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·芬奇的名画，画中的女人带着神秘的微笑。
This week, the painting gave up a secret.
本周，这幅画泄露了一个秘密。
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.
科学家们用X射线检查了这幅有500多年历史的画作中一个极小部分的化学结构。研究人员发现了达·芬奇在这副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，蒙娜丽莎使用的油画颜料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.
这项研究于周三发表在《美国化学学会杂志》上。研究表明，这位意大利艺术家在16世纪初开始创作这幅画时，可能一直处于实验状态。
"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.
维克多·冈萨雷斯说：“达·芬奇是一个喜欢实验的人，他的每幅画在技术层面上都是完全不同的。”冈萨雷斯是这项研究的主要作者，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件作品的化学成分。
"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.
他在接受美联社采访时说：“在这种情况下，很有趣的是，《蒙娜丽莎》的画作底层确实使用了特殊的技术。”
Specifically, the researchers found a rare compound, plumbonacrite, in Leonardo's first layer of paint. The discovery, Gonzalez said, confirmed that da Vinci most likely used lead oxide to thicken and help dry his paint.
具体来说，研究人员在达·芬奇画作的第一层油漆中发现了一种罕见的铅化合物。冈萨雷斯说，这一发现证实了达·芬奇很可能使用氧化铅来增稠和帮助颜料干燥。
Carmen Bambach, a specialist in Italian art at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, called the research "very exciting." Bambach, who was not involved in the study, said it shows "Leonardo's spirit of passionate and constant experimentation as a painter," she wrote in an email.
纽约大都会艺术博物馆的意大利艺术专家卡门·班巴赫称这项研究“非常令人兴奋”。班巴赫没有参与这项研究，她在一封电子邮件中写道，这表明了“达·芬奇作为一名画家充满激情和不断实验的精神”。
The speck of paint in the imaging study is about the thickness of a human hair. It lies in the top right area of the painting.
成像研究中的油漆斑点大约有一根头发的厚度。它位于画作的右上角。
The scientists looked into its atomic structure using X-rays in a synchrotron. The machine moves particles at close to the speed of light, permitting researchers to look deeper into the paint structure.
科学家们利用同步加速器中的X射线研究了它的原子结构。该机器以接近光速的速度移动颗粒，使研究人员能够更深入地观察油漆结构。
"Plumbonacrite is really a fingerprint of his recipe," Gonzalez said. "It's the first time we can actually chemically confirm it."
冈萨雷斯说：“铅化合物确实是他配方中的特征，这是我们第一次真正用化学方法确认它。”
Dutch artist Rembrandt may have used a similar mixture when he was painting in the 17th century. Gonzalez and other researchers have found plumbonacrite in his work, too.
荷兰艺术家伦勃朗在17世纪绘画时可能使用了类似的混合物。冈萨雷斯和其他研究人员也在他的作品中发现了铅化合物。
"It tells us also that those recipes were passed on for centuries," Gonzalez said. "It was a very good recipe."
冈萨雷斯说：“它还告诉我们，这些配方已经流传了几个世纪，这是一种非常好的配方。”
Leonardo is thought to have melted lead oxide powder, which has an orange color, in linseed or walnut oil to make it thicker and dry faster.
达·芬奇被认为将橙色的氧化铅粉末融化在亚麻籽或核桃油中，使其更粘稠、干燥更快。
"What you will obtain is an oil that has a very nice golden color," Gonzalez said. "It flows more like honey."
冈萨雷斯说：“你会得到一种非常漂亮的金色的油，它流动起来更像蜂蜜。”
But the Mona Lisa — said by the Louvre to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine silk merchant — and additional works by Leonardo still have other secrets to tell.
但是，《蒙娜丽莎》和达·芬奇的其他作品还有其他秘密要讲，卢浮宫称《蒙娜丽莎》是佛罗伦萨一位丝绸商人的妻子丽莎·格拉迪尼的肖像。
"There are plenty, plenty more things to discover," Gonzalez said. "What we are saying is just a little brick more in the knowledge."
冈萨雷斯说：“还有很多很多东西等待被发现，我们所说的只是这些知识里的一小部分。”
I'm Caty Weaver.
我是凯蒂·韦弗。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)