现代世界的博物馆41

When you come to the museum, do you still get that same sense of excitement as you did as a child? I don't think it's the same because, you know, you don't feel as a child when you're in your 80's, but I certainly get a kick. I mean, this is one of the great places, you know, of natural history and the biological sciences, it's one of the focuses in the world, this is where so many advances were made, this is where so many discoveries were made. This is where so many hugely important specimens are stored. So this museum houses some famous collections and great collectors of the time as well, like Wallis and Darwin, have their specimens here. This collection, I mean, does it still have a relevance today? Oh, yeah, because if you want to know whether an animal you caught is X, Y, Z, which was what it was originally called, you discover that Darwin actually gave it that name, and you go and find there it is in a drawer or a bottle, you know, so you actually then count how many gill bars it has, or how many scales it has, and so you can say, yes, it is, or you can say, no, it's a new species. But that's what you have to do, so that is very, very relevant.

您现在来博物馆时还有小时候的那种兴奋吗？ 我觉得不一样，因为嘛，八十多岁了，感觉不像小孩子了。不过我还是感觉很有乐趣的，我是说这里是个了不起的地方。在自然史和生物科学方面很重要，这里是世界的一个焦点，很多的进步都是在这里产生的。 这里有过那么多发现，这里收藏着许多极为重要的标本。这个博物馆有一些有名收藏，也出过有名的收藏者，例如说华莱士和达尔文，在这里都有标本。 这些收藏现在还有意义吗？ 当然，因为要是你想知道你所抓到的一个动物，叫什么什么什么，这是它的原名。你发现是达尔文给它命名的，你来到这里在一个抽屉里找到了它。你就可以数它有多少个腮杆，或是有多少鳞片，之后你就可以说，对，就是它，或是说，不对，这是个新物种。这就是你必须得做的，所以这些都还很有用。