英语四级听力练习大全

Over the past 40 years, Cambodia's cultural treasures

have been under attack. Many artifacts have disappeared from

ancient religious centers and other historic sites across

Cambodia. A large number of the objects were secretly removed

from the country and sent to art museums and private

collections around the world.

New research shows that much of this activity was the

work of organized crime. It also suggests that most pieces

have disappeared from public view, probably forever.

Cambodia's 1,000-year-old temples and other historic

areas first came under attack in 1970, at the start of the

Cambodian civil war. The looting and raids continued until

the fighting stopped about 30 years later. One incident in

the early 1970s involved government soldiers. They used a

military helicopter to airlift ancient artifacts from a 12th

Century fort in the northwest.

The 10th-century Cambodian sandstone statues from the

Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is blessed by

Cambodian Buddhist monks in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, June 11,

2020. At the same ruins in 1998, generals tore down and

removed 30 tons of the structure. Six military trucks loaded

with artifacts were sent toward the border with Thailand.

Only one of the six trucks was stopped and its objects

returned. The rest disappeared.

For years, researchers believed that such well-organized

attacks were rare, and that most of the raids involved local people. But a new study shows just the opposite. The

University of Glasgow in Scotland organized the study.

Tess Davis is a lawyer and an archeologist – someone who

studies past human life and activities. She was a member of

the study team.

Cambodia Stone Statues "The organized looting and

trafficking of Cambodian antiquities was tied very loosely to

the Cambodian civil war and to organized crime in the country.

It began with the war but it long outlived it, and was

actually a very complicated operation, a very organized

operation, that brought antiquities directly from looted

sites here in the country to the very top collectors, museums

and auction houses in the world."

Tess Davis says the Cambodian and Thai militaries were

often in involved in the attacks, as was organized crime. And

she says local people were often forced to work as laborers.

Researchers say a dealer in Bangkok provided the link

between the criminals and the collectors and museums.

The University of Glasgow study is part of an

international effort designed to improve understanding of how

the market for stolen artifacts operates. It is the first to

show how works of art travel the full distance from ancient

sites to the hands of art collectors.

The destruction of Cambodia's cultural treasures is sad,

but there are some victories. Last month, Cambodia welcomed

back three 1,000-year-old statues. The three were taken in

the 1970s from a temple area. Last year, New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art returned two other statues in that

group.

All five objects were taken to the National Museum of

Cambodia in Phnom Penh. Specialists are preparing them for

public display later this year.

The head of the National Museum of Cambodia says

Cambodian officials are taking steps to protect culturally

important artifacts. That includes documenting all objects

kept in museums and those at unprotected areas.

Many of these artifacts are worth a lot of money. They

are often targets in war. This is what has happened in recent

years in places such as Iraq, Egypt, and Syria.

The money earned from artifact sales often is used to buy

arms. Tess Davis says that fact alone should wake up the

world to the biggest picture： that the looting and sale of

antiquities is often the work of organized crime and armed

groups.

"And that link should be a red flag for the world today

because we are seeing the same thing repeated today in Egypt

and Syria and Iraq, and with very serious consequences – not

just for those countries but also again for the world economy

and for global security. The money that collectors in New

York are spending on antiquities from around the world is

going into the pockets of some very bad people. And I think

the art world needs to step up and recognize their role in

what's happening in these countries."

In Cambodia, the worst of the looting has now stopped –

in part, because there is little left to take. But the coming