QUESTIONS 问题
1. How and why have World’s Fairs changed between the nineteenth and early twenty-first centuries?
19世纪到21世纪初，世界博览会发生了怎样的变化，为什么会发生变化？
Over the years, nations across the globe have used World’s Fairs to showcase their achievement in different fields including culture, architecture, military and science among other fields. One of the critical elements about World Fairs is the fact that they have witnessed significant transformation since the 19th century to date. To begin with, the World Fairs of the late 19th and early 20th century focused on promoting the image of the participants and their respective nations through showcasing the progress and achievements of such nations in different fields. However, this has since changed and the modern World Fairs are inclined toward showcasing solutions to different problems that societies across the globe face. In this regard, World Fairs are no longer founded on theme of competition for attention and superiority among nations but are rather anchored on the need to solve world problems irrespective of the geographical boundaries in place. Therefore, the change in the theme and purpose of World Fairs over the years has had a great impact on what is presented in these fairs. Furthermore, whereas the early World Fairs were held in either Europe or North America, this has since changed and currently Fairs are held in different parts of the globe.
多年来，世界各地的利用世界博览会来展示他们在不同领域的成就，包括文化、建筑、军事和科学等领域。世界博览会的一个关键因素是，自19世纪至今，它们经历了重大的变革。首先，19世纪末和20世纪初的世界博览会侧重于通过展示参与者及其各自在不同领域的进步和成就来提升其形象。然而，这种情况已经改变，现代世界博览会倾向于展示全球社会面临的不同问题的解决方案。在这方面，世界博览会不再以间争夺注意力和优势为主题，而是以解决世界问题的需要为基础，而不考虑现有的地理边界。因此，多年来世界博览会主题和宗旨的变化对这些博览会的内容产生了重大影响。此外，早期的世界博览会是在欧洲或北美举办的，但此后情况发生了变化，目前博览会在全球不同地区举办。
Similarly, another change that has been witnessed in World Fairs between the 19th and the 21st century is attendance. Arguably, most of the World Fairs that were held in the 19th century and the early 20th century recorded a high number of attendance. In line with this, people came from different parts of the globe just to attend these World Fairs. However this is has since changed. Arguably, the number of people who attend World Fairs has significantly reduced over the years and as such, these events do not record high attendance levels as they did almost 100 years ago. The main factors that have contributed to this decline are the increasing use of technology as a communication medium for the masses. In the past, these events served as a platform upon which people from different parts of the globe would communicate about their advancements in society. However, due to the introduction of mediums such as television and the internet, people no longer need to attend World Fairs to learn about the advances in different fields across the globe.
类似地，在19世纪到21世纪之间的世界博览会上见证的另一个变化是出席率。可以说，19世纪和20世纪初举办的大多数世界博览会都有很高的出席率。与此相一致，来自世界各地的人们只是为了参加这些世界博览会。然而，情况已经改变。可以说，参加世界博览会的人数在过去几年中已经显著减少，因此，这些活动的出席率并不像近100年前那样高。导致这一下降的主要因素是越来越多地使用技术作为大众的通信媒介。在过去，这些活动充当了一个平台，来自世界各地的人们可以在这个平台上交流他们在社会上的进步。然而，由于电视和互联网等媒体的引入，人们不再需要参加世界博览会来了解全球不同领域的进步。