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Varni Study Circle Reading Varni Study Circle: Sculpture

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VARNI STUDY CIRCLE READING VARNI STUDY CIRCLE

READING PASSAGE-1

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1-13, which are based on Reading Passage 1.

Reading passage 1 has five paragraphs, A-E

Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below. Write the correct
number I-V, in boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet.

List of Headings

I. The history of sculpture

II.-The raost legendary sculptors

III. Where to see sculpture collected

IV. The diverse forms of statuette work

V. What is figurine?

1. Paragraph A

2. Paragraph B

3. Paragraph C

4. Paragraph D

5. Faragraph E

SCULPTURE

A. Sculpture, as an art form, is one of the more wide-ranging, diverse, and surprising in western art. Ranging
from the monumental figurative sculptures of ancient Greece to the abstract sculptures of contemporary art,
the figurines of prehistoric civilizations to the kinetic sculpture, sculpture gardens, and assemblage pieces of
the twentieth century.

B. The history of sculpture, as far as we know, started in the Upper Paleolithic, with a little figurative sculpture
known as the Löwenmensch. It’s thought to be forty thousand years old. From this Paleolithic figure found in a
German cave- through the statues of Mesopotamia, the Hellenistic sculptures and Roman art, through the
Romanesque and Gothic reliefs and architectural sculpture -to the nineteenth century, sculpture was
dominated by a number of themes. Primary among these were religion, spirituality, and ritual. Some of the
most famous images from the art world-the Great Sphinx of Ancient Egypt, the statues of deities from Greek
and Roman sculpture, the carvings and relief’s from Romanesque and Gothic art, like Chartres Cathedral – are
all essentially religious icons) They were merely commissioned by people with money (i.e. the Church) and
created by artists. It wasn’t until the High Renaissance, really, that the connection between the art of

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sculpture and religion was broken. Whilst sculptors like Michelangelo, Donatello, and Leonardo da Vinci used
religious imagery, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, sculpture became more concerned with
anatomically accurate and naturalistic representations. And this shift changed the history of sculpture.
Through Baroque and Rococo, through neoclassicism and up to the modernism, sculpture was about rendering
form accurately with a representational eye. Whilst Auguste Rodin was the hugely influential sculpture artist
that triggered the turn to modern sculpture, Constant in Brancusi was the figure that gave the art form the
inspiration it needed to move away from the representational form.

C. People are often interested in hearing about the most important, influential, and famous sculptors around.
And honestly, there are a lot of them. However, the important thing to remember is that, as any art historian
will tell you, for most of the history of art, we weren't so focused on the names of painters, sculptors, and
writers as we are now. The earliest known sculpture from the ancient word from the classical period but also
from the ancient civilizations preceding this art was not considered so much of a personal, individualistic
mode of expression. Rather, it was something more of a social enterprise, a dedicative activity. Consequently,
some of the most famous sculptures we have - chessmen made of mammoth ivory, ancient art from
Mesopotamia, the high relief found on old cathedrals - these are unattributed to any individual. The famous
sculptor' is a category that is necessarily going to miss people out. Again, it wasn't really until the Renaissance
that sculpture, as for the rest of the visual arts, came to be considered through the lenses of individual names.
Names like Benvenuto Cellini, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, these came to be associated with
some of the most beautiful pieces of art sculpture ever made. However, even these dudes didn't work alone.
In their respective sculpture workshop, they hid many assistants, students, and observers. And so, even at this
point, sculpture was always a collaborative task. Of course, the history of sculpture has remembered only
these names-just as it has remembered the names of Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Antonio Canova, Pablo Picasso,
Auguste Rodin, Henry Moore, Marce! Duchamp, and others.

D. . With the poet, T.S. Eliot, that the history of art is a continuous tension between tradition and individual
talent. If a sculptor works in a completely idiosyncratic style, nobody is really going o understand what he or
she is going for. If that sculptor builds on the work of past sculptors however, audiences will have the
knowledge and reference points to navigate the different ideas and styles that the sculptor is going for. So,
different styles of sculpture, whilst they might seen. Miraculously new, are actually always built on previous
movements and styles. Take Michelangelo. His work is thought of as the peak of Renaissance sculpture. Yet, he
was building on the ideas and techniques of Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Nicola and Giovanni Pisano. The
same with Rodin-another considered completely innovative. Yet, his work was a response to ard development
of the neoclassical and romantic styles of his day.

