夏说英语新闻晨读 第366期:褪色的梵高向日葵

 本期内容：

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is reviewing how it displays the artist's Sunflowers painting after a pioneering new technique revealed the painting's petals² and stems were withering⁴ to an olive-brown colour as a result of his use of a light-sensitive yellow paint.
A laborious⁵ x-ray scan of the painting's canvas has discovered that Vincent van Gogh used two different types of a chrome yellow paint, one of which is more liable to degrade under light.

review: vt. 评估；评论（business review）
display: vt. 展示
pioneering: adj. 尖端的（pioneering spirit）
technique: n. 技术；手段
petal¹: n. 花瓣
stem: n.（花）茎（stem cell）
wither³: vi. 枯萎；衰老
sensitive: adj. 敏感的
paint: n. 颜料
laborious: adj. 耗时费力的；艰难的
chrome yellow: 铬黄色；亮黄色
be liable to: 很可能会发生的；可能性很大的

1 petal   

n.花瓣

参考例句：

• Each white petal had a stripe of red.每一片白色的花瓣上都有一条红色的条纹。
• A petal fluttered to the ground.一片花瓣飘落到地上。

2 petals   

n.花瓣( petal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• white petals tinged with blue 略带蓝色的白花瓣
• The petals of many flowers expand in the sunshine. 许多花瓣在阳光下开放。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 wither   

vt.使凋谢，使衰退，(用眼神气势等)使畏缩；vi.枯萎，衰退，消亡

参考例句：

• She grows as a flower does-she will wither without sun.她象鲜花一样成长--没有太阳就会凋谢。
• In autumn the leaves wither and fall off the trees.秋天，树叶枯萎并从树上落下来。

4 withering   

使人畏缩的，使人害羞的，使人难堪的

参考例句：

• She gave him a withering look. 她极其蔑视地看了他一眼。
• The grass is gradually dried-up and withering and pallen leaves. 草渐渐干枯、枯萎并落叶。

5 laborious   

adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅

参考例句：

• They had the laborious task of cutting down the huge tree.他们接受了伐大树的艰苦工作。
• Ants and bees are laborious insects.蚂蚁与蜜蜂是勤劳的昆虫。