VOA常速英语2014--Israeli Organization Searches for Art Looted by Nazis 以色列组织寻找纳粹掠夺艺术品

 

Israeli Organization Searches for Art Looted by Nazis¹ 以色列组织寻找纳粹掠夺艺术品

International efforts are intensifying² to recover and identify items stolen by the Nazis during World War II, including paintings, ceramics³, books and religious treasures.  In Israel, a committee is pressing local museums to search their collections for artwork looted by the Nazis.

国际间正在加强努力，寻找和指认二战期间遭纳粹窃取的艺术品，包括绘画、瓷器、书籍和宗教宝物。在以色列，一个委员会正在要求当地博物馆，从他们的馆藏中寻找被纳粹抢劫的物品。

Israeli authorities believe more than 1,000 pieces of artwork stolen by the Nazis were sent to Israel for safekeeping after World War II.

以色列当局表示，有超过1千件纳粹偷窃的艺术品，在二战之后被送到以色列保存。

An Israeli state-run committee has been assigned to track down unclaimed assets in Israel of Jews killed during the Holocaust⁴.

一个以色列国家委员会被指定追踪在以色列的无人认领资产，这些资产属于那些在大屠杀期间被杀害的犹太人。

On Thursday, the committee convened⁵ officials from Israel's major museums for a talk on the search effort.

这个委员会1月9号召开会议，将以色列主要博物馆的主管人员聚集在一起，讨论有关搜寻失窃艺术品的努力。

Israel Peleg is leading the committee.

"We know that after the war at least 400 pieces of art paintings reached the shores of Israel and the museum in Israel.  The Israel museum has already publicized it, and we believe that the research, the provenance⁶ research, should be done now by all the museums in Israel, which they are cooperating very carefully with us," said Peleg.

委员会主席以伊斯拉尔·佩雷格说： “我们知道战后至少有400幅绘画抵达以色列海岸及以色列博物馆。以色列博物馆已经公开过这件事，我们认为对这些艺术品出处的研究，现在应该由所有以色列博物馆来进行，他们也的确在审慎地与我们合作。“

Peleg voiced hope the unclaimed artwork would find its way to descendants of its owners.

佩雷格也对这些艺术品最终能物归原主、还给他们的后代子孙抱持希望。

"The idea of starting now this effort is a breakthrough in the effort to return to the rightful heirs of the Holocaust victims the pieces of art which belong to their families," he said.

佩雷格说：“现在来开始做这件事，是一个寻求把这些艺术品物归原主的工作的一种突破，它们应该被还给大屠杀受害者的合法继承人，这些物品属于他们的家人。

Wesley Fisher is with the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which negotiates for restitution⁷ of Jewish-owned property.

犹太人向德国索赔协会的研究员卫斯理·费雪，对以色列的努力表示欢迎。索赔协会的工作，是谈判归还属于犹太人的财务。

He welcomed the Israeli effort.

"As we do our work in the claims conference and in the world Jewish restitution organization, in particular, we very often find that in regard to art works, Judaica, libraries and manuscripts, we cannot reach closure on what went where and find everything without knowing what went to Israel," said Fisher.

The country's largest museum, the Israel Museum, has had success in returning Nazi-looted art to its owners.

The museum houses 1,200 pieces of art stolen during World War II and shipped to Israel when its owners could not be found.  Ten of the pieces have since been handed over to their rightful families.

James Snyder is the museum's director.

"The Israel Museum, because we're in Israel, we feel that we need to be exemplary in the subject of restitution of art lost in World War II," said Snyder.

The issue of Holocaust victims' unclaimed assets in Israel made headlines three years ago.  At the time, one of Israel's major banks agreed to pay $37 million to survivors⁸ and heirs for funds deposited before World War II by Jews who later died in the conflict.

1 Nazis   

n.（德国的）纳粹党员( Nazi的名词复数 )；纳粹主义

参考例句：

• The Nazis worked them over with gun butts. 纳粹分子用枪托毒打他们。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Nazis were responsible for the mass murder of Jews during World War Ⅱ. 纳粹必须为第二次世界大战中对犹太人的大屠杀负责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 intensifying   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的现在分词 )；增辉

参考例句：

• The allies are intensifying their air campaign. 联军部队正加大他们的空战强度。 来自辞典例句
• The rest of the European powers were in a state of intensifying congestion. 其余的欧洲强国则处于越来越拥挤的状态。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史

3 ceramics   

n.制陶业；陶器

参考例句：

• an exhibition of ceramics by Picasso 毕加索陶瓷作品展
• The ceramics bore the imprint of Luca della Robbia. 陶器上印有卢卡·德拉·罗比亚的字样。

4 holocaust   

n.大破坏；大屠杀

参考例句：

• The Auschwitz concentration camp always remind the world of the holocaust.奥辛威茨集中营总是让世人想起大屠杀。
• Ahmadinejad is denying the holocaust because he's as brutal as Hitler was.内贾德否认大屠杀，因为他像希特勒一样残忍。

5 convened   

召开( convene的过去式 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The chairman convened the committee to put the issue to a vote. 主席召集委员们开会对这个问题进行表决。
• The governor convened his troops to put down the revolt. 总督召集他的部队去镇压叛乱。

6 provenance   

n.出处；起源

参考例句：

• Kato was fully aware of the provenance of these treasures.加藤完全清楚这些珍宝的来源。
• This plant's provenance is Asiadj.这种植物原产于亚洲。

7 restitution   

n.赔偿；恢复原状

参考例句：

• It's only fair that those who do the damage should make restitution.损坏东西的人应负责赔偿，这是再公平不过的了。
• The victims are demanding full restitution.受害人要求全额赔偿。

8 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者