看希腊艺术家的作品时，你会发现它们是多么清新、简单和美好，

it is as if their creators were seeing the world for the first time.

仿佛它们的创作者初次见过世间事物。

We spoke of the statues of Olympic champions earlier.

我们先前谈过奥林匹克优胜者雕像。

They show fine human beings, not posed, but looking as if the position they are shown in is the most natural one in the world.

雕像展现了优美的人，没有任何做作姿态，仿佛它们表现的是世间最自然的事物。

And it is because they seem so natural that they are so beautiful.

因为它们是如此的自然，以致它们非常美丽。

The Greeks portrayed their gods with the same beauty and humanity.

希腊人用这同样的美和人性塑造了他们的神。

The most famous sculptor of such statues was Phidias.

最著名的神雕塑家叫菲狄亚斯。

He did not create mysterious and supernatural images, like the colossal statues in Egyptian temples.

他不创造像埃及巨型神庙雕像那样地充满神秘感和超自然的塑像。

Although some of his temple statues were large and splendid and made of precious materials like ivory and gold,

尽管他创作的一些神庙像虽然也大而豪华，用珍贵的象牙和黄金作材料，

their beauty was never insipid, and they had a noble and natural grace which must have inspired confidence in the gods they represented,

但它们的美从来不是没有吸引力的，它们有一种十分高贵和自然的优雅，这种优雅致使人们不由得不信仰这些神像。

and the same can be said for Athenian paintings and buildings.

雅典人的油画和建筑物也跟他们的雕像一样。

But nothing remains of the pictures they painted on the walls of their halls and assembly rooms.

但是那些他们绘在墙上用来装饰他们的大厅和会议室的画却一幅也没有被保存下来。