外研社必修八-module2原文.doc

PAGE / NUMPAGES The?Renaissance? For?many?people,?the?Renaissance?means?14th?to?16th?century?Italy,?and?the?developments?in?art?and?architecture,?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?France,?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?the?Duke?of?Milan,?and,?towards?the?end?of?his?life,?the?King?of?France.? Renaissance?artists?found?new?ideas?for?their?work?in?classical?Greece?and?Rome.?But?they?looked?forward,?too,?by?opening?new?frontiers?in?the?arts.?Painters?discovered?how?to?perspective?and?the?effects?of?light;?composers?put?different?voices?together?and?create?polyphony?(“many?voices);?architects?preferred?designing?buildings?with?more?light?which??contrasted?with?the?heaviness?of?the?Gothic?cathedrals