英语听力精选进阶版 7133（在线收听）

Background: 背景：网络巨头 Google 宣布从2010年1月起将会将伊拉克国家博物馆的宝藏的照片放在互联网上供全世界人民免费观赏。Google 首席执行官 Eric Schmidt 先生在参观伊拉克国家博物馆时宣布了此消息。

The Iraqi National Museum was heavily looted in the immediate aftermath of Saddam Hussein's overthrow in 2003. Thousands of priceless items were stolen. About one third of them have been retrieved.

The museum itself has been renovated and reactivated. Three times over the past six years, its reopening has been announced, most recently in February this year. But the security situation has never been stable enough for it to reopen its gates fully to the Iraqi public - only a limited number of its galleries have fully been restored.

Much of the restoration work has been sponsored by the Italian embassy, and the Italian National Research Centre is already running a ‘Virtual Museum of Iraq’ on the internet, showing many of the artefacts of ancient Mesopotamia. But Google, with its vast resources, is now planning to make a wider range of pieces available to a bigger public.

From January, around 14,000 images will be available on Google, charting the course of civilisation in Iraq from the Stone Age through Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian and later times up to the arrival of Islam. It won't be quite the same as visiting the museum and seeing it all for yourself. But for the time being, for most people, that's not possible anyway.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

looted 洗劫 

aftermath 后果 

overthrow 推翻 

priceless 无价的 

retrieved 找回了 

renovated 整修 

reactivated 从新开放 

the security situation 安全形势 

restored 恢复 

sponsored 赞助 

virtual 虚拟的 

artefacts 文物 

Mesopotamia 美索不达米亚 (亦称“两河流域”) 

civilisation 文明 

the Stone Age 石器时代 

for the time being 暂时

Questions and Answers

True or false: Thousands of items were stolen from the museum but they were worthless. 

False. They were priceless, which means the opposite of worthless.

Has the museum completely reopened? 

No, the security situation has never been stable enough for it to reopen its gates fully to the Iraqi public.

True or false: The museum is currently being run by the Italian National Research Centre. 

False. The centre is sponsoring a 'virtual museum': a museum you can experience on the internet.

How many images of the artefacts will Google make available on the internet? 

14,000.