走进剑桥大学 第39期:多彩博物馆

Museums are a vital part of a world-famous university, which are often run by a university, typically founded to aid teaching and research within the university. In the University of Cambridge, there are altogether seven such museums-Fitzwilliam Museum, Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Museum of Zoology, Museum of Classical Archaeology, Whipple Museum of the History of Science, The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Museum of the Scott Polar Research Institute. Only few museums of the same kind can rival the collections in those museums in the world.

在一所世界闻名的大学里，博物馆是必不可少的。这样的博物馆通常由大学自己经营，其设立通常是为了辅助大学的教学和研究。剑桥大学就共有7座这样的博物馆——费兹威廉博物馆、考古与人类学博物馆、动物学博物馆、古典考古博物馆、惠普科学历史博物馆、塞德威克地球科学博物馆、史考特北极研究所博物馆等。这些博物馆的藏品之多，在世界上鲜有同类的博物馆能与之匹敌。

Among all of those, Fitzwilliam Museum is perhaps the most famous one. Praised by some as Britain's Best Museum and Gallery, Fitzwilliam Museum houses world-class collec- tipns of works of art and antiquities spanning centuries and civilizations. Everyone who comes here often could not wait to see the manuscript of Einstein. As stated by the University itself, “ Like the University itself, the Fitzwilliam Museum is part of the national heritage, but, much more, it is part of a living and continuing culture which it is our statutory duty to transmit.

在这些博物馆中，费兹威廉博物馆最负盛名。馆中有很多世界一流的藏品，其中包括诸多各个文明时期和不同世纪的艺术真品和珍稀文物。每一个来到这里的人都迫不及待要去亲眼一睹爱因斯坦的数学手稿。正如剑桥大学校方所说：“和剑桥一样，费兹威廉博物馆是国家遗产的一部分。但它更是鲜活生动而又延绵不绝的文化的一部分，传承这种文化，我们义不容辞。”

Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology offers a feast of images and ideas. The Guardian has even said that it holds “the discoveries of some of the most remarkable explorers and scholars of their time”. You can see in it world-class collections of Oceanic, Asian, African and native American art — canoes, sculptures, masks, and textiles — and major archaeological discoveries, ranging from the earliest stone tools, discovered by Louis Leakey in Olduvai Gorge, to British finds from Roman and medieval periods. Today the Museum remains a base for wide-ranging archaeological and anthropological research.

参观考古与人类学博物馆绝对是一场视觉与思想的盛宴。英国《卫报》曾经说它藏有“当时世界上最为著名的探险家和学者的发现”。来自大洋洲、亚洲、非洲和美国本土的世界一流艺术作品独木舟、雕刻、面具和纺织品——还有考古学史上最重要的发现，从路易斯李基在奥杜威峡谷发现的早期石器到从罗马时期到中世纪的英国考古发现应有尽有。现在这所博物馆仍然是考古学和人类学研究的重要基地之一。

The Museum of Classical Archaeology is one of the few surviving collections of plaster casts of Greek and Roman sculpture in the world. The collection of about four hundred and fifty casts is open to the public and housed in a purpose-built Cast Gallery on the first floor of the Classics Faculty. Although nothing here is an original, nearly all the well-known works from the Classical world can be seen together under one roof.

古典考古博物馆是世界上少数收藏有古希腊和古罗马石膏铸体的博物馆之一。馆里收藏的450余尊石膏雕塑都是对外开放的，古典区一楼还特意建造了一个石膏展览厅，以陈列这些物品。尽管这里的物品都不是真品，但是能在同一个地方蛇饱览所有闻名世界的经典作品也十分难得。

The other museums are unmentioned here not because of their insignificance but the length of the article； they all played an important part in either studies or researches within and out of the university. You can have a general idea of their collections from the names. In addition, Kettles Yard, The University Library, Botanic Garden, though not entitled “nuise- um，，，are worth a visit.

这里没有提到其他的博物馆，并不是因为它们不重要。在剑桥校内外人士的学习和研究中，它们都起着非常重要的作用。因为篇幅有限，这里就不多作介绍了。根据名字，读者就能对它们的馆藏内容略知一二。除了这些博物馆之外，壶园、大学图书馆和植物园这些不叫博物馆的“博物馆”也是非常值得一去的地方。