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.

The Art World

One of the major problems in the art world is how to distinguish and promote an artist. In effect, a market must be created for an artist to be successful. The practice of signing and numbering individual prints was introduced by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, the nineteenth-century artist best known for the painting of his mother, called "Arrangement in Grey and Black", but known to most of US as "Whistler's Mother". Whistler's brother-in-law, Sir Francis Seymour Haden, a less well-known artist, had speculated that collectors might find prints more attractive if they knew that there were only a limited number of copies produced. By signing the work in pencil, an artist could guarantee and personalize each print.

As soon as Whistler and Haden began the practice of signing and numbering their prints, thefr work began to increase in value. When other artists noticed that the signed prints commanded higher prices, they began copying the procedure.

Although most prints are signed on the right-hand side in the margin below the image, the placement of the signature is a matter of personal choice. Indeed, prints have been signed within image, in any of the margins, or even on the reverse side of the 'print. Wherever the artist elects to sign it, a signed print is still valued above an unsigned one, even in the same edition.

The word “speculated” in the paragraph I could best be replaced by

A. guessed

B. noticed

C. denied

D. announced

Answer 1

[Dương Hoàn Anh]

Đáp án A.

Keyword: speculate, paragraph 1.

Clue: “Sir Francis Seymour Haden, a less well-known artist, had speculated that collectors might find prints more attractive if they knew that there were only a limited number of copies produced”: Sir Haden, một họa sĩ kém tên tuổi hơn, đã xét thấy rằng các nhà sưu tầm tranh sẽ đánh giá cao bức tranh hơn nếu như họ biết rằng chỉ có một số lượng có hạn bản sao được vẽ.

Phân tích:

A. guessed: đoán

B. noticed: nhận thay

C. denied: chối

D. announced: tuyên bố

- speculate: đưa ra ý kiến về một cái gì đó mà không biết tất cả các chi tiết và sự thật. Vậy đáp án gần nghĩa nhất là A.

Ex: The doctors speculated that he died of a cerebral shock caused by a blow on the head: Các bác sĩ suy đoán rằng ông đã chết vì sốc não do một cú đánh vào đầu.

Ex: I can only speculate on the average number of cat per household to tell how many cats there are in the world: Tôi chỉ có thể suy đoán về số lượng mèo trung bình ở mỗi hộ gia đình để suy ra có bao nhiêu mèo trên thể giới.

Kiến thức cần nhớ

- speculate (v) / 'spek.jə.leɪt/: giả định, cho rằng = hypothesise / haɪ'pɒθəsaɪz / = surmise /sə'maɪz / = guess - speculate on/ upon/ about sth: nghiên cứu một vấn đề