高中英语选修六课文原文.docx

1、高中英语选修6Unit 1A SHORT HISTORY OF WESTERN PAINTINGArt is influenced by the customs and faith of a people. Styles in Western art have changed many times. As there are so many different styles of Western art, it would be impossible to describe all of them in such a short text. Consequently, this text wi

2、ll describe only the most important ones. Starting from the sixth century AD.The Middle Ages(5th to the 15th century AD)During the Middle Ages, the main aim of painters was to represent religious themes. A conventional artist of this period was not interested in showing nature and people as they rea

3、lly were. A typical picture at this time was full of religious symbols, which created a feeling of respect and love for God. But it was evident that ideas were changing in the 13th century when painters like Giotto di Bondone began to paint religious scenes in a more realistic way.The Renaissance(15

4、th to 16th century)During the Renaissance, new ideas and values gradually replaced those held in the Middle Ages. People began to concentrate less on religious themes and adopt a more humanistic attitude to life. At the same time painters returned to classical Roman and Greek ideas about art. They t

5、ried to paint people and nature as they really were. Rich people wanted to possess their own paintings, so they could decorate their superb palaces and great houses. They paid famous artists to paint pictures of themselves, their houses and possessions as well as their activities and achievements.On

6、e of the most important discoveries during this period was how to draw things in perspective. This technique was first used by Masaccio in 1428. When people first saw his paintings, they were convinced that they were looking through a hole in a wall at a real scene. If the rules of perspective had n

7、ot been discovered, no one would have been able to paint such realistic pictures. By coincidence, oil paints were also developed at this time, which made the colours used in paintings look richer and deeper. Without the new paints and the new technique, we would not be able to see the many great mas

8、terpieces for which this period is famous.Impressionism(late 19h to early 20th century)In the late 19th century, Europe changed a great deal, from a mostly agricultural society to a mostly industrial one. Many people moved from the countryside to the new cities. There were many new inventions and so

9、cial changes also led to new painting styles. Among the painters who broke away from the traditional style of painting were the Impressionists, who lived and worked in Paris.The Impressionists were the first painters to work outdoors. They were eager to show how light and shadow fell on objects at d

10、ifferent times of day. However, because natural light changes so quickly, the Impressionists had to paint quickly. Their paintings were not as detailed as those of earlier painters. At first, many people disliked this style of painting and became very angry about it. They said that the painters were

11、 careless and their paintings were ridiculous.Modern Art(29th century to today)At the time they were created, the Impressionist paintings were controversial, but today they are accepted as the beginning of what we call modern art. This is because the Impressionists encouraged artists to look at thei

12、r environment in new ways. There are scores of modern art styles, but without the Impressionists, many of these painting styles might not exist. On the one hand, some modern art is abstract; that is, the painter does not attempt to paint objects as we see them with our eyes, but instead concentrates

13、 n certain qualities of the object, using colour, line and shape to represent them. On the other hand, some paintings of modern art are so realistic that they look like photographs. These styles are so different. Who can predict what painting styles there will be in the future?西方绘画艺术简史艺术是受着人民生活习俗和信仰

14、的影响的。西方的艺术风格经历了多次变革。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。因此本文只谈及从公元世纪以来最主要的几种艺术风格。中世纪公元世纪到世纪在中世纪画家的主要任务是把宗教的主题表现出来。一个传统的艺术家无意于如实地展现自然和人物。那个时期的典型的绘画充满了宗教的象特征体现出了对上帝的爱戴与敬重。但是很显然到了世纪时观念发生变化像乔托这样的画家开始以一种比较现实的风格来画宗教场景。文艺复兴时期世纪到世纪在文艺复兴时期新的思想和价值观逐渐取代了中世纪的思想和价值观。人们开始较少关注宗教主题而采取一种更人性化的生活态度。同时画家们回到了罗马、希腊的古典艺术理念上

