and the different periods of its history.

Lily: Well, talking about the famous landmarks of London, let's have a quick test of your knowledge of some of the tourist attractions. Ready? Here we go:

S and L: Well, The Tower of London; 伦敦塔 Tower bridge; 塔桥Buckingham Palace 白金汉宫; The Houses of Parliament 议会大厦; St Paul’s Cathedral 圣保罗大教堂。

Lily: Well done Sun Chen! All of the above places are famous landmarks of London and they attract thousands of visitors from all over the world everyday.

Sun Chen: 我们下面要听听 Alex 给我们做的介绍。你可得听好了，每年伦敦博物馆，要接待多少来这儿参观的人呢？

Insert

The Museum of London as a whole has over 400,000 visitors a year so it's one of the major historical museums that visitors come to in London.

Sun Chen: 听到了吗？每年来伦敦博物馆参观的人数，高达四十万。

Lily: This figure includes foreign tourists as well as local visitors.

Sun Chen: 我们在这儿，还采访到了两位游客。他们一个是从澳大利亚来的，一个是从西班牙来的。所以啊，他们说话的时候，都多少有那么一点儿口音。

Insert

My name's Robert. I'm from Australia. The museum itself is a fantastic museum actually. From the beginning it shows you from BC all the way through Medieval into the Tudor and Stuart, very good exhibits and displays.

My name is Monica. I'm from Spain. I like the museum very much. It's very interesting because you can see all the history of the city and the Roman Time, it's great.

S and L: There is some good vocabulary related to the different periods of history: prehistoric⁵ period 公元前; medieval 中世纪; Tudor 都铎王朝; Stuart; 斯图亚特王朝。Then the Roman time 接下来就是罗马时代。

Lily: Both visitors speak highly of the Museum; one says it is a fantastic museum.

Sun Chen: Yes, and the other says it's very interesting and great. What do you think of the museum Lily?

Lily: Well, I think it's as rich and exciting as London itself. It actually reminds me of the famous quotation⁶ by Samuel Johnson: "If you are tired of London you are tired of life."

Sun Chen: 有人说，你要是厌倦了伦敦；你也就厌倦了人生。既然这个博物馆有这么多能抓住你眼球的东西，你逛起来，肯定不会觉得累。

Lily: However, as the saying goes - seeing is believing. So you must come and visit…

S and L: The Museum of London!

Sun Chen: It's right in the heart of the city.

Lily: And it's free of charge.

Sun Chen: 免费开放。

Lily: This is On the Town from BBC Learning English.

Sun Chen: Bye from both of us from London.