Last week, I attended a lecture on lost     1    (文明). It was about Pompeii and Loulan, both of which were busy and w    2    about 2,000 years ago. F    3    in the 8th century, Pompeii was d    4    by a volcano, a natural     5    (灾难) that buried the whole city alive.    6    (与……不同) Pompeii, Loulan disappeared mainly because of the damage humans did to the environment. Once a     7    (商业的) city on the famous Silk Road between the East and the West, Loulan was covered with huge trees. But the trees were cut down and the city was     8     (逐渐地) covered over by sand. T    9     we ought to a    10    great importance to environment protection.

The Renaissance (from the 14th to the 17th century)

New ideas and values gradually replaced old ones from the Middle Ages. As a result, painters c    1     less on religious themes. They began to a    2     a more humanistic attitude to life. An important b    3     during this period was the use of perspective by Masaccio. I    4     painters such as Leonardo da Vince, Michelangelo, and Raphael built upon Giotto and Masaccio’s innovations to produce some of the greatest art that Europe had ever seen.

Another innovation was the use of oil paints. With their deep colors and realism, some of the best oil paintings look like photographs. While painters as early as Da Vinci had used oil, this technique reached its h    5     with Rembrandt, who gained a r    6     as a master of shadow and light.

In subject matter, the emphasis increasingly s    7     from religious themes to people and the world around us. Kings, n    8    , and people of high rank wanted to p    9     accurate pictures of themselves and the people they loved. Others wanted paintings showing important historical events or stories from mythology. Finally, most c    10     wanted paintings that were beautiful and interesting to look at.