Art lovers at the National Gallery

Helen: Hello, I'm Helen. Welcome to "On the Town" from BBC Learning English.

Zoë: 今天的BBC Learning English，我们会和大家一起来聊聊英国著名的国家美术馆。

Helen: The National Gallery. This wonderful place is very easy to find. It's right behind the famous Trafalgar Square in the heart of London.

Zoë: 伦敦市的中心 heart of London, 在这儿有着著名的特拉法加广场，在广场的正对面，有一幢庞大的老式建筑，这就是英国国家美术馆。

Helen: Gill Hart is a curator with the National Gallery and we asked her what we could see in this magnificent building.

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The National Gallery houses western European painting from about the year 1250, right up to 1900. 1900's our cut-off point although we do, of course, have the odd thing that dates from about 1904, 1905; but roughly, the beginning of the 20th century is our cut-off point.

Zoë: Gill 告诉我们，国家画廊里收集的画都来自欧洲。

Helen: European paintings.

Zoë: 而且时间也有限制。

Helen: That's right, the collection starts from about the year 1250, and goes right up to the beginning of 20th century.

Zoë: 从1250 年开始，一直到20世纪初。

Helen: And the phrase "cut-off point", means no paintings collected are dated after 1900.

Zoë: 这里我们可以学到一个短语， a cut off point, 意思就是截至日期。

Helen: Now let's listen to Gill again.

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The National Gallery houses western European painting from about the year 1250, right up to 1900. 1900's our cut-off point although we do, of course, have the odd thing that dates from about 1904, 1905; but roughly, the beginning of the 20th century is our cut-off point.

Zoë: 很多各个历史时期著名画家的经典作品都收藏在这里。

Helen: So, Gill gave us a run-down of the famous artists and their work on display here.

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It's hard to know where to start but I think if you were heading into the earlier part of the collection, some of the things to look out for would certainly be our Raphael paintings. And of course we've got examples of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo as well. A couple of Michelangelo paintings which again are worth looking at and comparing to some of his contemporaries.

Zoë: 真没想到，在这里能看到这么多世界知名画家的作品。 Gill 跟我们介绍说，这里收藏着文艺复兴时期著名画家，拉斐尔的作品。

Helen: Raphael was from the High Renaissance period.

Zoë: 意大利文艺复兴高峰时期。

Helen: Renaissance.

Zoë: 就是文艺复兴的意思。

Helen: The gallery also includes work from Leonardo Da Vinci.

Zoë: 达芬奇也是属于那个时期，不过更早。

Helen: Also several paintings by Michelangelo are worth looking at.

Zoë: 米开朗基罗也有几幅油画在这里展出。这样一来，大家就有机会对文艺复兴时期的3个著名代表人物的经典作品一览无余。

Helen: That's right, the visitors have the chance to compare these great artists and see the differences in their artistic styles.

Zoë: 我知道在国家美术观里有2000多幅藏画，那除了刚才说的这些，我们还能看到哪些名画家的作品呢？

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It's also worth paying some attention of course to some of the British artists. We've got a wonderful British gallery in the collection, which has some great examples of Turner and Constable. Constable's "Hay Wain" being I think probably one of the most famous paintings in that part of the collection.

Zoë: 看来英国也有自己的名画家。

Helen: Yes, and famous British painters include Turner and Constable.

Zoë: 他们的作品都以英国的田园风光和海上景色为题材。

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The collection really comes to a climax if you like, with our French 19th century galleries.

Helen: Gill said the collection comes to a climax at the 19th century galleries.

Zoë: 高潮 climax, 整个展览的高潮是集中在19世纪的展厅里。

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We've got a really strong collection of Monets, I think we in fact cover pretty much all of Monet's career. And then finally I think moving towards the last few rooms of the collection, it's worth paying some attention of course to Van Gogh's "Sunflowers".

Zoë: 19世纪中， 20世纪初的代表流派是印象派。

Helen: That’s impressionism.

Zoë: 莫奈是印象派的代表人物之一，在国家美术馆我们能看到他在一生中作品的风格变化。

Helen: Also another must see painting is the "Sunflowers" by Van Gogh.

Zoë: 凡高的向日葵 sunflowers 可是绝对不能错过。

Helen: Sadly for us, it's time to say good bye. It's been great to see the National Gallery with Gill.

Zoë: 国家美术馆，每天都在接待着来自全世界各地的美术爱好者，是伦敦著名的景点之一。不过，伦敦经常下雨，就算你对美术不怎么感兴趣，我觉得趁着下雨的时候路过国家美术馆，去看看艺术家们的名画，不防也是个很好的选择。

Helen: And it's free.

Zoë: 对了，还不收门票。

Helen: So until next time, it's goodbye from both of us at BBC Learning English.

Zoë: Bye.

Helen: Bye-bye.