美国英语听力80篇2 Lesson21
21) Time Capsule
Have you ever thought about what you would save from today to show to people in the future?
Some people are thinking about it.
They are involved in a project to save objects in a container that is not to be opened until New Year's Day,1,000 years from now.
The container is a times capsule.
Time capsules are special devices built to protect papers and other objects usually for one hundred years.
The purpose is to help people in the future understand what was important when the time capsule was closed.
The idea for this time capsule came from people at The New York Times newspaper.
So it is called the "Times Capsule".
The papers and objects to be put in it are to help people in the year 3,000 understand about life in the world today.
First, a container was needed to keep the materials safe.
So the newspaper invited forty-eight architects and designers from around the world to take part in a design competition.
An architect from Spain, Santiago Calatrava, won.
His winning design is a shiny steel container.
It has one-and-one-half cubic meters of space inside.
It is shaped like a flower with eight separate parts.
Mister Calatrava says he wanted the container to be beautiful, yet create a feeling of mystery.
Some of the things that will be placed in the Times Capsule have been chosen.
They are being shown along with the Times Capsule at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
Among the objects are: Six magazines published by the New York Times, which describe the last 1,000 years.
A recording of the sounds of life in New York City made at 9:09 in the morning of the ninth day of the ninth month of 1999.
Pictures taken of what some people in New York were doing at that same time.
A small container of fresh water from a river in Brazil.
An American military medal.
A ceremonial chair from Zimbabwe.
A Beanie Baby doll popular with collectors.
Marlboro cigarettes.
Other things will be chosen to represent life at the present time.
Visitors to the museum can use two computers to enter their own suggestions.
The objects chosen by a Special committee will be placed in the capsule before it is closed in April.
Then the large steel container will be moved to its permanent home, outside the entrance of the Natural History museum.
Although the Times Capsule is not to be opened for 1,000 years, it should not be forgotten.
A guard will be paid to watch over it and remind people of why it is important.
