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◎Micky

“画龙点睛”出自唐朝张彦远《历代名画记·张僧繇》。后用以比喻写作文或讲话时，于关键处用一两警句点明要旨，使内容更为精辟有力。

南北朝时期，有一位画家名叫张僧繇，他的绘画技术非常高超,尤其善于人物故事画和宗教画。

据说，张僧繇在一座寺庙的墙上画了四条龙，但没有给龙点上眼珠。旁人问他为什么不点上眼珠，他说：“一旦点上眼珠，龙就会飞走。”大家认为他的话是无稽之谈，再三劝他点上眼珠。张僧繇最终给四条龙中的两条龙点上了眼珠。突然，天空电闪雷鸣，两条点上眼珠的龙竟然真的飞走了，而另外两条没点眼珠的龙还留在墙壁上。

人们惊叹不已。

Track 2

Zhang Sengyao, a painter of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, was well known for his excellent painting skills, especially good at drawing figure stories and religious paintings.

Legend has it that Zhang Sengyao painted four dragons on the wall of a temple, but he did not paint pupils to their eyes.When someone asked him why he didn’t paint pupils.He said, “if I did, the dragons would fly into the sky.” People considered his words1)absurd and repeatedly2)urged him to add pupils to the dragons’ eyes.He eventually did it on two of the four dragons.Suddenly, lightning and thunder struck, and the two dragons with pupils added to their eyes flew into the clouds.The other two remained on the wall.

People were amazed.

1) absurdadj.荒谬的

2) urgev.强烈要求；催促

True or False:

After Zhang Sengyao added the pupils to the eyes of the dragons, the four dragons flew into the clouds.

Know More

Mencius believed that when observing a person, one should look directly into his eyes because the eyes reveal his nature, be it good or evil.

When painting portraits, Gu Kaizhi in the Eastern Jin Dynasty did not add pupils to the eyes in haste for years.He stressed that the key to painting a vivid portrait lied in painting the eyes.

孟子认为，观察一个人，最好观察他的眼睛，因为眼睛最容易表露一个人内心的善良和丑恶。

东晋顾恺之画人物，曾数年不肯轻易下笔点睛。他强调人物传神之关键在于画出眼神。