15、。他们力争如实地画出人物和自然。富人们想拥有自己的艺术品并用来装饰自己的高级宫殿和豪宅他们出价聘请著名艺术家来为自己画像画自己的房屋和其他财物以及他们的活动和成就。在此期间最重要的发现之一就是如何用透视法来画出事物。这一手法是年由马赛其奥第一次使用的。当人们第一次看到他的画时还以为是透过墙上的小洞来观看真实的场景并对此深信不疑。如没有发现透视法人们就不可能画出如此逼真的画。巧合的是这一时期油画颜料也得到了发展它使得绘画的色彩看上去更丰富、更深沉。没有新的颜料和新的绘画手法我们就不能看到很多使这一时代著名的杰作。印象派时期世纪后期到世纪初期世纪后期欧洲发生了巨大的变化从以农业为主的社会变成了以工

16、业为主的社会。许多人从农村迁入到新城市。有着许多新发明还有许多社会变革。这些变革也自然而然地促成了新的绘画风格。在那些突破传统画法的画家中有生活和工作在法国巴黎的印象派画家。印象派画家是第一批室外写景的画家。他们急切地想把一天中不同时间投射到物体上的光线和阴影呈现出来。然而由于自然光的变化很快印象派画家们必须很快地作画因此他们的画就不像以前那些画家们的画那样细致了。起初许多人都不喜欢这种画法甚至还怒不可遏。他们说这些画家作画时漫不经心、粗枝大叶而他们的作品更是荒谬可笑。现代艺术世纪至今在印象派作品的创建初期它们是存在着争议的但是如今己被人们接受而成为现在我们所说的“现代艺术”的始祖了。这是因为

17、印象派鼓励画家用一种崭新的视角看待他们的环境。如今现代艺术风格有好几十种然而如果没有印象派那么这许多不同的风格就不可能存在。;一方面有些现代艺术是抽象的也就是说画家并不打算把我们眼睛看到的东西如实地画出来而是集中展现物体的某些品质特性用色彩、线条和形状把它们呈现出来。而另一方面有些现代派的艺术作品却是那么写实看上去就像是照片。这些风格如此不同。谁能预言将来会有什么样的绘画艺术风格?Unit 3It is a beautiful day here and I am sitting under the big tree at the end of the garden. I have just r

18、eturned from a long bike ride to an old castle. It seems amazing that at my age I am still fit enough to cycle 20 kilometres in an afternoon. Its my birthday in two weeks time and Ill be82years old! I think my long and active life must be due to the healthy life I live.This brings me to the real rea

19、son for my letter, my dear grandson. Your mother tells me that you started smoking some time ago and how you are finding it difficult to give it up. Believe me, I know how easy it is to begin smoking and how tough it is to stop. You see, during adolescence I also smoked and became addicted to cigare

20、ttes.By the way, did you know that this is because you become addicted in three different ways. First, you can become physically addicted to nicotine, which is one of the hundreds of chemicals in cigarettes. This means that after a while your body becomes accustomed to having nicotine in it. So when

21、 the drug leaves our body, you get withdrawal symptoms. I remember feeling bad-tempered and sometimes even in pain. Secondly, you become addicted through habit. As you know, if you do the same thing over and over again, you begin to do it automatically. Lastly, you can become mentally addicted. I be

22、lieved I was happier and more relaxed after having a cigarette, so I began to that I could only feel good when I smoked. I was addicted in all three ways, so it was very difficult to quit. But I did finally manage.When I was young, I didnt know much about the harmful effects of smoking. I didnt know

23、, for example, that it could do terrible damage to your heart and lungs or that it was more difficult for smoking couples to become pregnant. I certainly didnt know their babies may have a smaller birth weight or even be abnormal in some way. Neither did I know that my cigarette smoke could affect t

24、he health of non-smokers. However, what I did know was that my girlfriend thought I smelt terrible. She said my breath and clothes smelt, and that the ends of my fingers were turning yellow. She told me that she wouldnt go out with me again unless I stopped! I also noticed that I became breathless q

25、uickly, and that I wasnt enjoying sport as much. When I was taken off the school football team because I was unfit, I knew it was time t quit smoking.I am sending you some advice I found on the Internet It might help you to stop and strengthenyour resolve. I do hope so because I want you to live as

26、long and healthy a life as I have.Love fromGrandad爷爷的忠告亲爱的詹姆士：今天这儿的天气很好。现在我正坐在花园尽头的那棵大树底下呢。我刚刚才回来，骑自行车跑了很长一段路，一直到了古城堡。感到惊奇吧，像我这样的年纪，身体健康而且能在一个下午骑车跑公里。!再过两个礼拜就是我岁的生日了！我想我之所以长寿而且精力充沛，要归功于我的健康生活。这就是我写信给你的真正原因，我亲爱的孙子。你妈妈告诉我，你不久前开始吸烟了，而且现在很难把它戒掉。相信我吧，我知道，吸烟容易戒烟难。你知道，当我还是一个十几岁的孩子的时候，我也吸过烟，而且还上了瘾。?这儿我想顺便问你

