Gone are the days of jet-setting[乘喷气式飞机旅游] to galleries in Manhattan, Florence, London, or Madrid. Nowadays, all you need to become a museum maven[行家] is an Internet connection. Google Art Project, the brainchild[脑力成果] of a small group of art-happy Google employees, brings the Street View technology of Google Earth and Google Maps inside 17 museums around the world.
有钱人乘坐喷气式飞机前往曼哈顿、佛罗伦萨、伦敦或马德里等地参观美术馆的日子一去不复返了。如今，要成为“博物馆通”的唯一条件就是网络连接。“谷歌艺术计划”是一小撮热爱艺术的谷歌员工想出来的好点子，他们带着“谷歌地球”和“谷歌地图”的街景技术走进了全球17家博物馆。
The Google Art Project collection consists of 1,000 works of art by more than 400 artists, and this is only the beginning. Google hopes to add more museums and works of art to its virtual[虚拟的] tour soon.“谷歌艺术计划”搜罗了400多位艺术家的上千件作品，而且这只是一个开端。谷歌希望这趟虚拟艺术之旅以后可以覆盖更多博物馆，收集更多艺术珍品。
As I explored the project, I couldn't help but recall my first college art history class, in which we covered centuries of art in just over three months. Do I remember specifics about any single work of art? Of course not. The only other memory was my professor's words about every famous work of art: “You couldn't possibly understand until you see it firsthand[第一手，直接].”
浏览“艺术计划”的时候，我不由想起自己在大学时念的第一门艺术史课程。当时我们仅仅花了三个多月就看完了数百年的艺术品。我还记得随便一件作品的细节吗？当然不行。我只记得教授讲到每一件作品时必定这样说：“你得看见实物才能体会到它的魅力所在。”
Providing access to artwork is what the project aims to do. Amit Sood, Google Art Project's director, said that his team wants to “help museums make their art more accessible—not just to regular museum-goers or those fortunate to have galleries on their doorsteps, but a whole new set of people who might otherwise never get to see the real thing up close.”
“艺术计划”旨在为大众提供通往艺术殿堂的捷径。项目总监阿米特·索德说，他的团队想“帮助博物馆将艺术普及开来——不仅仅局限于博物馆常客，或是那些‘画廊就在家门口'的幸运儿；而是向一个全新的人群开放，（因为）后者一直没有机会与真品进行如此近距离的接触。”
Now I can stroll[漫步] through the aisles[过道] of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and study the renowned[著名的] use of light and shadow in Rembrandt's Night Watch on my lunch break. The team behind Street View enables these 360-degree virtual tours of museum interiors[内部], and each museum features one work of art in super high-resolution[分辨率] by using gigapixel[十亿像素] photo-capturing technology.如今，我可以在阿姆斯特丹国立博物馆的长廊里漫步，午休时尽情研究伦勃朗在《夜巡》中有名的光影运用法。街景技术团队让用户可以在博物馆内进行360°的虚拟参观，每家博物馆还提供了一件名作让他们用十亿像素的图像捕捉技术拍成超高分辨率的照片。
I must admit that even with the super high-resolution and zooming[放大] capabilities in the virtual version of Van Gogh's Bedroom in Arles, it did not evoke[引发] the same emotions I felt as a student standing in front of the painting for the first time. However, zooming in on my computer in my own home definitely beat the museum security guard dragging me away from the painting for grazing the canvas[画布] with the tip of my nose. Until I book my next trip to Europe, the Google Art Project remains a better alternative[二者选一] to Flickr images and dusty library books of the world's masterpieces.
我得承认，尽管梵高的《卧室》虚拟版拥有超高分辨率以及放大功能，但它带来的感受与我读书时第一次站在这幅名画前的震撼根本不可同日而语。不过，在自己家里随意放大图片绝对比在博物馆里贴着画布看画惬意得多，至少没有保安将你一把拽开。所以在我的下一趟欧洲之旅成行之前，“谷歌艺术计划”依然是比图片网站Flickr上的世界名画以及图书馆里布满灰尘的艺术书籍更靠谱的选择。Just see for yourself.
亲眼去见识一下吧。