E. Finally, then, let’s talk about some of the best places to find the best sculpture. All over the world, there are
museums housing exquisitely beautiful objects. Of course, however, some are a little better than others. Start
with Rome and Florence. These are the homes of the Italian Renaissance- and the former also boasts being the
seat of late antiquity. These Italian cities are like living museums. Then head to New York, where the
Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ard the Museum of Modern Art will blow you away with the
variety of their work. Then there’s Paris and London, the capitals of two countries whose colonial history has
collected all the treasures of the world.

Questions 6-8

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Read the following statements (Questions 6-8) and the list of people below. Match each statement with the correct
people, A-C.

Write the correct letter, A-C, in boxes 6-8 on your answer sheet.

6. With entirely newness, his artwork highlighted love life of his own days.

7. His thoughts highlighted that chronicle art is nonstop nervousness between ethnicity and solo style.

8. People were of the idea that his work is at the top of new beginning.

List of people

A. T.S.Eliot
B. Rodin
C. Michelangelo

Questions 9-13

Answer the following questions below. Write NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS in boxes 9-13 on your answer sheet.

9. Who was/were Chartres Cathedral?

10. What was/were the chief subject/s of the sculpture up till 19. Century?

11. Which place has been credited as place of tardy remains of ancient times?

12. When according to the passage, the history of sculpture tentatively known to be started?

13. Who other people work with the artists in the workshop?

READING PASSAGE-2

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 14-27, which are based on Reading Passage 2.

THE METAL BRIDGE

A. The metal bridge is located on the River Severn in Coalbrookdale, which is in the West of England It
was the first of its kind in Europe and is universally recognized as a symbol of the Industrial
Revolution. It was the first cast-iron bridge to be successfully build, the first large iron structure of
The industrial age in Europe, even though many centuries before Chinese were expert iron-casters.

B. The River Severn, which starts flowing on the Welsh mountains and eventually enters the sea
between Cardiff and Bristol, is the longest crossable river in Britain. Rivers were earlier used to be
equivalent to today’s motorways as they were extensively used for transportation. It was perfect for
transportation purposes, and special boats were made to navigate the water. The Severn became one
of the busiest rivers in Europe by the middle of the eighteenth century. At many places, the river
banks were lined with wharves and the river was often crowded by boats loading and unloading.

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Among the goods coming upstream were luxuries such as sugar, coffee and wine. Local goods,
included coal, iron products, grain and cider were sent by river.

C. At Coalbrookdale, Basil Brook patented a steel-making process and built a furnace in 1638. This later
became the property of Abraham Darby-I. Darby had started a business in Bristol after serving an
apprenticeship in Barmingham. He moved to Coalbrookdale in 1710 with an idea that coke derived
from coal could provide a more economical alternative to charcoal as a fuel for iron making. This
showed the way to more efficient and economical iron making from abundant supplies of coal, iron
and limestone in the area.

D. Abrham Darby II had the idea of building a bridge over the Severn, as ferry stores of all kinds across
the river. In particular the large quantities of fuel for the furnance at Coalbrookdale and other
surrounding ironworks, involved considerable expense and delay. So, he pioneered the manufacture
of cast iron. Abraham Darby III who was born in 1750, organized a meeting in 1775 to plan the
building of a bridge. Thomas Pritchard, a local architect designed the bridge.

E. In 1778-79 during winter, sections were cast for a 7 meter wide bridge with a span of 31 meters, 12
meters above the river. During the summer of 1779, the construction started and it took three
months. Nobody was injures during the construction process. Work approach roads continued for
another two years, and the bridge was opened to traffic in 1781. Abraham Darby III funded the
bridge by commissioning paintings and engravings. He lost a lot of finance on the project as the cost
went nearly double the estimate. He died in 1789 at the age of 39 leaving massive debts. The district
did not flourish for much longer, and during the 19 and early 20 centuries factories closed down.
Since 1934 only the pedestrians were allowed to use it. The Iron Bridge now stands at the heart of
the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site was universally recognized as the symbol of the Industrial
Revolution.

F. Despite its pioneering technology, no eye-witness accounts are known and certainly no plans have
survived. So, it was always been a mystery how the bridge was built. However, recently experiments,
investigations and findings have shed new light on accurately how the bridge was built. In 1997, Elias
Martin’s small water colour sketch come into light in Stockholm, the Swedish capital. There are
numerous artists who painted the views of the bridge.