27、一个问题，你知道上瘾有三个方面的原因吗？首先，你会在身体上对尼古丁有瘾，它是香烟里几百种化学物质之一。这句是说，过一段时间以后，你的身体习惯了香烟里的尼古丁，一旦你的体内没有这种麻醉剂了，你就会有断瘾症状，我记得曾感到烦躁、甚至痛苦。其次你也可能因为习惯的原因而上瘾。你知道，如果你反反复复地做同一件事情，你就会自动地做它。最后，你可以心理上瘾。我那时认为，抽了一支烟后就会感到更轻松愉快，于是我就以为抽烟才能使自己感觉良好。我之所以上瘾就有着这三个方面的原因，因此，要戒烟就很难。但是我终于还是戒掉了。在我年轻的时候，关于吸烟的危害性我知道的并不多。例如，我不知道抽烟能严重侵害人的心脏和肺部，也不

28、知道吸烟的夫妇生育能力会下降。我当然不知道他们的婴儿在出生时可能体重较轻或某些方面不正常。我更不知道，我自己吸烟还会损害那些不吸烟人的健康。然而我的的确确知道，我的女朋友觉得我的烟味很难闻。她说我的呼吸、我的衣服都有味道，而且我的手指头都变黄了。!她说在我把烟戒掉之前不会跟我一起出去。我还注意到我的呼吸变得急促，并且使我不那么喜爱运动了。而由于我身体不健康被校足球队除名之后，我才知道该是我戒烟的时候了。我把我从网上找到的一些忠告寄给你，也许对你戒烟和坚定决心会有所帮助。我的确希望你把烟戒掉，因为我希望你能像我这样活得健康长寿。爱你的爷爷?你怎样才能戒烟呢？戒烟不容易，但许许多多的人都成功地戒掉

29、了烟，所以你也能。这儿有几点建议：做好准备。确定一个开始戒烟的日子。不要选择你明知有压力的日子，例如要考试的那一天。把戒烟的好处开列一个清单。在你计划戒烟的前一天，把你最后一包香烟扔掉。下定决心。每当你想要吸烟的时候，你就提醒你自己，你（已经）是不吸烟的人了。把你早先写的那个戒烟的好处的清单反复地看一看。破除旧习。不要抽烟，而去干点别的事情，去散散步、刷刷牙、喝点水、打扫房间。其实，只要是能使你的脑，特别是手不得闲的事情，你都可以去做。放松休息。如果你开始感到紧张有压力了，这时你也不要伸手去拿香烟。试着做做深呼吸。每当你感到紧张了，就去做做放松运动。必要时找人帮忙。同朋友一起安排戒烟，这样你们

30、可以谈谈你的问题。你也可以参加一个戒烟小组。如果你的确感到没法办，你还可以找一个医生或药剂师来谈谈，帮你想点办法，如含尼古丁的口香糖等。继续努力。即使非得经过多次戒烟才能最后把它戒掉，你也不要失去希望。如果你因意志衰弱而又抽烟了，也不要觉得难为情。那就再努力戒就是了。最终你是会成功的。Unit 4THE EARTH IS BECOMIG WARMER-BUT DOES IT MATTER?During the 20th century the temperature of the earth rose about one degree Fahrenheit. That probably doe

31、s not seem much to you or me, but it is a rapid increase when compared to other natural changes. So how has this come about and does it matter? Earth cares Sophie Armstrong explores these questions.There is no doubt that the earth is becoming warmer(see Graph 1) and that it is human activity that ha

32、s caused this global warming rather than a random but natural phenomenon.All scientists subscribe to the view that the increase in the earths temperature is due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil to produce energy. Some byproducts of this process are called greenhouse gases, the most important one of which is carbon dioxide. Dr Janice Foster explains: There is a natural phenomenon that scientists call the greenhouse effect. This is when small amounts of gases in the atmosphere, like carbon dioxide, me