VOA文化艺术2024--Globes Remain Popular, Even with Google Earth

Globes Remain Popular, Even with Google Earth

　　Next time you see a globe, close your eyes, and turn it quickly so it spins. Then stop it with your finger.

　　Chances are that you will stop on a body of water. That is because water covers 71 percent of the Earth's surface.

　　If you do not land on water, maybe you will discover a place you have never visited, or even knew about. Depending on the age of the globe, the place might be called something other than what it is called today. Politics changes national borders and city names over time.

　　You can use a globe to see what is on the other side of the world from where you are. Looking at a globe might make you think more about the April 8 eclipse¹, when the moon temporarily blocked the sun as seen from parts of the Earth.

　　Peter Bellerby makes globes in London. He thinks the human interest in finding "our place in the cosmos²" is why globes remain popular. This is the case although computers and smart phones can tell us exactly where we are and where we are going.

　　Bellerby made a globe in 2008 for his father's birthday. Although it cost a lot of money, the experience inspired him. He started a globe-making business. Sixteen years later, he has more than 20 people who work with him. They are artists, mapmakers and woodworkers.

　　"You don't go onto Google Earth to get inspired," he said. Bellerby's studio is filled with globes in different states of completion. "A globe is very much something that connects you to the planet that we live on."

　　Over time, Bellerby has also become an expert in world politics and borders. He said he often talks with officials in areas such as the Middle East, India, China and North Africa to be sure his globes have the correct markings.

　　There is also the question of whether globes are useful or only works of art. Because they must be started and completed, they will only be a picture in time. National borders, for example, change. A globe shows things as they were at the time it was made.

　　Jan Mokre is vice³ president of the International Coronelli Society for the Study of Globes in Vienna, Austria. Mokre said globes are important because people like to turn them, and the maps are artistic⁴ works. "Perhaps a certain nostalgia⁵ effect also plays a role, just as old cars and mechanical watches still exert⁶ a certain attraction on people," Mokre said.

　　Joshua Nall directs the Whipple Museum of the History of Science in Cambridge, England. He noted⁷ that technology such as Google Earth gives students more information about the world. However, a physical globe shows "the learning, the erudition, the political interests of its owner." Nall added that people are buying globes as beautiful things to have in their homes.

　　Bellerby's globes are works of art. His small ones cost about $1,900 while the largest ones, which are more than one meter in diameter, can be tens of thousands of dollars. The company makes about 600 globes per year.

　　The process begins with the sphere itself and progresses to placing map pieces, called "gores⁸," on the globe. The gores fit together to completely cover the sphere.

　　Artists then work to decorate the globe with paint – using deep blue and green for the oceans and yellow, green and brown for the land. The designs can be complex. They can include mountains, sea creatures – even dragons.

　　Different kinds of people buy Bellerby's products. They include people who want a family gift, political leaders, art collectors and movie studios. His globes have been in movies including Hugo and Tetris.

　　One of the 1.2-meter models, called the Churchill, is on display in a museum in Berlin, Germany.

　　While globes are works of art, Bellerby said, "Globemaking is a political minefield."

　　For example, China does not recognize Taiwan as a country. Morocco does not recognize Western Sahara. India and Pakistan dispute their northern border. Many Arab countries, such as Lebanon, do not recognize Israel.

　　If Bellerby makes a globe for a foreign buyer, a mistake about a sensitive name or border could cause customs officials to hold up a costly⁹ sale. Bellerby's artists mark disputed borders on the globe. He said: "We cannot change or rewrite history."

　　History of globes

　　The oldest surviving globe dates to about 1492. It is called the Erdapfel which is German, for "Earth apple." A German explorer who worked for the king of Portugal made the globe. It contains details such as where valuable goods could be found and trade rules. However, it does not show North or South America since Europeans did not yet know about them.

　　The German National Museum has the globe, known as the Behaim Globe for the explorer who created it. The museum notes that the globe shows "how much the creation¹⁰ of our modern world was based on the violent appropriation¹¹ of raw materials, the slave trade and plantation¹² farming."

　　The museum calls the period "the first stage of European subjugation¹³ and division of the world."

　　Two of the world's most famous globes were created about 450 years later, for British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt. They were each 1.2 meters in diameter.

　　The Weber Costello company near Chicago, Illinois created the globes with the help of 50 government geographers¹⁴, mapmakers and draftsmen. The Roosevelt globe is at the former President's library in New York and Churchill's is in his family home in Kent, England.

　　Bellerby wrote that the globes were supposed to help the leaders make war plans during World War II. But, in reality, the gifts were "a simple PR (public relations) exercise, an important weapon in modern warfare¹⁵."

　　Words in This Story

　　globe –n. a map of the world that is round like the Earth is

　　cosmos –n. a word for the universe

　　inspire –v. to supply ideas to someone so they want to take up some effort

　　studio –n. a place where artistic kinds of work is done

　　nostalgia –n. a feeling of longing¹⁶ for a past time or for one's home

　　exert –v. to put into action

　　erudition –n. learning that comes from books and scholarship

　　sphere –n. a three-dimensional round form

　　appropriation –n. the process of taking something for one's own use

　　subjugation –n. the act of placing something completely under control

1 eclipse   

v.使黯然失色，使相形见绌，日食，月食

参考例句：

• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。
• There will be an eclipse of the moon next month.下个月有月食。

2 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

3 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

4 artistic   

adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的

参考例句：

• The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。
• These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

5 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

6 exert   

vt.用（力），尽（力），运用，发挥，施加

参考例句：

• He likes to exert his authority.他喜欢行使自己的权力。
• We must exert ourselves to catch up with them,or it would be too late.我们要急起直追，否则就太晚了。

7 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

8 gores   

n.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破( gore的名词复数 )v.（动物）用角撞伤，用牙刺破( gore的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• This bull gores people. 这牛爱顶人。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Prometheus periodically gores the F ring drawing out streamers of material from the ring. 普罗米修斯周期性的F环触的彩带，从材料的戒指。 来自互联网

9 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

10 creation   

n.创造，创造的作品，产物，宇宙，天地万物

参考例句：

• Language is the most important mental creation of man.语言是人类头脑最重要的产物。
• The creation of new playgrounds will benefit the local children.新游戏场的建立将有益于当地的儿童。

11 appropriation   

n.拨款，批准支出

参考例句：

• Our government made an appropriation for the project.我们的政府为那个工程拨出一笔款项。
• The council could note an annual appropriation for this service.议会可以为这项服务表决给他一笔常年经费。

12 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。

13 subjugation   

n.镇压，平息，征服

参考例句：

• The Ultra-Leftist line was a line that would have wrecked a country, ruined the people, and led to the destruction of the Party and national subjugation. 极左路线是一条祸国殃民的路线，亡党亡国的路线。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• This afflicted German intelligence with two fatal flaws: inefficiency, and subjugation to a madman. 这给德国情报工作造成了两个致命的弱点，一个是缺乏效率，另一个是让一个疯子总管情报。 来自辞典例句

14 geographers   

地理学家( geographer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Geographers study the configuration of the mountains. 地理学家研究山脉的地形轮廓。
• Many geographers now call this landmass Eurasia. 许多地理学家现在把这块陆地叫作欧亚大陆。

15 warfare   

n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突

参考例句：

• He addressed the audience on the subject of atomic warfare.他向听众演讲有关原子战争的问题。
• Their struggle consists mainly in peasant guerrilla warfare.他们的斗争主要是农民游击战。

16 longing   

n.（for）渴望

参考例句：

• Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
• His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。