Hello, and welcome to Focus on the Arts.

大家好，欢迎收听《艺术聚焦》节目。

I'm your host - Dave Green - and this is your very own local radio programme.

我是节目主持人大卫·格林，这里是当地电台节目。

Every Friday evening we put the spotlight on different arts and culture facilities, and look at the shows and events that are on offer in the coming week.

每周五晚我们将聚焦不同的艺术和文化设施，并预告下一周将要呈现的演出和活动。

And today the focus is on The National Arts Centre.

我们今天的焦点是国家艺术中心。

Now, if you don't already know it yourself, I'm sure you've all heard of it.

这个地方大家就算不了解也至少都听说过。

It's famous throughout the world as one of the major venues for classical music.

这是世界上最著名的古典音乐厅之一。

But did you know that it is actually much more than just a place to hear concerts?

但您知道这不单单是一个听音乐会的地方吗？

The Centre itself is a huge complex that caters for a great range of arts.

这个中心本身是一个巨大的建筑群，里面涉及到多种多样的艺术形态。

Under a single roof it houses concert rooms, theatres, cinemas, art galleries and a wonderful public library, as well as service facilities including three restaurants and a bookshop.

中心里有音乐厅、剧场、电影院、画廊，还有一个很棒的公共图书馆。除此之外还提供其他的服务设施，包括三个餐厅和一个书店。

So at any one time, the choice of entertainment there is simply enormous.

所以说这里随时都有丰富的艺术活动供您选择。

So, how did they manage to build such a big arts complex right in the heart of the city?

那么，他们到底是如何在城市的最中心建造起了这座巨型的艺术建筑群的呢？

Well, the area was completely destroyed by bombs during the war in 1940.

其实，在1940年的战争中，这里因为轰炸而被夷为平地。

So the opportunity was taken to create a cultural centre that would be, what they called: 'the City's gift to the Nation'.

因此当时才有机会在这里建造一个在当时被称为“这座城市向国家的献礼”的文化中心。

Of course it took a while for such a big project to get started, but it was planned in the 60s, built in the 70s and eventually opened to the public in 1983.

当然，这样一个庞大的工程的准备工作也很漫长。它于60年代开始规划，70年代开始建造，最终在1983年正式对外开放。

Ever since then it has proved to be a great success.

从一开始，这座中心就获得了巨大的成功。

It is not privately owned, like many arts centres, but is still in public hands - it's run by the City Council.

与大多数艺术中心不同，它并非私人所有，而是公共财产，由市议会负责运营。

Both our National Symphony Orchestra and National Theatre Company were involved in the planning of the project, and they are now based there - giving regular performances every week - and as the Centre is open 363 days of the year, there are plenty of performances to choose from.

国家交响乐团和国家剧院公司都参与了这个项目的设计，所以他们现在都是常驻单位，每周定期演出。中心每年开放363天，所以有很多演出可以看。