Read the 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 7 to 14.

The sculptural legacy that the new United States inherited from its colonial predecessors was far from a rich one, and in fact, in 1776 sculpture as an art form was still in the hand of artisans and craftspeople. Stone carvers engraved their motifs of skulls and crossbones and other religious icons of death into the gray slabs that we still see standing today in old burial grounds. Some skilled craftspeople made intricately carved wooden ornamentations for furniture or architectural decorations, while others carved wooden shop signs and ships' figureheads. Although they often achieved expression and formal excellence in their generally primitive style, they remained artisans skilled in the craft of carving and constituted a group distinct from what we normally think of as "sculptors" in today's use of the word. 　　 On the rare occasion when a fine piece of sculpture was desired, Americans turned to foreign sculptors, as in the 1770's when the cities of New York and Charleston, South Carolina, commissioned the Englishman Joseph Wilton to make marble statues of William Pitt. Wilton also made a lead equestrian image of King George III that was created in New York in 1770 and torn down by zealous patriots six years later. A few marble memorials with carved busts, urns, or other decorations were produced in England and brought to the colonies to be set in the walls of churches - as in King's Chapel in Boston. But sculpture as a high art, practiced by artists who knew both the artistic theory of their Renaissance-Baroque-Rococo predecessors and the various technical procedures of modeling, casting, and carving rich three-dimensional forms, was not known among Americans in 1776. Indeed, for many years thereafter, the United States had two groups from which to choose - either the local craftspeople or the imported talent of European sculptors. The eighteenth century was not one in which powered sculptural conceptions were developed. Add to this the timidity with which unschooled artisans originally trained as stonemasons, carpenters, or cabinetmakers - attacked the medium from which they sculpture made in the United States in the late eighteenth century. 

What is the main idea of the passage?

Đáp án đúng: A

Giải thích: Dẫn chứng “The sculptural legacy that the new United States inherited from its colonial predecessors was far from a rich one.”

Dịch: Di sản điêu khắc mà nước Mĩ kế thừa từ tổ tiên thời kì thuộc địa không thể coi là dồi dào.

Đáp án đúng: D

Giải thích: Dẫn chứng “On the rare occasion when a fine piece of sculpture was desired, Americans turned to foreign sculptors, as in the 1770's when the cities of New York and Charleston, South Carolina, commissioned the Englishman Joseph Wilton to make marble statues of William Pitt.”

Dịch: Trong những dịp đặc biệt cần đến tác phẩm điêu khắc, người Mỹ tìm đến những nghệ nhân nước ngoài, như vào những năm 1770 khi các thành phố New York và Charleston thuộc Nam Carolina, ủy quyền cho một người Anh tên Joseph Wilton khắc tượng William Pitt bằng cẩm thạch.

Đáp án đúng: A

Giải thích: Dẫn chứng “Stone carvers engraved their motifs of skulls and crossbones and other religious icons of death into the gray slabs that we still see standing today in old burial grounds.”

Dịch: Thợ khắc đá đã chạm khắc các thiết kế đầu lâu, xương chéo và các biểu tượng tôn giáo khác liên quan đến cái chết lên các phiến đá màu xám mà ngày nay chúng ta vẫn thấy trong những di tích chôn vùi dưới lòng đất.

Đáp án đúng: B

Giải thích: Dẫn chứng “Some skilled craftspeople made intricately carved wooden ornamentations for furniture or architectural decorations, while others carved wooden shop signs and ships' figureheads. Although they often achieved expression and formal excellence in their generally primitive style, …”

Dịch: Một số thợ thủ công lành nghề đã tạo ra những tác phẩm khắc gỗ tinh xảo để trang trí nội thất hoặc kiến trúc, trong khi đó, những người khác khắc gỗ thành biển hiệu cửa hàng và tượng gắn mũi tàu. Mặc dù họ đạt được sự biểu đạt và tính ưu tú về hình thức với phong cách nhìn chung còn thô sơ của mình, …

Đáp án đúng: D

Giải thích: Dẫn chứng “On the rare occasion when a fine piece of sculpture was desired, Americans turned to foreign sculptors, as in the 1770's when the cities of New York and Charleston, South Carolina, commissioned the Englishman Joseph Wilton to make marble statues of William Pitt.”

Dịch: Trong những dịp đặc biệt cần đến tác phẩm điêu khắc, người Mỹ tìm đến những nghệ nhân nước ngoài, như vào những năm 1770 khi các thành phố New York và Charleston thuộc Nam Carolina, ủy quyền cho một người Anh tên Joseph Wilton khắc tượng William Pitt bằng cẩm thạch.

Đáp án đúng: C

Giải thích: Dẫn chứng “A few marble memorials with carved busts, urns, or other decorations were produced in England and brought to the colonies to be set in the walls of churches - as in King's Chapel in Boston.”

Dịch: Tác phẩm điêu khắc như vậy không có ở Mỹ.

Đáp án đúng: C

Giải thích: Dẫn chứng “But sculpture as a high art, practiced by artists who knew both the artistic theory of their Renaissance-Baroque-Rococo predecessors and the various technical procedures of modeling, casting, and carving rich three-dimensional forms, was not known among Americans in 1776. Indeed, for many years thereafter, the United States had two groups from which to choose - either the local craftspeople or the imported talent of European sculptors.”

Dịch: Nó ít lỗi lạc, tinh chế hơn.