VOA标准英语2009年-World War Two Museum Expansion Aims at You

By Greg Flakus
New Orleans
09 November 2009

The National World War Two Museum in New Orleans has opened a new $60-million building that houses a musical theater, a restaurant and a large movie theater for what is billed as a four-dimensional multimedia¹ experience. The 35-minute cinematic presentation is titled "Beyond All Boundaries" and it is being shown exclusively at the museum. It is a presentation that brings Hollywood, high technology and history together.

 
National World War Two Museum's new $60 million building includes musical theater, restaurant and large movie theater, 06 Nov 2009
"It is called 'Beyond All Boundaries.'" Actor Tom Hanks served as executive producer and narrator of this new multimedia presentation.

It involves a film shown on a huge screen, lighting² and motion effects and props³ that appear in the theater as the story unfolds. The audience is immersed in the story and the experience of the war, on all fronts. Words from soldiers, sailors, marines, war correspondents and political leaders are spoken by well-known actors including Brad Pitt, Kevin Bacon, Patricia Clarkson and Jennifer Garner⁶.

Tom Hanks, who portrayed⁷ an army captain leading a squad⁸ at the Normandy invasion in the 1998 movie "Saving Private Ryan," has been a champion of veterans and the World War Two Museum, donating his time and influence for the cause. Hanks was born more than 10 years after the end of World War Two, but he says it still had a big impact on him.

"As I was growing up in those formative years, every single adult that cared for me had been through the war, had experienced the war somehow, even if they were just alive during it. And they all spoke⁵ of it in these terms of an apocryphal⁹ era," Hanks said.

But younger generations do not have that sort of connection with the war and some know little about it. The president and CEO of the National World War Two Museum, Nick Mueller, says that is the reason for the multimedia presentation. 
Actor Tom Hanks speaking at the opening ceremony for the National World War Two Museum's new $60-million expansion, 06 Nov 2009
 

"Young people today have grown up with technology. They learn that way and so to be immersed and bombarded by visual images and sound and light and have things moving around that enhance this whole story is the way they learn," Mueller said.

But a group of student journalists who wrote for an online blog about the new museum attraction were more impressed with the veterans they met in person and the stories they told.

"Some stories I heard were just incredible stories and I wanted to cry because they were so, like, moving," she said.

"They have been through a lot. Some of them were sick, some of them were wounded, some were killed. Some of them had relatives that were killed," he said.

One of the veteran volunteers who talks to visitors at the museum is 90-year-old former U.S. Marine⁴ Bert Stolier, who witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

"It was two hours of bombings, torpedo¹⁰ runs, ships exploding, ships sinking, sailors and marines floating in the water," Stolier said.

He went on to fight in various battles across the Pacific and saw much more death and destruction before he could come home again.

There are only a couple of million World War Two veterans left in the United States and they are fast disappearing, dying at a rate of over 900 a day. But their voices are used in many of the museum's video presentations and Nick Mueller says an effort is underway to record even more.

"We have over 3,000 oral histories. We have a group of researchers, we call them the history boys, that are going around the country and they are collecting oral histories for the future exhibits we are building in the campaign pavilion," Mueller said.

He says the idea is not to glorify¹¹ war or boast of the allied¹² victory, but to educate people about this event in world history that led to the deaths of more than 65 million people.

The carnage is something old veterans like Bert Stolier can never forget. "Time passes and we hope that there is no more, that none of that happens again," he said.

This expansion of the National World War Two Museum is only the latest part of a plan that will involve the construction of three more buildings by the year 2015. The Museum began in New Orleans as the D-Day Museum in 2000 and the US Congress designated it as the National World War Two Museum three years later, expanding its scope to cover he entire conflict.

1 multimedia   

adj.多种手段的，多媒体的；n.多媒体

参考例句：

• Multimedia is the combination of computer and video technology.多媒体是计算机和视频技术的结合。
• Adam raised the issue of multimedia applications and much useful discussion ensued.亚当提出了多媒体应用的问题，从而引发了许多有益的讨论。

2 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

3 props   

小道具； 支柱( prop的名词复数 )； 支持者； 道具； （橄榄球中的）支柱前锋

参考例句：

• Rescuers used props to stop the roof of the tunnel collapsing. 救援人员用支柱防止隧道顶塌陷。
• The government props up the prices of farm products to support farmers' incomes. 政府保持农产品价格不变以保障农民们的收入。

4 marine   

adj.海的；海生的；航海的；海事的；n.水兵

参考例句：

• Marine creatures are those which live in the sea. 海洋生物是生存在海里的生物。
• When the war broke out,he volunteered for the Marine Corps.战争爆发时，他自愿参加了海军陆战队。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 garner   

v.收藏；取得

参考例句：

• He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
• Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。

7 portrayed   

v.画像( portray的过去式和过去分词 )；描述；描绘；描画

参考例句：

• Throughout the trial, he portrayed himself as the victim. 在审讯过程中，他始终把自己说成是受害者。
• The author portrayed his father as a vicious drunkard. 作者把他父亲描绘成一个可恶的酒鬼。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

9 apocryphal   

adj.假冒的，虚假的

参考例句：

• Most of the story about his private life was probably apocryphal.有关他私生活的事可能大部分都是虚构的。
• This may well be an apocryphal story.这很可能是个杜撰的故事。

10 torpedo   

n.水雷，地雷；v.用鱼雷破坏

参考例句：

• His ship was blown up by a torpedo.他的船被一枚鱼雷炸毁了。
• Torpedo boats played an important role during World War Two.鱼雷艇在第二次世界大战中发挥了重要作用。

11 glorify   

vt.颂扬，赞美，使增光，美化

参考例句：

• Politicians have complained that the media glorify drugs.政治家们抱怨媒体美化毒品。
• We are all committed to serving the Lord and glorifying His name in the best way we know.我们全心全意敬奉上帝，竭尽所能颂扬他的美名。

12 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。