The Library of Congress was built in 1800 by president John Adams for the members of Congress with a wish that they could be able to read books about laws.
国会图书馆是约翰·亚当斯总统在1800年为国会议员们建立的,他想让议员们阅读到有关法律方面的书籍。
The first 740 books were bought from England and were simply set up in the room where Congress met.
首批740本藏书是从英国购进的,它们被随便放置在国会开会的地方。
Later, Thomas Jefferson sold congress many of his own books. He insisted that Congress should have books on all subjects, not just on laws. This idea changed the library for good.
后来,汤姆·杰斐逊把自己许多藏书卖给了国会,他认为国会应有各类书籍,不应该仅收藏一点法学书籍,这种观点给国会带来了永久性的变化。
The library grew large and large as time went by and now it covers acres of land.
国会图书馆变得越来越大,现在它已占地数英亩。
It contains 20 million books as well as scores of pictures, movies, globes and machines.
收藏了两千多万册数。除此之外,还收藏了很多图片、影片、地球仪和机器。
Hundreds of people call every day with all kinds of questions and many of them get satisfactory answers over the phone.
每天有好几百人打电话查询各种各样的问题,他们中有许多从电话中得到了满意的答案。
This library is a huge storehouse where Thomas Adison’s fist movie and Houdini’s magic bools are stored.
这座图书馆是一个巨大的收藏室。托马斯·爱迪生发明的第一部电影和霍迪尼的魔法书都收藏在这里。
And it is the proud owner of the world’s largest collection of comic books.
值得骄傲的是:它还是世界上拥有最多漫画书的图书馆。