【精英翻譯】的部落格

The Whole Ancient World in One Place　　古今珍寶一把抓 —— 什麼都有的大英博物館

精英翻譯社轉自http://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0062/307816/web/

For more than 250 years, the British Museum has held the ancient world's greatest treasures.

兩百五十多年以來，大英博物館已收藏了許多古老的世界珍寶。

　　The British Museum is home to one of the world's largest collections of historical artifacts▼. It has objects from all around the world and covers thousands of years of human history. What's even more amazing is that the museum began as just one man's personal collection, which he wanted to share with the public free of charge.

　　大英博物館是擁有全世界數量最可觀的歷史文物收藏的地方之一。這裡藏有來自世界各地的文物並涵蓋了數千年的人類歷史。更令人驚豔的是，這些館藏都始於單一個人的私人收藏，而這位收藏家也想和全世界免費分享。

　　In 1753, Sir Hans Sloane gave his collection of artifacts to the nation. This may not sound like much, but Sloane had succeeded in collecting over 71,000 items in his lifetime. His collection included tens of thousands of books, which would later become the basis of the British Library. It also included thousands of historical pieces like paintings, statues, and things from the natural world. Six years after his death, Sloane's huge personal treasure led to the creation of the British Museum, which officially opened in 1759.

　　西元 1753 年，漢斯‧斯隆爵士將他的文物收藏品捐歸國有。這聽起來好像不怎麼樣，但是漢斯‧斯隆爵士在他一生中成功收集了超過七萬一千件文物。他的收藏包含數以萬計的書籍，而這些藏書後來成為了大英圖書館的根基。他的收藏其中也包括數千件的歷史物件，例如畫作、雕像和自然界的東西。在漢斯‧斯隆爵士逝世六年後，他的大量個人收藏品促成了大英博物館的誕生，並在西元 1759 年正式開幕了。

　　Since its founding, the British Museum has kept growing. Throughout the British Empire, sailors and soldiers brought more cultural treasures back to the British Museum, which now includes over eight million different pieces. In addition, all of the museum's regular collections are still free to the millions of people who visit every year, just like Sloane would have wanted.

　　自創辦以來，大英博物館就一直持續地成長。綜觀大英帝國的歷史，水手和軍人紛紛將更多的文化寶藏帶回大英博物館，直至今日已有超過八百萬件不同的文物了。除此之外，所有館內的常設陳列品都還是能供每年好幾百萬人次免費參觀，就如同當初漢斯‧斯隆爵士所期望的一樣。