外研版英语选修八module2课文原文文档

选修八

【MODULE 2】The Renaissance

【READING AND VOCABULARY】

The Renaissance

For many people, the Renaissance means 14th to 16th century Italy, and the developments in art and architecture, music and literature, music and literature which took place there at that time. But there is one work which, perhaps more than any other, expresses the spirit of the Renaissance: the Mona Lisa. It is believed to be the best example of a new lifelike style of painting that amazed people when it was first used. Painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the years 1503-1506, the Mona Lisa is a mysterious masterpiece. People want to know who Mona Lisa is, and why she is smiling. Even if people do not know much about the Renaissance, they have heard of this painting.

But the Renaissance is, of course, more than just Mona Lisa. Renaissance is a French word which means "rebirth" and it first appeared in English in the 19th century. The word was used to describe a period in European history which began with the arrival of the first Europeans in America, an age of exploration, and the beginning of the modern world. It was as if Europe was waking up after the long sleep of the Middle Ages. From Italy, the ideas of the Renaissance rapidly spread northwards to French. Germany, England, and the rest of Europe.

Trade with other parts of the world meant that Europe was getting richer, too. This meant that people had money to spend on the arts; and it became easier for artists to find people who could afford to buy their works or employ them. Leonardo worked for important people such as the Duck of Milan, and ,towards the end of his life, the King of France.

Renaissance artists found new ideas for their work in classical Greek and Rome. But they looked forward, too, by opening new frontiers in the arts. Painters discovered how to use perspective and the effects of light; composers put different voices together and created polyphony(“many voices”); architects preferred designing buildings with more light which contrasted with the heaviness of the Gothic cathedrals of the Middle Ages.

The sense of exploration which motivated the artists went hand in hand with a new type of philosophy. After centuries of accepting a medieval world view in which human life was considered of little value compared with the greatness of God, philosophers began asking questions like "What is a person?" or "Why am I here?" For the first time, they put people, not religion, at the centre of the universe.

The Renaissance was a time of scientific invention, too. Leonardo, as well as being one of the greatest painters the world has ever know, was also a skilled inventor. Wherever he went, he carried a notebook around with him, in which he wrote down his ideas. They included detailed drawings of the human body, plans for engineers to build canals and bridges, and astonishing drawings of machines which were not to be built until hundreds of years later, such as aeroplanes, parachutes, submarines and tanks. Towards the end of his life he was employed by the King of France to do scientific research, and he did not have a lot of time for painting.

In short, Leonardo was an extraordinary genius, an example of what has been described as "Renaissance man": someone interested in everything and with many different talents.But even if his only contribution to history had been the Mona Lisa,it would have been genius enough for all time.

【READING AND WRITING】

Thursday

We arrived on the overnight ferry to the Hook of Holland and took a train to Amsterdam Central Station. It was only a short ride . It`s not easy to find your way around the town. A lot of the roads follow the canals, which aren`t straight but are shaped like horseshoes. So you can walk along a street for half an hour or so and end up five minutes from where you started. However, most people don`t walk——there are three million bikes in town and a good bus and tram system. There are for tourists, the others are houseboats with people living on them. We spent the whole day walking. Tomorrow we`re going to rent bikes.

Friday

We spent today looking at houses. The architecture is astonishing, quite different from other European countries we`ve been to. The houses are tall and thin, and many of them have a fantastically ornate Renaissance appearance. In the Middle Ages the houses were made of wood. Then, at the

end of the 15th century there was a huge fire and about three quarters of the town was destroyed. After that, houses were made of brick. Unlike other places in Europe, where house owners were taxed on the size of their windows, here the taxes depended on the width of the house——so they kept them narrow, but built them tall. Well, that`s what Claire says, and she read it in the guidebook.

