原文内容：

　　Stately Homes

　　It was believed that in the old days the rich were very rich and the poorwere very poor. Is it really different now? Some of the aristocraticfamilies of Britain still have a lot of money, and some still live inmagnificent #stately homes# built by their families hundreds of years ago.

　　Castles with strong walls and towers may be almost a thousand years old, butmost stately homes date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, andmany are filled with wonderful collections of paintings and furniture. Evenfor the richest, life in these old houses is expensive. There are roofs torepair, hundreds of rooms to clean, and miles of parkland to look after. Tomake money, owners of stately homes often make their parks into playgrounds.

　　They set up zoos, safari parks, model railways, and small museums —anything that people will pay to see.

　　Not everyone is lucky enough to keep their old home. Many of the people whoonce owned the castles and palaces of Britain cannot afford to look afterthem now. Luckily, the buildings still stand, full of wonderful antiques andart treasures.

　　A large number of them now belong to the National Trust, a privateorganization which buys historic buildings. The old owners often still livethere, and keep the atmosphere of a beautiful private home, but the housesare open to the public too. In this way everyone can enjoy the greatcultural treasures of the past.

　　aristocratic 贵族的

　　castle 城堡

　　antique 古物，古董

　　豪华宅第

　　人们认为，旧时富人特别富裕，而穷人极其贫困。现在的情形是否不同了呢？英国的一些贵族家庭仍然拥有巨额财富，住在其家族几百年前建造的富丽堂皇的豪宅里。

　　那些有着坚固的城墙和塔楼的城堡或许有上千年的历史，但大多数宅第的历史追溯至十七、十八世纪，且收藏了大量精美的绘画和家具。即使对于最富有的人来说，在这些旧式豪宅中生活，开销也很庞大。屋顶要修缮，成百个房间要清扫，还有数英里的庭院需要打理。为了挣钱，豪宅主人常常把自己的庄园改造成游艺场。他们建造了动物园、野生动物园、模型铁路以及小型博物馆等等——任何人们愿意花钱观看的东西。

　　并不是每个拥有旧式豪宅的人都能幸运地保留住他们的老房子。许多曾经拥有城堡和宅邸的人，现在已无力照管它们。幸运的是，建筑依在，里面满是令人称奇的古董和艺术珍宝。

　　大多数建筑现归属于国民托管组织，这是一个购买历史建筑的私人组织。原来的主人通常还住在房子里，并保持美妙的私人家庭生活氛围，但住宅同时向公众开放。这样人人都可领略伟大的历史文化财富。