G. Up until lately it had been understood that the bridge had been built from both banks, with the inner
supports tilted across the river. This would have allowed river traffic to continue unhindered during
construction. But the picture clearly shows sections of the bridge being raised from a barrage in the
river. It contradicted everything historians had assumed about the bridge, and it was even considered
that the picture could have been a fake as no other had come to light. So, in 2001 in order to see if
the bridge could have been constructed in the way depicted in the watercolor, a half scale model of
the bridge was built. Meanwhile, Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, along with a 3DCAD (computer

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aided design) model by English Heritage, did a detailed archaeologicel, historical and photographic
survey.

H. The results show a lot more about how the bridge was built. We now know that all the big castings
were made individually as they are all slightly different. The bridge wasn’t welded and bolted
together as metal bridges are these days. Instead it was fitted together using a complex system of
joints normally used for wood-but this was the traditional way in which iron structures were joined
at the same time. The construction of the model proved in which iron structures were joined at the
time. The construction of the model proved that the painting shows a very realistic method of
constructing the bridge that could work and was in all probability the method used.

I. Now only one mystery remains in the Iron Bridge story. The Swedish watercolor sketch had
apparently been torn from a book which would have contained similar sketches. It had been drawn
and by a Swedish artist who lived in London for 12 years and travelled Britain drawing what he saw.
Wer-Nobody knows what has happened to the rest of the book, but perhaps the other sketches still
exist somewhere. If they are ever found they could provide further valuable evidence of how the Iron
Bridge was constructed.
Questions 14-17
The text has nine paragraphs, A-I
Which paragraph contains the following information? Write the correct letter, A-I, boxes 14-17 on your
answer sheet.
14. Reason of building a bridge across the River Severn.
15. Information of financing the construction of the bridge.
16. Reason to choose Coalbrookdale by iron makers.

17. Procedure of joining the parts of the metal bridge.

Questions 18-21
Look at the following statements (Questions 18-21) and the list of years below. Match each statement
with the correct date. A-G.

Write the correct letter, A-G, in boxes 18-21 on your answer sheet.
18. The furnace bought by Darby originally was constructed.
19. The road leading to the bridge was constructed
20. The bridge was closed to traffic
21. A model of the bridge was built

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Questions 22-27
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the boxes 22-27 on your answer sheet,
write

TRUE If the statement agrees with the information


FALSE if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN If there is no information on this
22. There is no documented confirmation of how the original bridge was constructed.

23. Elias Martin painting of the bridge was the only one when it was new.
24. The original bridge and the model took equally long to construct.
25. It is just a thought that other sketches from the book still exists somewhere which can give more
information about construction of the metal bridge.

26. The other paintings of the bridge is thought to have been made by Elias Martin.
27. The Swedish artist was famous for his water color sketches.
READING PASSAGE-3
You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 28-40, which are based on Reading Passage 3.

WORKING FROM HOME


When it comes to a company’s work from home policy, everyone is different. Your productivity and overall
success as a remote employee depends entirely on your preferred work style. That’s also the reason it’s hard
to find any solid data on whether or not people are more productive at home. Anecdotally, it seems to boil
down to personality type and the job you do. We’re all different, and some of us can’t fathom getting work
done with a TV nearby and all our comforts of home surrounding us. While others find it a struggle to stay
focused among office chatter and other distractions.

Employees aren’t the only ones who benefit from working from home; a company can benefit just as greatly
from a remote employee. “For employers telecommuting can limit absences, increase productivity, and save
money. This is most common in the tech sphere because tech companies have the infrastructure to maintain

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remote workers. With telecommuting the idea of the office space is changing but many are saying that it is
for the better,” says Ari Zoldan CEO, Quantum Networks, LLC.

Simon Slade, CEO and co-founder of Affilorama has experienced first hand the benefits of having remote
workers at his company. “By allowing employees to work remotely,” he says, “you can hire the best of the
best while not limiting yourself by geographical restrictions. At Doubledot Media, 19 of our 28 employees
work remotely, and I have seen no difference in job satisfaction or work performance. If anything my remote
employees’ production rate is higher because they are better equipped to avoid distractions.” The benefits
also extend to his bottom line. “telecommuting saves me money because they pay for their own
computer,electricity and other utilities.”
In fact, opening the talent pool seems to be one of the biggest employer benefits when it comes to a work
from home policy. Jessica Greenwalt, Founder of Pixelkeet and Co-Founder of CrowdMed says, “Pixelkeet
has been able to attract very talented designers and developers who want to live the freelance lifestyle
without having to fish for work on their own. It’s also been easy for us to work with clients from around the
globe because we have a team member in a timezone convenient for communicating with most clients.”