Saturday

We visited the Van Gogh Museum, instead of the more famous Rijksmuseum. It was astonishing. I hadn`t really looked at any of Van Gogh`s paintings before. He seems to have re-invented the art. It doesn`t matter whether he is doing a portrait or a landscape——he`s a genius. In the last 70days of his life before he shot himself he produced 70 paintings, and I reckon they`re almost all masterpieces. Yet in all his life Van Gogh only ever sold one painting! We must have spent three hours in that museum. When we came out I told Claire I thought Van Gogh was the greatest painter in history. She reminded me that we were going to see the most famous painting in the world …

【READING PRACTICE】

The Puzzle of the Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa is the subject of many stories, but there is one anecdote which remains a puzzle. Is the painting in the Louvre the authentic work by Leonardo da Vinci……or just a copy?

The story began one day in 1911 when someone noticed the Mona Lisa was missing. A spokesman said, "The burglar left the antique frame and the glass behind. He must have gone through the basement to the main courtyard. A passerby saw a man with a moustache, carrying a parcel under his arm, dash over the street crossing, along to the crossroads. He then fled down a sideroad. We`re appealing to anyone who saw the suspect to contact us."

So who stole the Mona Lisa? And Why? News about the loss of the Mona Lisa was circulated in all the French newspapers, and there was a widespread search for the burglar all over the country. The police said, "We don`t think the burglar was working alone. We`re seeking a gang of criminals."

Two years later, a man with a moustache went to an art dealer in Florence in Italy and made a tentative attempt to sell the Mona Lisa. The art dealer checked it, agreed it was authentic……and then called the police.

Why did the burglar, Vincenzo Perugia, wait so long？Perugia had stolen the Mona Lisa on behalf of the chief organiser of the crime, Eduardo de Valfierno. But Perugia made a fundamental mistake. He trusted de Valfierno to pay him for the painting. The drawback for Perugia was that de Valfierno didn`t in fact need the painting, only the news of the theft, claiming that each one was the authentic stolen painting. Of course, the fact that there were six substitutes was confidential. The six buyers didn`t know about the other paintings. What`s more, de Valfierno didn`t need to pay his debt to Perugia.

After two years, Perugia got tired of waiting to be paid, and tried to sell the painting. When the real Mona Lisa turned up in Florence, de Valfierno simply told his buyers that it was merely a copy.

The outcome of the story is that Perugia got the blame for the crime and went to prison. De Valfierno remained at liberty for the rest of his life.

But there is still a puzzle. There were a number of precise copies of the Mona Lisa painted by gifted students of Leonardo da Vinci. Part of the painting`s fascination is whether the one in the Louver wad authentic…even before it was stolen. And if Perugia stole a copy…who was the authentic Mona Lisa ?

【CULTURAL CORNER】

Printing

Printing is the process of making many copies of a single document using movable characters or letters. In China, printing was known as early as in the 17th century, during the Tang Dynasty; in Europe, it was an important part of the Renaissance. Printing answered a need because people were thirsty for knowledge.

Before printing was invented, copies of a manuscript had to be made by hand, usually on animal skins. This was a difficult task that could take many years, and which made it possible to produce more copies in a few weeks than could have been produced in a lifetime written out by hand.

It is believed that a German, Johann Gutenberg, made the first printing press in Europe. He adapted it from the machines farmers used to squeeze oil

from olives. It used paper, which was more suitable for printing(and cheaper) than animal skins. Paper, like printing, had been invented much earlier in China and it had found its way to Europe, via southeast Asia and then India. By the 10th century AD, paper was being produced in Baghdad. The first paper mill in Europe was built at the end of the 12th century.

The first book that Gutenberg produced was a Bible. But as the ideas of the Renaissance developed, so did the demand for the Greek and Latin classics, which had been largely ignored for up to 2,000 years. People also wanted books in their own languages. The invention of printing meant that this desire could be satisfied.

Soon there were printing presses all over northern Europe. In 1476 William Caxton set up his own press in London, and England became one of the most important centres of the printing industry. This spread of printed books led to a renewed passion for artistic expression. Without the development of the printing press, the Renaissance may never have happened. Without inexpensive printing to make books available to a large section of society, the son of John Shakespeare, a government official in rural England in the mid-1500s, may never have been inspired to take up writing as a profession. What western civilization gained from Gutenberg`s contribution is impossible to calculate.