小学生阅读理解：Forbidden City to host more foreign exhibitions

中国最著名也是最受欢迎的旅游景点之一故宫,曾一度禁止普通游客和外国游人入内,现在打算举行一系列新的国际展览。

(Words: about 300; Time: 4 minutes)

Li Ji, deputy curator (副馆长) of the Forbidden City in Beijing, also known in China as the Palace Museum, said here that the museum will host a series of foreign exhibitions over the next few years, as part of an effort to reinforce cooperation with international museums.

The British Museums touring exhibition Britain meets the world will take place in 2007, and artifacts featuring Napoleon from the Louvre Museum and the masterpieces from the Russian State Hermitage Museum will be shown in 2008, the year of the Beijing Olympics.

All valuable exhibitions are welcome, but we will focus mainly on palace exhibitions from other countries. There is nowhere more suitable than here for that kind of exhibition, Li said at the Sino-US Museum Forum.

As the former imperial palace for the Ming and Qing feudal (封建的) dynasties, the Palace Museum has previously hosted exhibitions such as Louis XIV: the Sun King-Treasures from the Chateau de Versailles and Chinese ceramics (陶器) from Swedish collections in 2005, and Treasures from the Kremlin in September this year.

Hosting foreign exhibitions gives us an opportunity to promote intercultural exchange with other countries, as well as a chance to learn from our foreign counterparts, and establish a better image in the world, said Duan Yong, foreign affairs director with the museum.

According to Li Ji, hosting foreign exhibitions is only one aspect of promoting intercultural exchange.

We have established partnerships with the Louvre Museum, the British Museum and the State Hermitage Museum, and are organizing exchange visits by curators, academic seminars, and cooperation in artifact conservation, Li said.

The Forbidden City, which became a museum in 1925, houses a collection of over 1.5 million artifacts, mainly from the ancient imperial court.

Help:

reinforce v. to make something stronger 加强

True (T) or False (F):

1. Artifacts from the Louvre Museum will be shown in 2007.

2. The Palace Museum has successfully hosted at least three foreign exhibitions.

(Key: 1-2 FT)