Museums
Are there any museums in your hometown? What's the last time you visited a museum? Did you visit museums when you were a child?
Vocabulary
  • Buff (noun) - a person who knows a lot about and is very interested in a particular subject.
  • Jute (noun) - substance that comes from a Southeast Asian plant, used for making rope and cloth.
  • Mill (noun) - a factory where a particular substance is produced.
  • Showcase (verb) - to show the best qualities or parts of something.
  • Poignant (adj.) - causing or having a very sharp feeling of sadness.
  • Plaque (noun) - a flat piece of metal, stone, wood, or plastic with writing on it that is attached to a wall, door, or other object.
  • Verdant (adj.) - covered with healthy green plants or grass.
  • Excursion (noun) - a short journey usually made for pleasure, often by a group of people.
  • Storehouse (noun) - a large building for storing things, often before they are sold, used, or sent out to shops.
  • Treasure (noun) - anything of great value.
  • Treasure trove - a place that is full of something good.
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Questions and answers
M: Do you like to visit museums?

R: Um, actually not overly so. I just suppose it might be a fun idea for a date, but I wouldn't go there as part of a hobby or something like that. I think they're a bit boring and dull, to be honest with you. It's not exactly something that I would enjoy doing just by myself.

M: How often do you go to museums?

R: Like I said, um, not really very often. I'm not the biggest history buff these days, although I used to be. So I think I went to the last museum was probably in Volgograd or something like that. But I usually prefer books these days. Like I said, I'm not a big fan of museums at all, to be honest with you.

M: Are there any museums in your hometown?

R: Actually, yes, there's loads. There's this old jute mill called the Verdant Works, which showcases how, well, fabric was produced back in the Victorian era. And then on the subject of the Victorian era, there's the, I think it's the RMS Discovery, which is an Antarctic exploration ship, which was captained by, well, Captain Scott. It was recovered from Antarctica after they got stranded there. So it's a museum now and there's loads more besides that. But that's not such a surprise because it's the fourth largest city, so a concentration of museums is to be expected.

M: When is the last time you visited a museum?

R: Well, I said it was Volgograd there, but actually, I just realised that after that, I went to the state historical museum with my friend Lena in... Well, the state historical museum is in Russia. And I think it was about two years ago now, actually. It was, it was a very poignant experience. On the inside there are loads and loads of pictures and portraits of monarchs long since passed. For example the members of the royal family and the, well, the aristocracy in general, really. And the ones that were of the last royal family in Russia were quite, they had quite an emotional impact because, of course, you understand what happened to them. But on the flip side, it was also kind of entertaining because there were translations from Russian to English on the plaques next to them. And that was quite funny because of all the mistranslations that had happened. And to be honest with you, it was really, they were really silly mistranslations. Like if I had been asked to do the translations, I wouldn't have made those mistakes.

M: Did you visit museums when you were a child?

R: We used to go to the Natural History Museum quite often. And in Scotland, when you're younger, I think it's the same everywhere, to be honest. You have school trips to different museums. So I talked about the verdant works before when I was talking about the museums in our hometown. There was lots of excursions there, I suppose so, yeah. It was definitely a much more common experience when I was younger. Now it's not so much because I have less time and different things to do at that time.

M: Do you think museums are important?
R: Well, for me personally as an individual, no. But they're important storehouses for artefacts and good places to display various exhibits, and they hold a lot of our nation's sort of cultural treasures as well. So while they are important to me, now that I'm a grown up with a job and different interests. They are like key treasure troves to whatever nation they belong to as a whole, particularly if you talk about children. That's why they exist to impart this knowledge to the kids.
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