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VOA慢速英语2010年-EXPLORATIONS - Celebrating Art's Past

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STEVE EMBER: I’m Steve Ember.

BARBARA KLEIN: And I’m Barbara Klein with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English. Today we travel to Paris, France, to visit one of the most famous and most visited art collections in the world. From the twelfth to the eighteenth century, the Louvre was the home of the ruling families of France. In seventeen ninety-three the Louvre became a national museum to house the country’s treasures. The thirty-five thousand works of art in the museum represent thousands of years of human culture and come from all over the world.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: One of the most striking1 ways to begin a visit to the Louvre Museum is to start in its central courtyard. This is an area where past and present building traditions meet. On three sides, you are surrounded by the museum’s carved stone walls.

In the center of the courtyard, there is a huge glass and steel pyramid surrounded by water fountains and smaller pyramids. This modern addition was designed by the Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei. You can enter the glass building and walk downstairs to an underground visitors center.

(SOUND)

The main courtyard of the Louvre Museum

BARBARA KLEIN: The next decision is which area of the huge museum to explore first. It would take days to fully2 explore the museum. So we will have to settle for a few favorite works. We will explore works from the three parts of the Louvre -- the Denon, Richelieu, and Sully wings.

First, we stop to see one of the most famous sculptures in the world. It is called the Winged Victory of Samothrace. This sculpture takes the form of a woman with wings. But this is not just any woman. This is the Greek goddess of victory. She is standing4 on the front of a ship facing the strong island winds. The artist carved her flowing clothing with such detail it is hard to believe she is made of stone. Experts believe this statue was made by the people of Rhodes about two thousand two hundred years ago as a religious offering to honor a naval5 victory.

Visitors admiring the Venus de Milo

STEVE EMBER: Nearby, there is another famous Greek statue of a woman. The Venus de Milo was made about a hundred years after Winged Victory. This marble statue is widely believed to be the goddess of love and beauty. The work was named after the island of Melos where the statue was discovered in eighteen twenty.

This Venus wears nothing but a cloth draped over her curving waist and legs. She is easy to identify because she is missing both arms. The statue is somewhat mysterious. Experts still do not know what identifying objects those arms might have once held.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: Visitors to the Louvre can watch the evolution of Renaissance6 art by looking at several hundreds of years of Italian paintings. The Italian artist Giotto painted “St. Francis of Assisi Receiving the Stigmata” in thirteen hundred.

Giotto painted St. Francis in a way that shows his very human emotions as he goes through an intense religious experience. Giotto explored how to represent three dimensional space using light and shade. His methods influenced later generations of artists.

STEVE EMBER: The artist Fra Angelico painted “The Coronation of the Virgin” about one hundred and thirty years later. It was made for the central area of a religious center. The painting shows Jesus crowning his mother, Mary. To help express the wonder of this moment, Fra Angelico filled the work with light and gold.

Other paintings show important political leaders and events. For example, Paolo Uccello’s fifteenth century work, “The Battle of San Romano,” shows the intensity7 of war.

Visitors looking at the "Mona Lisa"

BARBARA KLEIN: It is hard to miss the crowds of people always gathering8 in one room on this floor. They have come to see what is arguably the most famous painting in the world. It is Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.” Created around fifteen oh three, this is a painting of an Italian woman named Lisa Gherardini. She was the wife of a businessman from Florence named Francesco del Giocondo. It is from him that the painting takes its other name, “La Gioconda.”

The woman is sitting in a chair, looking directly at the painter. Behind her is a dreamy landscape. Experts still do not know much about this woman and her famous smile. They do not know why da Vinci painted it, or how it ended up in the collection of French ruler Francis the First. But the painting’s realism and mystery have captured the attention of viewers for centuries.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: For a lesson in French history, we turn to the seventeenth century Flemish painter, Peter Paul Rubens. The queen of France, Marie de Medici, hired him to create a series of twenty-four paintings. These huge and colorful paintings make a political statement about her rise to power.

“The Lacemaker” by Johannes Vermeer provides a more peaceful and personal example of Dutch art. Painted around sixteen sixty-nine, this small work shows a woman quietly at work making lace9. The artist’s method of capturing the effects of light is masterful.

BARBARA KLEIN: We cannot visit a French museum without exploring examples of French art. First, we catch someone lying. Georges de la Tour painted the emotionally expressive10 “The Cheat with the Ace3 of Diamonds” in sixteen thirty-five. It shows four people playing cards, and one person is not playing fairly.

We move on to several paintings from the nineteenth century period known as Romanticism. “Liberty Leading the People” is an important work by Eugene Delacroix.

The Louvre's "Grande Galerie"

This huge painting shows the artist’s representation11 of a political uprising in Paris in eighteen thirty. Liberty takes the form of a strong woman holding the French flag. She is guiding the French people to fight. There are dead bodies, smoke, and the buildings of Paris in the distance.

