VOA慢速英语--津巴布韦艺术家的石雕受到全世界的赞誉

Zimbabwean Artist’s Stone Sculptures Find Worldwide Praise

When Dominic Benhura started creating traditional Zimbabwean sculptures as a young man 40 years ago, he never thought it would make him famous and rich.

He was born into a family of poor farmers in 1968. He grew up in Murewa, 90 kilometers northeast of Harare.

Today, he is now an internationally recognized artist and a leading master of sculpting¹ stone – a hard substance that comes from the ground and is used for building and carving².

Sculptors³ from Zimbabwe's Shona ethnic⁴ group use basic tools to carve expressive⁵ art into heavy pieces of stone. Some weigh several tons. The art form goes back to ancient Great Zimbabwe, founded in the 11th century.

Shona sculpture can be seen at New York's Museum of Modern Art, Chicago's Field Museum of Natural History, the Indianapolis Museum of Art as well as the British Museum.

Benhura learned the art from other sculptors after moving to the capital Harare in 1979 -- one year before Zimbabwe won independence from Britain.

"I was so fascinated by people creating something out of stone, so I asked them if I could help them...finishing their work," he told Reuters reporters.

In time, Benhura found his own special way of sculpting. He creates sculptures that appear to have motion.

"My art celebrates life and I am inspired by my day-to-day life. I do animals, I do plants, I do birds," he said. He also sculpts⁶ women and children. He said he is especially drawn⁷ to them as subjects because he was raised by his mother and aunt. His father died before he was born.

Benhura's work brought him out of poverty. It has given him a life he describes as "blessed." When he was 23, he bought his first house in Harare. He now lives and works in one of the capital city's costlier⁸ neighborhoods.

Benhura has permanent displays of his work around the world, including Australia, Italy and several museums in the United States.

But he wishes his home country had more of the sculptures for the public to see. He said Zimbabwe simply does not have enough museums to keep the art.

"I wish we'd have more (museums) so that our work is also retained in Africa for future generations," Benhura said

Words in This Story

sculpture – n. to shape stone or clay into art

carve – v. to use tools to create an object from stone, wood or clay

fascinate - v. to show great interest

bless - v. to give God's grace to someone

display - v. to show

museum - n. a place where the public can see art and historical objects

1 sculpting   

雕刻( sculpt的现在分词 )； 雕塑； 做（头发）； 梳（发式）

参考例句：

• The quality of the result is determined by a Craft( sculpting) check. 由手艺（刻）定决定结果质量如何。
• Another difficulty in the process of ice sculpting is time control. 冰雕过程中的另一项困难是时间的掌控。

2 carving   

n.雕刻品，雕花

参考例句：

• All the furniture in the room had much carving.房间里所有的家具上都有许多雕刻。
• He acquired the craft of wood carving in his native town.他在老家学会了木雕手艺。

3 sculptors   

雕刻家，雕塑家( sculptor的名词复数 )； [天]玉夫座

参考例句：

• He is one of Britain's best-known sculptors. 他是英国最有名的雕塑家之一。
• Painters and sculptors are indexed separately. 画家和雕刻家被分开，分别做了索引。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。

6 sculpts   

雕刻( sculpt的第三人称单数 )； 雕塑； 做（头发）； 梳（发式）

参考例句：

• The Tennessee River sculpts the east side of the Cumberland Plateau. 田纳西河刻蚀着坎伯兰高原的东部边缘。
• Stress sculpts the brain to exhibit various antisocial, though adaptive, behaviors. 压力陶铸下的大脑，虽能表现出各种适应性的行为，但却有碍人际关系。

7 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

8 costlier   

adj.昂贵的( costly的比较级 )；代价高的；引起困难的；造成损失的

参考例句：

• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather. 鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。 来自互联网
• Disagreements among creditors can be costlier still. 债权人之间的分歧会加大重组的费用。 来自互联网