2010/04/06

Today is a special day in history because it saw both the birth and death of the great painter Raphael. Born in 1483, Raphael was an Italian painter who created graceful and perfect-looking paintings. He was alive during the High Renaissance period of art. His name is often mentioned along with Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci because they were the three major artistic masters of that time. One of Raphaels famous projects was The School of Athens, which was painted in the Vatican for the Pope. Many artists agree that when Raphael died in 1520, so did classic art.

今天是歷史上特別的一天，因為偉大的畫家拉斐爾在這天出生，也在這天逝世。義大利畫家拉斐爾生於1483年，曾創作出許多優雅且完美的畫作。他活在藝術史上文藝復興全盛時期的年代。人們常將他和米開朗基羅及李奧納多．達文西的名字一併提起，因為他們3人並稱文藝復興三傑。拉斐爾著名的案子之一是在梵蒂岡為教宗所繪製的《雅典學院》。許多藝術家都認同當拉斐爾於1520年辭世時，古典藝術也隨之沒落。

單字片語
◎graceful a. 優美的，雅緻的
例：The dancers movements were graceful.（這名舞者的動作很優美。）
．perfect-lookinga. 外觀完美的
◎alive a. 活著的
例：Fortunately, the man was found alive after being buried for three days.（所幸，那個被埋了3天的男子被發現時還活著。）
◎Renaissance n. 文藝復興
．the High Renaissance文藝復興全盛時期
◎mention vt. 提起，談到
例：John mentioned something about his new job when I had dinner with him last night.（昨晚我和約翰吃飯時，他談到一些有關他新工作的事。）
◎along with… 以及……；與……一起
例：Our TV was stolen during the burglary, along with all of our jewelry.（我們的電視和所有珠寶都在這起竊盜案中被偷了。）

◎資料來源：http://tw.nextmedia.com/applenews/article/art_id/32414252/IssueID/20100406