STEVE EMBER: “The Raft of the Medusa,” painted in eighteen nineteen, is an emotional work by Theodore Gericault. The subject is based on real events. The painting shows a group of sailors struggling to survive on a floating raft after the sinking of their ship, the Medusa.

They are wildly motioning to a ship in the distance. But they seem to know that death will soon mark their future. This work was disputed at the time. Many people believed art should only show beautiful subjects. But others praised the work for its political message and modernity.

BARBARA KLEIN: Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres’ painting “La Grande Odalisque” shows a beautiful woman wearing no clothes. She has turned her long curving back to the viewer. She looks over her shoulder in a sensual way.

(MUSIC)

STEVE EMBER: We continue our visit to the Louvre with the huge collection of art from ancient Egypt, Persia and the Middle East.

“The Great Sphinx of Tanis” from ancient Egypt dates back over four thousand six hundred years. This stone statue has the body of a lion and the head of an Egyptian ruler. It expresses a sense of permanence and solidity.

Another famous ancient piece is the “Law Code of Hammurabi, King of Babylon.” It is almost four thousand years old. This piece of basalt rock has been cut with words in the Akkadian language. It is one of the oldest collections of laws in human history.

BARBARA KLEIN: Two four-meter-tall sculptures stand guard on either side of a door. They are winged bulls12 with human heads. The sculptures are over two thousand years old. They came from a home built by the Assyrian ruler Sargon the Second in modern day Iraq.

The Louvre’s rich collection of Islamic art will soon have a new home. Prince Alwaleed bin13 Talal of Saudi Arabia donated twenty million dollars to build a new exhibit area within the Louvre. It is expected to open in two thousand twelve.

STEVE EMBER: For the most part, the Louvre museum’s collection does not extend past works made in the mid-nineteenth century. But the Louvre recently made a special exception.

Cy Twombly's new painting is one of the oldest areas of the Louvre Museum

The American artist Cy Twombly is one of only three modern artists who have been asked to make a permanent piece of art for the Louvre. His work covers over three hundred fifty square meters of ceiling in a room that contains treasures from ancient Greece. The painting is like a bright blue sky with floating circular shapes on its edges.

Mr. Twombly wrote the name of ancient Greek artists in Greek letters. His aim was to honor the skillful work of ancient Greek sculptors14. His painting and the Louvre Museum show the importance of celebrating art’s past and its present.

(MUSIC)

BARBARA KLEIN: This program was written and produced by Dana Demange. I’m Barbara Klein.

STEVE EMBER: And I’m Steve Ember. You can see pictures of some of these works of art at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com. Join us again next week for EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English.

 


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 striking PhbzAL     
adj.显著的,惹人注目的,容貌出众的
参考例句:
  • There is a striking difference between Jane and Mary.简和玛丽之间有显著的差异。
  • What is immediately striking is how resourceful the children are.最令人注目的是孩子们的机智聪明。
2 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
3 ace IzHzsp     
n.A牌;发球得分;佼佼者;adj.杰出的
参考例句:
  • A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
  • He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。
4 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
5 naval h1lyU     
adj.海军的,军舰的,船的
参考例句:
  • He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
  • The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。
6 renaissance PBdzl     
n.复活,复兴,文艺复兴
参考例句:
  • The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
  • The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。
7 intensity 45Ixd     
n.强烈,剧烈;强度;烈度
参考例句:
  • I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
  • The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。
8 gathering ChmxZ     
n.集会,聚会,聚集
参考例句:
  • He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
  • He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。
9 lace 1xvyE     
n.饰带,花边,缎带;v.结带子,饰以花边
参考例句:
  • She let a piece of lace into her dress.她在衣服上镶了一块花边。
  • The bride is wearing a wedding dress made of lace.新娘穿一件蕾丝婚纱。
10 expressive shwz4     
adj.表现的,表达…的,富于表情的
参考例句:
  • Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
  • He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的,富于表情的,生动活泼的脸。
11 representation uVFxV     
n.表现某人(或某事物)的东西,图画,雕塑
参考例句:
  • The painting is a representation of a storm at sea.这幅画描绘的是海上的暴风雨。
  • All parties won representation in the national assembly.所有政党在国民大会中都赢得了代表资格。
12 bulls 79c318bf85ee49ec7d43630eea149bfb     
n.公牛( bull的名词复数 );法令;力大如牛的人;(象、鲸等动物的)雄兽
参考例句:
  • Riding bulls is always an exciting event at a rodeo. 骑公牛总是放牧人竞技会上激动人心的表演。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Two white bulls were sacrificed and a feast was held. 献祭了两头白牛,并举行了盛宴。 来自辞典例句
13 bin yR2yz     
n.箱柜;vt.放入箱内;[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件
参考例句:
  • He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
  • He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。
14 sculptors 55fe6a2a17f97fa90175d8545e7fd3e2     
雕刻家,雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 ); [天]玉夫座
参考例句:
  • He is one of Britain's best-known sculptors. 他是英国最有名的雕塑家之一。
  • Painters and sculptors are indexed separately. 画家和雕刻家被分开,分别做了索引。

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