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, their 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 author mentions all of the following as reasons why a collector prefers a signed print EXCEPT _____.

A. it guarantees the print’s authenticity

B. it makes the print more personal

C. it encourages higher prices for the print

D. it limits the number of copies of the print

Answer 1

[Dương Hoàn Anh]

Đáp án C.

Keyword: reason, collector prefers, a signed print EXCEPT

Clue: “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”: 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. Bằng cách ký bút chì vào bức vẽ, hoạ sĩ có thể đảm bảo và cá nhân hoá cho bức tranh.

Phân tích:

     A. It guarantees the print’s authenticity: Việc này đảm bảo tính xác thực của bức tranh.

     B. It makes the print more personal: Việc này khiến bức tranh trở nên riêng tư hơn.

     C. It encourages higher prices for the print: Việc này khiến bức tranh có giá cao hơn.

      D. It limits the number of copies of the print: Việc này giới hạn số lượng bản sao của bức tranh.

Ta thấy các đáp án A, B, D đều được nhắc tới trong clue trên. Ý của đáp án C không được nhắc tới trong bất cứ chỗ nào của bài đọc.