美杜莎是个漂亮的女孩，却得罪了智慧女神雅典娜。雅典娜为了惩罚她，把她变成了一个奇丑无比的怪物，并把她的秀发变成了蛇盘绕整个脸面。美杜莎的脸实在太可怕了，人们一看到她就会变成石头。有个叫帕尔修斯的年轻英雄，面对敌人的挑战，要去把美杜莎那吓人的头砍下。雅典娜女神是帕尔修斯的朋友，于是就带他一起去找美杜莎。帕尔修斯到达美杜莎睡觉的地方，把脸一歪，举刀就砍下了美杜莎的头，一匹长着翅膀的马飞跳出来，这马名叫珀加索斯。
展示的是帕尔修斯斜着脸，砍下美杜莎头颅的情景。美杜莎两手抱着珀加索斯。另一边的雅典娜看来更像男人，而不像少女。尽管雅典娜面朝前，但双脚却侧扭着，这样可以呈现在画面里。美杜莎的右腿比左腿要长一点，这是因为她左腿膝盖以上的部分很短。如果想象一下她站起来的样子，那么就能更清楚地看到她的一条腿要比另一条腿短多少了。珀加索斯像个小玩具马，后腿比前腿长很多，像袋鼠。
门道的狮子像和帕尔修斯像都是深浮雕。下面介绍一尊圆浮雕像。这像叫做《特内亚的阿波罗》，是后期的作品。阿波罗是希腊的太阳神，据说他是所有神中长相最俊美的。但如果看到他的雕像，可能会觉得他并不怎么英俊。
那时的希腊人认为人体是世界上最美的东西。他们试着通过体育锻炼和健康的生活方式使自己的形体变美。他们还为当时一些著名的运动员刻了雕像。
今天，我们经常称赞那些长相出众的运动员，说“他真像阿波罗那样完美”。或许这座雕像根本就不是阿波罗，而仅仅是一名运动员——跑步或跳高运动员。他虽然不像亚述雕像那么健壮，也不像埃及雕像那么精瘦，但是，他脸上却带着一种特别的表情，头发不自然地卷曲着，眼睛似乎要鼓出来。而这却是我们最早拥有的看上去在微笑的雕像之一。这人好像刚刚赢了一场比赛吧。
这座早期的或说“古老的”雕刻可算得上充满趣味呀。不过从那以后，希腊雕像就不仅仅是有趣了，而的确是美观了。
STANDING NATURALLY
自然的站姿
WHEN I used to recite poetry at school assemblies，I stood like an Egyptian statue of Rameses—hands straight down at my sides and feet close together，flat on the floor.“Stiff as a poker，”my teacher used to say.“Can’t you take a more natural，an easier position？Put one foot back of the other！”
So I stood like the wooden statue of the Schoolmaster of Boulac，but still with both feet flat on the floor.That was the best that I could do to be natural and that seemed the best that sculptors were able to do with their standing statues，until along came a Greek named Poly-clitus.Polyclitus made a statue of an athlete carrying a spear over his shoulder，and it was the first time a statue had beenmade in an easy，natural standing position，with the weight resting on one leg，one foot behind the other and not flat on the ground.
The Greeks called the Spear Bearer the perfectly proportioned man，the ideal figure，and other sculptors used this statue as a pattern and copied its proportions in the statues they made.Indeed，live athletes tried，with exercises，to make their own chests and legs and arms the same size as those of the Spear Bearer.
Polyclitus also made a statue of a woman athlete.It was called the Amazon.The Amazons were supposed to be a tribe of warlike women who had nothing to do with men—except to fight men in battle and even in duels！
Girls nowadays may not consider the figure of theAmazon beautiful.They may think it is too muscular for a woman.But fashions change.I remember whenit was the style for women to have very small waists and they wore tight corsets，but the old Greek style came back and now most girls are too sensible to wear corsets at all.
Other sculptors admired these two statues andNo.36-1THE SPEAR BEARER
（《持矛者》）
COPIED FROM POLYCLITUS
（波利格利托斯作品的摹制品）
Courtesy of The University Prints
made copies of them in marble.It is fortunate for us they did so，for all we have now are the copies.The ones that Polyclitus himself made have disappeared and no trace of them is left.What became of them no one knows.
Polyclitus made his statues of a metal called bronze.The first metal ever discovered was not gold or silver or iron，but copper.Then tin was found；and tin and copper combined made bronze.So bronze is not a pure metal.It is a combination of copper and tin.Bronze lasts if kept dry，but when it is exposed to the weather or dampness，it is gradually eaten away.This metal could be worked so well that the Greeks loved to make statues and other things of it.It does not rust like iron，it is not expensive like gold or silver，and as it grows older it turns a rich brown or greenish color and in the course of time acquires a coating called a patina.
I have an ancient lamp made of bronze with a beautiful patina which it perhaps took two thousand years to get.Some people try to imitate the real patina by treating bronze with acid，but only nature and time can make the real patina.
Another Greek sculptor，a friend of Polyclitus，was named Myron.Myron went farther than Polyclitus in giving naturalness and action to his figures One of his statues was the Discus Thrower.The discus was a heavy disk and discus throwing was a sport in which the object was to see how far the discus could be hurled—underhanded as in bowling，not overhanded as in throwing a ball.It wasn’t rolled along the ground，but was hurled into the air.
No.36-2THE DISCUS THROWER（《掷铁饼者》）COPIED FROM MYRON（米隆作品的摹制品）
The Discus Thrower is shown just at the moment before the discus is to he hurled from his hand.Notice the toes of the front foot gripping the ground，those of the rear foot being drawn along the ground to balance the body.The discus weighed about two and a half pounds and the record throw was less than a hundred feet，which may not seem very far until you try it.Nowadays，the discus has been thrown a hundred and fifty-five feet，by a person swinging his body around in circles before letting the discus fly.
This statue was first made in bronze，but the bronze has disappeared and the picture shown here was made from a copy in marble.It is one of several copies in marble in European museums.
Myron also made a bronze cow which was so natural that it is said to have fooled everybody into thinking it a real cow.But this cow，too，has disappeared and there are not even copies left.
Bronze statues were entirely eaten away in the course of time Marble statues often were broken but otherwise they lasted.
【中文阅读】
我过去在学校大会上背诵诗歌时，总是像埃及的阿姆西斯雕像一样站着——双手垂放两边，双脚并拢平站在地板上。
“僵硬的像根拨火棒，”老师常对我说：“你就不能站得自然点，放松点吗？把一只脚放在另一只脚的后面！”
于是，我换了个姿势，像《布拉格校长》木雕那样站着，不过双脚还是平站在地板上。这是我所能做的最自然的姿势了。而且这似乎是当时雕刻家们所能雕出的最棒的站姿雕像。直到希腊雕刻家波利格利托斯出现后情况才有所改观。波利格利托斯刻了一个肩扛长矛的运动员雕像。这是有史以来第一座站姿自然且随意的雕像。这个运动员的重心落在一条腿上，一双脚不是平站在地上，而是一只脚放在另一只脚的后面。
希腊人认为这位持矛者的身材比例完美，体形理想。所以，其他雕塑刻家经常把这座雕像作为模板，在制作雕像时以此作比例参照。事实上，现实生活中的运动员也试着通过体育锻炼使自己的腹部、腿部和手臂能像持矛者一样有力。