[ti:Large White Statue Invites People to Stop and Listen] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]A large statue of a woman's head [00:03.72]with her finger pressing on her lips [00:06.56]now faces lower Manhattan, in New York City, [00:10.88]inviting the busy area to stop and listen. [00:15.36]The message of Barcelona-based artist Jaume Plensa's work [00:20.60]is "to keep silent, ... to listen to the profound noise [00:25.08]of the water talking to us," he said recently. [00:29.72]He added, "The water, when it moves, [00:33.32]makes a special sound, very special." [00:36.96]The statue, 24-meters tall, [00:40.84]is Plensa's biggest work to date. It is called "Water's Soul." [00:46.52]The statue's white head sits in front of tall buildings [00:50.96]in Jersey City's Newport waterfront in New Jersey, [00:55.08]facing the Hudson River. [00:57.32]It stands directly across from Greenwich Village [01:01.00]and about six kilometers from the Statue of Liberty. [01:05.28]On a recent morning, Plensa saw the piece [01:08.96]fully put together for the first time. [01:12.20]Its call for silence competed with engine sounds [01:16.36]and the cries and laughter of children. [01:19.24]But those are not the kind of noises [01:22.56]that Plensa says his artwork is targeting. [01:26.52]"I'm talking about the noise of information [01:29.60]and messages to us," he said at New York's Galerie Lelong Co, [01:35.40]where a public showing of new work will open on October 29. [01:40.44]Plensa, 66, was hired to create the piece about two years ago [01:47.08]by LaFrak and Simon Property Group. [01:50.56]The group has developed the area, [01:52.72]including the place where "Water's Soul" stands. [01:57.68]The statue shows a real-life person whose image was scanned. [02:02.60]The piece was made from various materials [02:06.00]at Plensa's Barcelona studio. [02:08.80]It was shipped in 23 containers, each 12 meters long, [02:14.04]to Jersey City to be put together. [02:17.68]The sculpture is visible from far and wide. [02:21.40]Some local people have watched [02:23.72]the piece being put together since August. [02:27.32]They wonder why the statue seems to tell people [02:31.12]to be quiet, an act known as shushing. [02:34.72]"Why is she shushing?" asked Cleveland Rice, age 63. [02:41.32]"I'm sure there's got to be some kind of meaning behind it," [02:45.00]said William Schoentube, age 53. [02:49.28]Huan Yan, age 31, said, "I'd say it's telling New York City [02:55.36]to keep this area a secret because we don't want [02:58.88]to drive more people to work here." [03:01.92]Miriam, age 46, who did not give her last name, [03:07.16]has a direct view of the statue [03:09.72]from her apartment window. [03:12.16]She does not like it. [03:14.56]"I don't find it fitting in the entire environment," she said. [03:20.12]Plensa has been showing his work around the world [03:23.48]for more than 40 years. [03:26.08]He said it can take time for his art to become accepted [03:30.16]into different environments. [03:32.60]"In the public space, the piece is the piece, [03:36.48]and it's competing with so many other objects," he said. [03:41.20]Plensa said the sculpture is not sending a message to Manhattan, [03:46.40]and she is not "shushing," but silently calling for quiet. [03:51.84]"In many of my pieces I'm asking the viewer: [03:55.84]Close your eyes and look inside yourself, [03:58.88]because you have an amazing quantity of beauty hidden inside," he said. [04:05.00]"Water's Soul" can best be viewed from the river, he added. [04:09.72]Like many of Plensa's works, [04:12.28]including several new pieces at the Galerie Lelong show, [04:16.92]"Water's Soul" is the head of a woman with closed eyes. [04:21.44]His pieces mostly show women, he says, [04:25.56]because he sees life and the world as female, [04:29.44]while "boys are just an accident [04:32.16]- a very nice accident, but an accident." [04:37.00]I'm John Russell. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM