2006年VOA标准英语-Twentieth Century Visionaries On View in New Yo

By VOA News
11 July 2006  

Noguchi museum exhibit   
  
Visionary 20th century designer-inventor Buckminster Fuller and modernist sculptor¹ Isamu Noguchi collaborated³ to bridge the gap between art and technology to create works that challenged the status quo. A museum in New York City has put on an exhibit dedicated⁴ to their remarkable⁵ friendship and fruitful collaboration⁶.

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Buckminister Fuller never completed a university degree, but became a 20th century icon⁷ as a designer, architect, and inventor. He was also a mathematician⁸, engineer and poet. He is perhaps best-known for his work developing geodesic domes⁹: spherical¹⁰ structures without internal supports that enclose far greater interior areas than traditional post-and-beam constructions. Fuller hoped such structures would ease housing shortages.

Isamu Noguchi led a less-public life, experimenting with materials such as stainless¹¹ steel, bronze, sheet aluminum¹² and even water to create streamlined sculptures, gardens, parks, and set designs.

Shoji Sadao, a business partner to both men, put together an exhibit dedicated to them at the Noguchi Museum in New York. He says Fuller and Noguchi were both independent thinkers who wanted to use their talents to improve lives. "They both wanted to work to better society, Bucky through science and technology and Isamu though his art. Bucky was, I think, concerned more about the physical well-being¹³ of people, the standard of living and so forth¹⁴. Isamu was interested more in the aesthetic¹⁵ and intellectual well-being, psychological. Their common philosophy in terms of very egalitarian point of view, in terms of human kind and bettering mankind's existence on earth is what got them together," he said.

The two men first met in 1929. Fuller had already established himself as a futurist with his 1927 Dymaxion House, an inexpensive, technically¹⁶ advanced house that could be assembled on-site from a kit¹⁷. Sadao says his early interests in environmental issues, aerodynamics and social well-being set him apart. "At the very beginning many people thought that he was a crank or a nut because some of his ideas seemed to be so outlandish. But he was 50 or 100 years ahead of his times in terms of the concepts or things that he was proposing like the Dymaxion House and the Dymaxion car exhibited here," he said.

"Noguchi was immediately influenced by Fuller's ideas about space and habitat. He sculpted¹⁸ a chrome-plated bronze bust¹⁹ of Fuller in seven sittings, which is on exhibit in the show. In 1932, Fuller asked Noguchi to create a three-dimensional plaster model for his fuel-efficient Dymaxion car."

The two men continued to collaborate² throughout their long lives, with Noguchi often creating models of Fuller's ideas. In 1986, three years after Fuller's death and just two years before his own, Noguchi created a monumental, 30-meter sculpture based on Fuller's view that the basic building block of the cosmos²⁰ was the tetrahedron, a solid having four triangular²¹ faces.

"He was experimenting with these kinds of structures and Isamu was very perceptive²² and he saw the potential of it being a very beautiful piece of sculpture. This is the Challenger monument that was dedicated to the astronauts that perished in the Challenger crash," he said.

The exhibit contains photographs and a model of the Challenger 7 Memorial, which is located in a Miami, Florida park designed by Noguchi and Shoji Sadao.

The exhibit offers a new generation of visitors a chance to become acquainted with the genius of Buckminster Fuller and his vision. Shoji Sadao calls him a true renaissance²³ man. "He was described at one time as even the Leonardo da Vince of the 20th century. His knowledge was broad and expansive and he was very much of a humanitarian²⁴ too. Very warm, very easy to get to know. He never talked down to anyone, even to young children. He would talk to them as though they were equals and his peers," he said.

Visitors can also see some of the more than 1,000 sculptures that Noguchi completed in his life, which are on view throughout the museum and its garden. The peaceful setting invites visitors to reflect on the creativity and collaboration of two 20th century geniuses.

1 sculptor   

n.雕刻家，雕刻家

参考例句：

• A sculptor forms her material.雕塑家把材料塑造成雕塑品。
• The sculptor rounded the clay into a sphere.那位雕塑家把黏土做成了一个球状。

2 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

3 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

4 dedicated   

adj.一心一意的；献身的；热诚的

参考例句：

• He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
• His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。

5 remarkable   

adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的

参考例句：

• She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
• These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 icon   

n.偶像，崇拜的对象，画像

参考例句：

• They found an icon in the monastery.他们在修道院中发现了一个圣像。
• Click on this icon to align or justify text.点击这个图标使文本排齐。

8 mathematician   

n.数学家

参考例句：

• The man with his back to the camera is a mathematician.背对着照相机的人是位数学家。
• The mathematician analyzed his figures again.这位数学家再次分析研究了他的这些数字。

9 domes   

n.圆屋顶( dome的名词复数 )；像圆屋顶一样的东西；圆顶体育场

参考例句：

• The domes are circular or ovoid in cross-section. 穹丘的横断面为圆形或卵圆形。 来自辞典例句
• Parks. The facilities highlighted in text include sport complexes and fabric domes. 本书重点讲的设施包括运动场所和顶棚式结构。 来自互联网

10 spherical   

adj.球形的；球面的

参考例句：

• The Earth is a nearly spherical planet.地球是一个近似球体的行星。
• Many engineers shy away from spherical projection methods.许多工程师对球面投影法有畏难情绪。

11 stainless   

adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的

参考例句：

• I have a set of stainless knives and forks.我有一套不锈钢刀叉。
• Before the recent political scandal,her reputation had been stainless.在最近的政治丑闻之前，她的名声是无懈可击的。

12 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

13 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

14 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

15 aesthetic   

adj.美学的，审美的，有美感

参考例句：

• My aesthetic standards are quite different from his.我的审美标准与他的大不相同。
• The professor advanced a new aesthetic theory.那位教授提出了新的美学理论。

16 technically   

adv.专门地，技术上地

参考例句：

• Technically it is the most advanced equipment ever.从技术上说，这是最先进的设备。
• The tomato is technically a fruit,although it is eaten as a vegetable.严格地说，西红柿是一种水果，尽管它是当作蔬菜吃的。

17 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

18 sculpted   

adj.经雕塑的

参考例句：

• a display of animals sculpted in ice 冰雕动物展
• The ladies had their hair sculpted by the leading coiffeur of the day. 女士们的发型都是当代有名的理发师做的。

19 bust   

vt.打破；vi.爆裂；n.半身像；胸部

参考例句：

• I dropped my camera on the pavement and bust it. 我把照相机掉在人行道上摔坏了。
• She has worked up a lump of clay into a bust.她把一块黏土精心制作成一个半身像。

20 cosmos   

n.宇宙；秩序，和谐

参考例句：

• Our world is but a small part of the cosmos.我们的世界仅仅是宇宙的一小部分而已。
• Is there any other intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos?在宇宙的其他星球上还存在别的有智慧的生物吗？

21 triangular   

adj.三角（形）的，三者间的

参考例句：

• It's more or less triangular plot of land.这块地略成三角形。
• One particular triangular relationship became the model of Simone's first novel.一段特殊的三角关系成了西蒙娜第一本小说的原型。

22 perceptive   

adj.知觉的，有洞察力的，感知的

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• He is very perceptive and nothing can be hidden from him.他耳聪目明，什么事都很难瞒住他。

23 renaissance   

n.复活，复兴，文艺复兴

参考例句：

• The Renaissance was an epoch of unparalleled cultural achievement.文艺复兴是一个文化上取得空前成就的时代。
• The theme of the conference is renaissance Europe.大会的主题是文艺复兴时期的欧洲。

24 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。