Leonard da Vinci was a painter, a sculptor, anarchitect, a musician, an engineer, and a scientist.He was a man of many talents, a Renaissance man1in the true sense of the word.

　　Leonard was born at a small town near Florence,where he was apprenticed to2 a painter. But he soonsurpassed his masters in uniting precision of linewith rhythm of movement, and in finding new ways to show light and shade.

　　Although Leonard is generally known as a painter, his actual output was very small. In facttoday only about twelve paintings are looked upon as3 having been done by him. This isbecause his diverse interest, his far-ranging curiosity in nature and his endless scientificexperiments and designings. To understand the man one has therefore , to read the 5, 000notebooks in which he put down his observations in life and his sketch4 drawings.

　　Nevertheless, Leonard had profound understandings of art, which exerted5 great influenceamong the painters of his own generation and generations to follow. In painting he stressed theexpression of emotional states, which , to him were, the heart of painting:

　　"A good painter has two chief objects — to paint man and the intention of his soul. The formeris easy, the latter hard, for it must be expressed by gestures and the movement of the limbs. .. A painting will only be wonderful for the beholder by making that which is not so raised anddetached from the wall."

　　His major works: Last Supper, many European art masters have painted on the same subject.But none of their versions has been as impressive as da Vinci's. And none has the enduringvalue in the art world as his.

　　Mona Lisa, if Last Supper is the most famous of religious pictures, then Mona Lisa probably isthe world's most famous portrait. Mona Lisa had as its model wife of a banker. The quietlyfolded hands, the gaze that is directed at the observer, the ambiguity of the“smile”togetherhelp to create a curious effect and a secret effect.

　　閱讀自測

　　Ⅰ. Read the passage and fill in the blanks with proper words :

　　Leonard da Vinci is first known as a________ , and he is also a________ , an________ , a________ , an________ , and a ________ . The amount of da Vinci's paintings is very small.There are only about________ paintings. For da Vinci, a good painter has two chief objects —to paint ________ and the ________ of his soul. In his famous work Mona Lisa , thequietly________ hands, the________ that is directed at the observer, the ambiguity of the"________ " together help to create a curious effect and a secret effect.

　　Ⅱ. Question :

　　What are da Vinci's famous paintings?

　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. painter / sculptor / architect / musician /engineer / scientist / 12 / man / intention / folded /gaze / smile Ⅱ. Last Supper and Mona Lisa .

　　參考譯文

　　達芬奇傳奇

　　列奧納多· 達· 芬奇是一位畫家、一位雕刻家、一位建筑師、一位音樂家、一位工程師 和一位科學家。他多才多藝, 是一位真正的文藝復興新人。

　　列奧納多出生在佛羅倫薩附近的一個小城鎮上, 從小給一位畫家當學徒。但是, 很快 他就超越了老師。他將清晰的線條與繪畫的動態感和諧地結合在一起, 找到了顯示光與影 的新方式。

　　雖然通常列奧納多是作為畫家而聞名, 可他的畫作數量并不多。事實上, 今天也只有 12 幅畫被認為是他的作品。之所以這樣, 是因為他興趣廣泛, 對自然界充滿好奇, 還做了 無窮無盡的科學實驗及設計。因此, 要了解這個人, 就必須去讀那5 000 份筆記。在那些 筆記中, 達· 芬奇記錄了他在生活中的觀察結果與許多素描。

　　盡管如此, 列奧納多對藝術還是有著深刻的理解。這對與他同時代的人及后人都有著深 遠的影響。在繪畫方面, 他強調對人物情感的傳達。對他而言, 這是衡量繪畫優秀與否 的靈魂所在:

　　“ 優秀的畫家有兩大目標——— 畫人和畫魂。前者易而后者難, 因為后者必須通過人物姿 態及肢體語言來表達一幅掛在墻上的畫, 只有給人以呼之欲出之感, 才算得上是杰作。” 他的主要作品有:

　　《最后的晚餐》, 許多歐洲藝術大師都作了同樣的畫。但是, 沒有一幅能像達· 芬奇的 那樣給人留下深刻印象; 也沒有哪幅作品能像達· 芬奇的那樣在藝術界擁有持久的價值。

　　《蒙娜麗莎》, 如果說《最后的晚餐》是最有名的宗教畫, 那么《蒙娜麗莎》則算得上世界 上最著名的肖像畫。 《蒙娜麗莎》以一位銀行家的妻子為模特。她嫻靜地搭在一起的雙手, 凝視著欣賞者 的雙眼以及那含義不甚明了的“ 微笑”, 共同創造出一種奇特而神秘的效果。

　　閱讀導評

　　一生身兼數“職”, 在繪畫、雕塑、建筑、科學方面都頗有建樹的達·芬奇不愧是位傳奇 人物。他的作品不僅給人以感官上的美的享受, 同時給人以無窮無盡的想象空間, 引人深 思。《達·芬奇密碼》中對《最后的晚餐》顛覆性的解讀即體現了這種啟發。難怪他經過了 歷史批評的沉淀和凈化至今依然光彩奪目。

　　閱讀導釋

　　1. Renaissance, 文藝復興, 特指14—17 世紀的歐洲正在形成中的資產階級在復興希臘羅馬 古典文化的名義下發起的弘揚資產階級思想和文化的運動。名為“ 復興”, 它本身卻也 代表了一種進步。該運動發起于意大利, 波及整個歐洲, 囊括了文學、藝術、科學、哲學等 各個領域。被譽為西歐文學史上的三大天才巨匠———但丁(Dante, 1265—1321 ) 、莎士 比亞( Shakespeare, 1564—1616 ) 和歌德( Goethe, 1749—1832) , 以及“ 美術三杰”——— 達·芬奇、米開朗琪羅( Michelangelo, 1475—1564) 和拉斐爾( Raphael, 1483—1520) 都 是文藝復興時代的精英。Renaissance man 則指“ 文藝復興新人,文藝復興時期的理想完 人”, 也可作“博學的人”,“ 多才多藝的人”,“開拓型人物”解。

　　2. 英語中很多名詞轉作動詞用時, 很能提高句子質量, 此處的“be apprenticed to”就是一例。

　　3. 這是個非常有用的詞組, 作“看作, 以為”解, 如: The Statue of Liberty is looked upon as the sign ofThe United States. ( 自由女神像被看作是美國的標志。) 和look 連用的短語很多, 如: look down upon /on 就是“看不起, 輕視”的意思, 而look down one's nose at 在口語中也是 表示“不把……放在眼里, 小看”。我們漢語中常說的“黑臉”, 就是指生氣、厭惡或憎恨時 表現的怒容, 用a black look 表示。我們漢語說“三思而后行”, 英語是Look before you leap。

　　4. 在這里是“ 素描, 草圖”的意思。達·芬奇一生不僅進行繪畫創作, 還擅長畫機械草圖, 他認為人類可以模仿鳥類飛行, 就繪制了撲翼機圖。

　　5. 這個詞后面常和介詞on 連用, 指“用( 某特質、技巧、壓力等) , 應用( 某物) ”, 如: Her parents exerteda lot of pressure on her to succeed. ( 她父母殷切希望她成功, 給了她很大壓力。