美国外交博物馆将于2017年开放

AS IT IS 2015-12-14 Museum of American Diplomacy¹ to Open in 2017 美国外交博物馆将于2017年开放

Consider this: There are more than 400 museums in the U.S. that celebrate the history of the military.

But not a single one devoted² to American diplomacy.

That’s about to change.

A new museum celebrating the history of American diplomacy is being built at the U.S. Department of State. The U.S. Diplomacy Center (USDC) will feature 238 years of American diplomatic history, as well as an education area for students interested in diplomatic careers.

“The USDC project is unprecedented⁴ — the nation’s first education center and interactive⁵ museum dedicated⁶ to inspiring and educating the public about the history, practice and challenges of American diplomacy,” said Kathy A. Johnson, Director of the USDC.

The U.S. Diplomacy Center has collected over 6,200 objects to display in the new, 20,000-square-foot museum. Among them is a portion of the Berlin Wall, after it fell in 1989.  

“Diplomacy is not quite the world’s oldest profession, but it remains⁷ one of the most misunderstood,” wrote William Burns, a veteran American diplomat³.

Burns recently retired⁸ after spending 33 years at the U.S. Department of State. He is president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The work of American diplomats⁹ “has never been more important or more worthwhile,” he wrote in Foreign Policy in October 2014.

However, the American public may not be aware of the contributions of American diplomacy.

Sometimes it is the simple things that can start a diplomatic movement. Among the museum’s collection is a ping-pong paddle given to former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger by Chinese table tennis champion Zhuang Zedong in 2007. Zhuang’s chance meeting with a member of the U.S. table tennis team in 1971 led to “ping-pong diplomacy” with China during the early 1970s, said the USDC.

Kissinger’s diplomacy led to an historic accord between China and the United States. It was the first U.S. contact with China since the Communists had come to power.

The museum will show the achievements of American diplomats from the earliest days of the country. Benjamin Franklin, for example, was America’s first U.S. diplomat who won support for the American Revolution and negotiated peace with Great Britain.  

Although the USDC is still under construction, it has a social media presence. Their Facebook and Twitter posts showcase USDC artifacts, highlight dates in U.S. diplomatic history, and promote their ongoing¹⁰ education programs.

In addition, the USDC website Discover Diplomacy draws about 140,000 unique visitors per month. It “provides snapshots of work that U.S. diplomats conduct on a variety of issues around the world,” according to the USDC.

The new museum will have a special hall devoted to education. Students can engage in mock diplomatic talks. The goal is to inspire young people to pursue careers in diplomacy. There will also be interactive maps and displays to illustrate¹¹ how an embassy functions. 

“We are building partnerships¹² with universities and community colleges around the country that will enable us to develop conferences, programs, and media tools tailored to a student audience,” said Johnson. 

Building started on the museum in 2014. Secretary of State John Kerry, along with five former Secretaries of State, were present for the ceremony. Once all the funding and design plans are completed, the museum is projected to open in 2017, said a spokesman for the project. 

Private sector¹³ donors¹⁵ have provided $47 million to build the museum, according to the Diplomacy Center Foundation. The Foundation is a non-profit organization that is raising the money for the museum from various corporations, individuals and foundations. It still needs to raise an additional $20 million.

Words in This Story

museum – n. a building in which interesting and valuable things (such as paintings and sculptures or scientific or historical objects) are collected and shown to the public

diplomacy – n.  the work of maintaining good relations between the governments of different countries

unprecedented – adj. not done or experienced before

interactive – adj. designed to respond to the actions, commands, etc., of a user

ping pong – noun phrase  table tennis

snapshot – n.  a quick view or a small amount of information that tells you a little about what someone or something is like 

donor¹⁴ – n.  a person or group that gives something (such as money, food, or clothes) in order to help a person or organization

mock – adj. done or performed to look like the real thing.

projected – v. to plan or estimate something for the future

1 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

2 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

3 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

4 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

5 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。

6 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

7 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

8 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

9 diplomats   

n.外交官( diplomat的名词复数 )；有手腕的人，善于交际的人

参考例句：

• These events led to the expulsion of senior diplomats from the country. 这些事件导致一些高级外交官被驱逐出境。
• The court has no jurisdiction over foreign diplomats living in this country. 法院对驻本国的外交官无裁判权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

11 illustrate   

v.举例说明，阐明；图解，加插图

参考例句：

• The company's bank statements illustrate its success.这家公司的银行报表说明了它的成功。
• This diagram will illustrate what I mean.这个图表可说明我的意思。

12 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

13 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

14 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

15 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》