2022年12月17日 VOA慢速英语：游客永远看不到的秘密博物馆

 

The capital city of Washington, D.C. is home to many famous museums in the United States. But there is one museum in the city that visitors will never get to see: the U.S. Secret Service Museum.
首都华盛顿特区是美国许多著名博物馆的所在地。但这座城市有一座游客永远无法参观的博物馆：美国特勤局博物馆。
 
Placed inside the agency's headquarters, the one-room museum shows objects from the agency's history. It also honors the 40 men and women of the service who have died while performing their duty.
这座只有一个房间的博物馆位于该机构总部内，展示了该机构历史上的物品。它还向 40 名在履行职责时牺牲的军人致敬。
 
Mike Sampson is a historian and archivist at the U.S. Secret Service. He said the museum is only open to agency workers, their families, and some special guests. He added that concerns about security and lack of resources are the reasons the museum is closed to other visitors.
迈克·桑普森 (Mike Sampson) 是美国特勤局的历史学家和档案管理员。他说，博物馆只对机构工作人员、他们的家人和一些特殊客人开放。他补充说，对安全和缺乏资源的担忧是博物馆不对其他游客开放的原因。

The Secret Service is probably best known for protecting U.S. presidents. But its first mission was to fight financial crime.
特勤局可能以保护美国总统而闻名。但它的首要任务是打击金融犯罪。
 
Jason Kendrick is another historian and archivist at the U.S. Secret Service. He said that on April 14, 1865, the treasury secretary at the time, Hugh McCulloch, suggested to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to create an agency to fight counterfeit, or fake money.
杰森·肯德里克 (Jason Kendrick) 是美国特勤局的另一位历史学家和档案管理员。他说，1865 年 4 月 14 日，当时的财政部长休·麦卡洛克 (Hugh McCulloch) 建议美国总统亚伯拉罕·林肯 (Abraham Lincoln) 成立一个机构来打击假币或假币。
 
"At the time, one-third of all the currency in the U.S. during and post-Civil War was counterfeit," said Kendrick. So, on the same day that Lincoln approved the creation of the Secret Service, he was killed a few hours later at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
“当时，在内战期间和之后的美国所有货币中有三分之一是伪造的，”肯德里克说。因此，就在林肯批准成立特勤局的同一天，几个小时后，他在华盛顿特区的福特剧院被杀
 
It was not until 1901, after the assassination of President William McKinley, that the Secret Service added the job of protecting the president. But the service's work had expanded before then to fighting other kinds of crime. One reason is that other agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency, did not yet exist.
直到 1901 年，威廉总统遇刺后麦金莱，特勤局增加了保护总统的工作。但该部门的工作在此之前已经扩展到打击其他类型的犯罪。原因之一是其他机构，如联邦调查局和中央情报局，当时还不存在。
 
The Secret Service fought against activities such as illegal trade, crimes relating to land ownership, and spying. Kendrick explained that beginning in 1868, the Secret Service was permitted to fight any crime against the federal government.
特勤局打击非法贸易、与土地所有权有关的犯罪和间谍活动等活动。肯德里克解释说，从 1868 年开始，特勤局获准打击任何针对联邦政府的犯罪行为。
 
Some exhibits in the museum show examples of counterfeiting. Others show the dangers of presidential life, such as the gun used during the 1975 assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford in San Francisco, California.
博物馆中的一些展品展示了伪造的例子。其他人则展示了总统生活的危险，例如 1975 年在加利福尼亚州旧金山暗杀杰拉尔德·福特总统时使用的枪支。
 
Now, the service also protects candidates for president, visiting heads of state, important foreign visitors, and special events related to national security. It also continues to fight financial crime and fight against school violence and other attacks.
现在，该服务还保护总统候选人、来访的国家元首、重要的外国访客以及与国家安全有关的特殊活动。它还继续打击金融犯罪并打击校园暴力和其他袭击事件。
 
Working those duties sometimes comes at a price for Secret Service members.
履行这些职责有时会让特勤局成员付出代价。
 
On display at the museum are objects from terrorist attacks in which Secret Service members were killed. These include the bombing of a government building on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and the September 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Sampson says this part of the museum is a way to respectfully honor those Service members.
博物馆展出的是特工人员在恐怖袭击中丧生的物品。其中包括 1995 年 4 月 19 日在俄克拉荷马州俄克拉荷马城轰炸政府大楼，以及 2001 年 9 月 11 日对纽约市世界贸易中心的袭击。桑普森说，博物馆的这一部分是一种尊重这些服役人员的方式。
 
The museum, Sampson said, "gives us an opportunity to reflect on the history of our agency, and also to show what we're doing these days."
博物馆，桑普森说，“让我们有机会反思我们机构的历史，并展示什么我们这些天正在做。”