1 新人教版高中英语选择性必修三课文及翻译 Unit1 Reading and Thinking A SHORT HISTORY OF WESTERN PAINTING 西方绘画艺术简史 What is Western art? It is hard to give a precise definition. As there have been so many different styles of Western art, it is impossible to describe them all in a short text. Perhaps the best way to understand Western art is to look at the development of Western painting over the centuries. 什么是西方艺术?很难给出一个精确的定义。由于西方的艺术风格多种多样，在短短的一篇课文里不可能进行全面的描述。也许了解西方艺术的最好方法就是看看几个世纪以来西方绘画的发展。 The Middle Ages (from the 5th to the 15th century) 中世纪(5 世纪到 15 世纪) During the Middle Ages, the purpose of Western art was to teach people about Christianity. Thus, artists were not interested in painting realistic scenes. Their works were often primitive and two-dimensional, and the main characters were often made much larger than everyone else to show their importance. This began to change in the 13th century with Giotto di Bondone (1267-1337). While his paintings still had religious themes, they showed real people in a real environment. In particular, his paintings are set apart from other paintings by their realistic human faces and deep emotional impact. 在中世纪，西方艺术的目的是向人们传授基督教因此，艺术家对写实场景不感兴趣。他们的作品通常较为粗糙且二维化，主体人物通常比其他人物大得多，以显示他们的重要性。这种情况在 13 世纪时因乔托·迪·邦多纳(1267-1337)而开始改变。尽管他的画仍然带有宗教主题，但它们展示的是真实的环境中的真实人物。尤其是他的画作，因其逼真的人物面貌和深刻的情感冲击而从其他画作中脱颖而出。 The Renaissance (from the 14th to the 17th century) 文艺复兴时期(14 世纪到 17 世纪) New ideas and values gradually replaced old ones from the Middle Ages. As a result, pai...
