Music / literature / Movie
1955:Rock and roll
With his speedy, spiced-up version of rhythm and blues, Chuck Berry combined all the essential ingredients of rock 'n' roll and delivered them to the mainstream audience. Juiced up with double-string guitar licks and a witty lyricism that appealed to postwar youth, his sassy and energetic Maybelline skyrocketed to number five on the Billboard charts. Elvis Presley burst upon the scene shortly thereafter - adding the moves, charisma, and sensuality that caused nationwide hysteria. Rock 'n' roll was born.
1387:Tales from the trail
Geoffrey Chaucer begins work on The Canterbury Tales--the story of a storytelling contest amongst a group of pilgrims traveling to a shrine in Canterbury. Chaucer's exploration of the young Middle English language profoundly influenced the development of English literature; his tales, ranging from the terrifyingly bleak to the raucous and bawdy, exhibited a keen perception of the human condition.
1795:Sense and Sensibility
Jane Austen expanded the novel's range in subject matter as the first to write about average people in everyday situations. Although not the first novelist (Defoe, Richardson, and Fielding beat her to it), her writing exhibited a shrewd mastery of the form. Austen's works have had mass appeal, proving that daily life for women at the close of the eighteenth century was every bit an adventure and a battlefield.
指环王
In the fantasy film "The Lord of the Rings", by turning the developing 20th century's struggle with industrialization and war into a tale about an unlikely alliance of good souls battling an encroaching evil, the director synthesizes the traditional and the modern.(简介)
To find examples one need look no further than the success of fantasy film "The Lord of The Rings", one of the most renowned films in the year 2004. This outstanding film, which won all 11 Oscar awards that it was nominated, is understandable to most people as a tale about an imaginative alliance of good souls battling against a frightful evil, and may be further interpreted as struggle of humans with industrialization and war. The success of "The Lord of The Rings" is no doubt the representative of such great artistic works.(容易被接受;反应现实)
Architecture
1260:The gothic cathedral
Consecrated in 1260, the massive Chartres Cathedral in France marked the highpoint of gothic architecture. Its towering spires could be seen from twenty miles away, and innovations such as tall arcades, a narrow triforium, and a cavalcade of flying buttresses pushed the boundaries of architectural possibility. A popular pilgrimage destination in the Middle Ages, the Chartres Cathedral seemed to embody the popular conception of God at that time--dwarfing, unreachable, and unknowable.
1883:First steel framed structure
A new cathedral is born on the cusp of the twentieth century— the skyscraper. The Home Insurance building in Chicago contained the first fireproof steel frame, but the Woolworth building in New York City combined several new technologies, including a set of concrete piers delving into the bedrock below the waterline, portal arches, and high speed elevators. Mies Van der Roe carried the skyscraper to a whole new aesthetic level using metal and glass to give the monoliths an ethereal sense of lightness and spaciousness.
The Potala PalaceThe Potala Palace is Tibet’s cardinal landmark and a structure that deserves a place as one of the wonders of eastern architecture. The Potala palace was built by Songtsen Gampo, the first king of Tibet, in the 7th century. The roof and many other parts of the Palace were decorated by pure gold, which was contributed by the Buddhist in Tibet. Since its construction, the Potala Palace has been the home of each successive Dalai Lamas, the religious leader of Tibet. This building dedicates not only to religious belief but also to the accommodation place—over a thousand Lamas live in it today. Shaped by the people of Tibet, the Potala Palace has a far-reaching influence on the Tibetan’s religion as well as every day lives.
Bank of China Tower
Besides religious impact, buildings represent our intellectual and business behavior. Take Bank of China Tower as an example. It is located at No. 1 Garden Road, central Hong Kong. The tower itself is 315 meters high, and the unique style and spectacular appearance has made it one of the most distinguished buildings in the world. The BOC tower is a masterpiece of the world famous American-Chinese architect Mr. I.M.Pei. The inspiration of the design is derived from the elegant poise of bamboo. Now, the BOC tower is a symbolic of strength, vitality and growth, representing also the Bank’s commitment to the rapid development of Hong Kong and to servicing the community. The BOC tower has not only recorded a glorious page in the construction history of Hong Kong but also highlighted the new phases of expansion in Hong Kong.
Big BellConstructed in the Victory Age, the Big Bell is now the biggest bell in the world and is still one of the important parts of the English lives.
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