For some companies, working from home can be a matter of more hours in the day. This is especially true for
small businesses and new companies where they can’t afford to waste even one minute of the workday.
“Being a small startup, every hour of the day is important,” says Tim Segraves, co-founder and CTO of
Revaluate, “If we all spent an hour of day commuting, that would be almost 20 hours a week that would go
to commuting instead of building out our product and business.”

Companies might also retain more employees if they enact a work from home benefit. Stanford professor,
Nick Bloom, conducted a study to evaluate the benefits of working from home. He found workers were
more productive, got more done, worked longer hours, took less breaks, and used less sick time than their
in-office counterparts. These employees were also happier and quit less than those who went into the office
on a regular basis. He estimated that, on average, the company saved about $2,000 per every employee who
worked from home.

People who work from home have an easier time eating healthy and striking a manageable work-life
balance. Eating healthier and having more time to spend with your family can help you feel less stressed,
which will make for a happier more productive workday. A 2011 study from Staples found that employees
who worked from home experienced 25 percent less stress. Employees also reported that they were able to
maintain a better work-life balance, as well as eat healthier.

Cofounder of Simple Texting, Felix Dubinksy, notes the health benefits of being at home. “It’s much easier to
keep a healthy diet while eating at home. You save a lot of stressful hours that would have been spent
commuting. You can construct a comfortable work environment for yourself. Spend more time with family.”

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Alessandra Ceresa, Marketing Director of Greenrope, finds he can balance his work and life much easier
when he works remote, “Because much of what we do is not constrained within the hours of 9- 5, I am able
to go to the gym in the middle of the day, take a walk, do errands. When I take these sorts of breaks, the
moment I sit back down to work, I am focused. My life is balanced because I get all of my work done and
have time to actually live my life.”

For Charlie Harary, CEO of H3 & Company and professor at the Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University,
cutting down on how many days a week one of his employees needed to commute allowed one employee to
get more done in her working hours. “I have an employee that has a two- hour commute to the office each
way. Once day, she mentioned to me that she had to leave early to get home in time to make a family
obligation. I asked her why and she detailed out her daily commute. I was shocked by the sheer difficulty it
was for her to get to the office each day.”

He immediately proposed a work-from-home option. At first, the employee wasn’t sure how well working
remote would work for her or her boss, but after coming up with a suitable arrangement, both Harary and
his employee were happy to see how well it worked. So happy, in fact, that she now works from home twice
a week.

Questions 28-33
Complete the following sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the text for each
answer. Write your answer in boxes 28-33 on your answer sheet.
28. A person’s productivity and on the whole accomplishment as a far-flung employee depends Completely
on his………..

29. Some people are not comfortable with home surrounding, while others find it difficult to focus due
to………………. and other interruptions.
30. Employees as well as the………………………Both are benefited from work home culture.
31. Telecommuting can add a boundary on…………….. amplify……………… and save …………….for owners of the
company,
32. Many feel due to………………the design of the office space is altering which is for the betterment
33. The reason why telecommuting saves money is that they give for their possessions like And other
utilities.

Questions 34-36

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Write the correct letter A-D in boxes 34-36 on your answer sheet.
34. According to Alessandra ceresa work-life balance is easier while working from home because
A. It gives an employee time for health and household chores.
B. all work can be done with time to live for self which helps to keep on more focused.
C. 9-5 job seems is not sufficient for work-life balance.
D. working from hone saves commuting time.

35 According to Felix Dubinksy, working from home helps to


A. restructure existence to keep oneself hassle free.
B. Eat healthy, spend time with family and live happily
C. Have healthy diet, save travel hours, make an easy work setting and spend family time.

D. even work on weekends

36 A2011 study from Staples found that the employees working from home are
A. 25% more stressed
B.75% happier

C.50% more work efficient


D. 100% stress free

37 According to Simon Slade, the employee’s production rate is higher because

A. telecommuting saves money of the company.


B. Employee’s are more serious and sincere while working from home.
C. Employees pay for their own computer and electricity.
D. employees are equipped to circumvent distractions in a better way

Questions 38-40
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading passage 3?
In boxes 38-40 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE If the statement agrees with the information
FALSE If the statement contradicts the information

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NOT GIVEN If there is no information on this
38. Companies will surely hold more employees if they work from home.
39. A company has noted that even if more than half of employees work from home they are fully satisfied
and their work performance is not less than others.
40. Government is taking a lot of initiatives to encourage people to work from home.

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