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The Museum of Modern Art is a temple of useful design. It has sponsored chair-making competitions, turned a vacant lot into a showcase of prefabricated housing and exhibited paper clips as if they were Rothkos. Its retail arm, the MoMA Store, is filled with beautiful but sensible objects. 现代艺术博物馆（Museum of Modern Art，简称MoMA）是实用设计的殿堂。它赞助过椅子制作比赛，将一块空地变成活动板房的陈列场，还展出过回形针，仿佛它们是罗斯科（Rothko，抽象表现主义艺术家——译注）的作品似的。在其零售部门MoMA艺术品商店(MoMA Store)里，摆满了美观而实用的物件。 So I was surprised to find the Helicone among the store’s spring introductions. 所以，当我发现MoMA艺术品店推出的一款春季新品竟然是螺旋松果(Helicone)时，我很惊讶。 The Helicone is made of paddle-shaped wood pieces arrayed around a metal rod. Depending on which way you spin it, the pieces rearrange themselves into two shapes: a helix and something like a pine cone. 螺旋松果是由桨形木片围绕着金属棒排列而成。根据不同的旋转方式，木片会排列成两种不同的形状：要么变为螺旋，要么形似松果。 This is to say that the Helicone is delightful to look at and manipulate, but has no obvious purpose. 也就是说，螺旋松果虽然赏心悦目，把玩起来乐趣十足，但是却没有明显的用途。 | 
