Unprecedented and Unrepeatable 空前絕后

王靜云

“空前絕后”出自《宣和畫譜》：顧冠于前，張絕于后，而道子乃兼有之。成語指從前沒有過，今后也不會有，多用來形容非凡的成就或盛況。

Gu Kaizhi of the Jin Dynastywas talented and knowledgeable.His painting ability was even moreoutstanding. When he paintedfigures， he never drew eyes first.Someone asked the reason， he saidthat the 1）expressiveness of thecharacters is in this place.

During the Northern and Southern Dynasties， another great painternamed Zhang Sengyao rose. He was good at drawing figure stories andreligious paintings， and he was very famous at that time. It is said thathe once painted four dragons on the wall of a temple， but did not paintdragonseyes. When someone asked him why he didnt draw eyes， he said，“Im afraid that if I draw eyes， these dragons will break through the wall andfly away.” Although this legend is very much 2）exaggerated， it reveals that hispainting skills are 3）superb.

Therefore， when someone commented on these two painters later， theybelieved that Gu Kaizhis painting achievements 4）surpassed those of hispredecessors， Zhang Sengyaos painting achievements were unmatched bylater generations.

1） expressiveness n. 善于表現；表現力

2） exaggerated adj. 夸張的

3） superb adj. 極佳的；卓越的

4） surpass v. 超過；勝過

東晉顧愷之，才華出眾，學識淵博。他的繪畫才能更是出色。他畫人物，從來不先點眼珠。有人問其原因，他說：“人物傳神之處，正在這個地方。”

南北朝的畫家張僧繇，善人物故事畫和宗教畫，在當時名氣很響。據說，有一次他在一座寺廟的墻上畫了四條龍，卻沒有給龍點眼珠。旁人問他為什么不點上眼珠，他說：“恐怕點了眼珠，這些龍會破壁飛去。”這一傳說雖夸張得近于荒誕，但說明了他作畫的技藝很高超。

所以，后人評價這兩位畫家時，認為顧愷之的繪畫成就超越前人，張僧繇的繪畫成就后人莫及。

Fill in the blanks：

When Gu Kaizhi painted figures， he never drew _____ first.

Know More

Wu Daozi， a master of painting and calligraphy， is also known as the paintingsage. The paintings of Wu Daozi absorbed the strengths of Gu Kaizhi and ZhangSengyao.

吳道子，集繪畫、書法大成于一身，被奉為“畫圣”。吳道子的繪畫兼有顧愷之和張僧繇的長處。

參考答案：eyes