【今日英語】Designs for all time 永恒的設念

　　What is your favourite design? Do you think it will still be stylish in a hundred years' time? This week a group of UK designers havesubmitted their favourite designs to be placed in a time capsule and buried underground - it will not be reopened until the year 2112.

　　The burial of the sealed container celebrates the start of construction at the new home of London's Design Museum.

 

The building will house exhibitions and galleries of contemporary and classic designs from around the world and is due to open to the public in 2015.

　　The museum approached some venerable Britishdesigners and architects to ask them which of their favourite symbols they would like to see placed in the capsule. The European flag was selected by artist Cecil Balmond, while Kenneth Grange offered a cylindrical coffee pot, designed by Arne Jacobsen.

　　As 2012 is London's Olympic year, an Olympic torch was chosen by the director of the museum. British fashion designer Paul Smith opted for a set of limited edition stamps and Thomas Heatherwick - designer of the Olympic cauldron - picked a standard light bulb.

　　When these souvenirs are rediscovered in a century's time, no one really knows if they will still be in use; whether they maintain their status as style icons, or if they will be dismissed as a passing fad.

　　Sir Terence Conran bucked the trend and decided to include a simple tin of anchovies. His idea for including the tinned fish was, he claimed, to demonstrate the ineffective use of expiry dates on tinned food. The container is likely to preserve the contents and it may even still beedible in 2112.

　　So what designs do you think deserve to be remembered in 100 years' time?

　　Quiz 攷試

　　1. Where is a time capsule buried?

　　2. What word is used to describe a container when it is tightly closed?

　　3. What word describes an object that is round or tube-shaped?

　　4. What noun is given to an object that is a reminder of the past?

　　5. What idiom describes an action that is different from the way a situation develops in general?

　　Glossary 辭匯表)

　　· stylish有做風的，時興灑脫的

　　· submitted遞交

　　· time capsule時光艙

　　· sealed密啟

　　· venerable令人尊敬的

　　· designers設念師

　　· architects制作設計師

　　· cylindrical圓柱(筒)形的

　　· limited edition限量版

　　· souvenirs留唸品

　　· icons標記

　　· fad趨背，潮流

　　· bucked the trend反潮流

　　· expiry dates到期日

　　· preserve保存

　　· edible可食用的

　　· remembered記著