Question

[Lê Quỳnh Anh]

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 43 to 50.

         With Robert Laurent and William Zorach, direct carving enters into the story of modern sculpture in the United States. Direct carving - in which the sculptors themselves carve stone or wood with mallet and chisel - must be recognized as something more than just a technique. Implicit in it is an aesthetic principle as well: that the medium has certain qualities of beauty and expressiveness with which sculptors must bring their own aesthetic sensibilities into harmony. For example, sometimes the shape or veining in a piece of stone or wood suggests, perhaps even dictates, not only the ultimate form, but even the subject matter.

The technique of direct carving was a break with the nineteenth-century tradition in which the making of a clay model was considered the creative act and the work was then turned over to studio assistants to be cast in plaster or bronze or carved in marble.

Neoclassical sculptors seldom held a mallet or chisel in their own hands, readily conceding that the assistants they employed were far better than they were at carving the finished marble. With the turn-of-the-century Crafts movement and the discovery of nontraditional sources of inspiration, such as wooden African figures and masks, there arose a new urge for hands-on, personal execution of art and an interaction with the medium. Even as early as the 1880's and 1890's, nonconformist European artists were attempting direct carving. By the second decade of the twentieth century, Americans — Laurent and Zorach most notably — had adopted it as their primary means of working.

Born in France, Robert Laurent(1890-1970)was a prodigy who received his education in the United States. In 1905 he was sent to Paris as an apprentice to an art dealer, and in the years that followed he witnessed the birth of Cubism, discovered primitive art, and learned the techniques of woodcarving from a frame maker.

Back in New York City by 1910, Laurent began carving pieces such as The Priestess, which reveals his fascination with African, pre-Columbian, and South Pacific art. Taking a walnut plank, the sculptor carved the expressive, stylized design. It is one of the earliest examples of direct carving in American sculpture. The plank's form dictated the rigidly frontal view and the low relief. Even its irregular shape must have appealed to Laurent as a break with a long-standing tradition that required a sculptor to work within a perfect rectangle or square.

The word “medium” in line 5 could be used to refer to

A. stone or wood

B. mallet and chisel

C. technique

D. principle

Answer 1

[Dương Hoàn Anh]

Đáp án A

Thông tin: Direct carving - in which the sculptors themselves carve stone or wood with mallet and chisel - must be recognized as something more than just a technique. Implicit in it is an aesthetic principle as well: that the medium has certain qualities of beauty and expressiveness with which sculptors must bring their own aesthetic sensibilities into harmony.

Dịch nghĩa: Chạm khắc trực tiếp - trong đó các nhà điêu khắc tự khắc bằng đá hoặc gỗ với vồ và đục - phải được công nhận là một cái gì đó nhiều hơn một kỹ thuật. Tiềm ẩn trong nó cũng là một nguyên tắc thẩm mỹ: rằng phương tiện có những phẩm chất nhất định của vẻ đẹp và biểu cảm mà nhà điêu khắc phải mang sự nhạy cảm thẩm mỹ riêng của chúng vào sự hòa hợp.

Như vậy từ “medium” chính là các phương tiện để nhà điêu khắc thực hiện công việc, mà trong bài được đưa ra cụ thể là đá hoặc gỗ.

Phương án A. stone or wood = đá hoặc gỗ, là phương án chính xác nhất.

          B. mallet and chisel  = vồ và đục

Đây là những dụng cụ để thực hiện việc điêu khắc, chúng không được miêu tả là những vật có vẻ đẹp nhất định mà nhà điêu khắc cần khai thác.

          C. technique (n) = kỹ thuật

“Technique” được nhắc đến để nhấn mạnh vai trò của chạm khắc trực tiếp nhiều hơn một kỹ thuật đơn thuần, chứ không phải một phương tiện mang vẻ đẹp trong nó.

          D. principle (n) = nguyên tắc

Bản thân từ “medium” chính là nằm trong nguyên tắc được nhắc đến, chứ không phải thay thế cho từ “principle”.