Episode Details

The Mona Lisa is the famous Leonardo da Vinci painting of a woman with a mysterious smile. 

《蒙娜丽莎》是列奥纳多·达·芬奇的著名画作，画中的女人带着神秘的微笑。 

This week, the painting gave up a secret. 

本周，这幅画透露了一个秘密。 

Scientists used X-rays to examine the chemical structure of an extremely small part of the more than 500-year-old painting. The researchers discovered a technique Leonardo used in the work. 

科学家们利用 X 射线检查了这幅 500 多年历史画作中极小部分的化学结构。研究人员发现了列奥纳多在作品中使用的一种技术。 

A team in France and Britain discovered an oil paint used for the Mona Lisa was a special, new chemical mixture. 

法国和英国的一个研究小组发现，用于《蒙娜丽莎》的油画是一种特殊的新型化学混合物。 

The research was published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. It suggests that the Italian artist may have been in an experimental mood when he set to work on the painting early in the 16th century. 

该研究周三发表在《美国化学会杂志》上。这表明这位意大利艺术家在 16 世纪初开始创作这幅画时可能处于一种实验的心情。 

“He was someone who loved to experiment, and each of his paintings is completely different technically,” said Victor Gonzalez. He is the study’s lead writer and a chemist at France’s top research organization, the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). Gonzalez has studied the chemical makeup of several works by Leonardo, Rembrandt and other artists. “

他是一个喜欢尝试的人，他的每幅画在技术上都完全不同，”维克多·冈萨雷斯说。他是该研究的主要作者，也是法国顶级研究机构国家科学研究中心 (CNRS) 的化学家。冈萨雷斯研究了达·芬奇、伦勃朗和其他艺术家的几幅作品的化学成分。

“In this case, it’s interesting to see that indeed there is a specific technique for the ground layer of Mona Lisa,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.