-
(单词翻译:双击或拖选)
Milan is one of Europe’s most polluted cities and that puts Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper at risk. The painting has been on the wall of a dining hall in Milan’s Santa Maria Delle Grazie monastery1 for more than 500 years.
Particulates2 in the air from motor vehicles can accumulate and damage works of art. In response, Italian authorities installed a high-tech3 system of heating, ventilation and air conditioning.
To test its efficacy, researchers installed air monitors throughout the room housing the masterpiece, and outdoors. Over a year, they found that fine particulates were reduced indoors by 88 percent, and coarse particulates by 94 percent, compared to the levels outside. The research was in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.
The scientists say that’s a huge success.
The painting has been threatened before—by Napoleon’s army, by the poor attempts of previous conservators, by bombs during World War II. Even airborne lipids from visitors’ skin can pose a danger, mitigated4 by a strict regulation on the number of viewers.
But if conservation measures are successful, The Last Supper should feed art lovers for centuries to come.
Thanks for the minute. For Scientific American’s 60-Second Science, I’m Cynthia Graber.
点击收听单词发音
1 monastery | |
n.修道院,僧院,寺院 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
2 particulates | |
n.微粒,粒子( particulate的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|
3 high-tech | |
adj.高科技的 | |
参考例句: |
|
|
4 mitigated | |
v.减轻,缓和( mitigate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句: |
|
|