Chapter 11　Busts and Reliefs

Has your mother, father, or teacher ever told you not to say the word bust?“If he eats any more, he'll bust！”is very poor English. I agree with your mother or your father or your teacher.What you should say is“burst.”

But now I'm going to tell you how you can use the word bust so your mother and your father and your teacher will like to hear you use it. In bad English, bust means burst.In good English, a bust is a piece of sculpture showing the upper part of a person-often the head, neck, shoulders, and chest or sometimes just the head and neck.A bust that is made to look like one particular person is called a portrait bust.When you see it you can say，“Why that looks just like so-and-so！”

The ancient Egyptians made some very good portrait busts, but the people who made them best were the ancient Romans. The old Roman busts are so lifelike that they look like real people you might see walking down the street today.As you probably remember, the Greeks put Greek noses on most of their statues even though many Greeks didn't have Greek noses.But the Romans liked to make their busts look just like the real person.If a man had a crooked nose or a double chin, the sculptor made that man's bust with a crooked nose or double chin.If the man had a worried look, the sculptor made the bust with a worried look.