Is an example for practicing the reading exam of the TOEFL, but you can use this for preparing your Cambridge exam. There are multiple examples of reading exams in this document.
With Robert Laurent and William Zorach, direct carving enters into the story of
modem sculpture in the United States. Direct carving – in which the sculptors
themselves carve stone or wood with mallet and chisel – must be recognized as
Line something more than just a technique. Implicit in it is an aesthetic principle as well:
(5) 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
(10) 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.
(15) 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
(20) and Zorach most notably - had adopted it as their primary means of working.
Born in France, Robert Laurent (1890-197Q) 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.
(25) 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
(30) have appealed to Laurent as a break with a long-standing tradition that required a
sculptor to work within a perfect rectangle or square.
1. The word "medium" in line 5 could 2. What is one of the fundamental
be used to refer to principles of direct carving?
(A) stone or wood (A) A sculptor must work with
(B) mallet and chisel talented assistants.
(C) technique (B) The subject of a sculpture
(D) principle should be derived from classical
stories.
(C) The material is an important
element in a sculpture.
(D) Designing a sculpture is a more
creative activity than carving it.
, 3. The word "dictates" in line 8 is 6. Where did Robert Laurent learn to
closest in meaning to carve?
(A) reads aloud (A) New York
(B) determines (B) Africa
(C) includes (C) The South Pacific
(D) records (D) Paris
4. How does direct carving differ from 7. The phrase "a break with" in line 30
the nineteenth-century tradition of is closest in meaning to
sculpture?
(A) a destruction of
(A) Sculptors are personally (B) a departure from
involved in the carving of a (C) a collapse of
piece. (D) a solution to
(B) Sculptors find their inspiration in
neoclassical sources.
(C) Sculptors have replaced the 8. The piece titled The Priestess has all
mallet and chisel with other of the following characteristics
tools. EXCEPT:
(D) Sculptors receive more formal
training. (A) The design is stylized.
(B) It is made of marble.
(C) The carving is not deep.
5. The word "witnessed" in line 23 is (D) It depicts the front of a person.
closest in meaning to
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