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Bài đọc
Graffiti
A. The word ‘graffiti’ derives from the Greek word graphein, meaning to write. This evolved into the Latin word graffito. Graffiti is the plural form of graffito. Simply put, graffiti is a drawing, scribbling or writing on a flat surface. Today, we equate graffiti with the ‘New York’ or ‘Hip Hop’ style which emerged from New York City in the 1970s. Hip Hop was originally an inner-city concept. It evolved from the rap music made in Brooklyn and Harlem in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Donald Clarke, a music historian, has written that rap music was a reaction to the disco music of the period. Disco was centred in the rich, elitist clubs of Manhattan and rap emerged on street corners as an alternative. Using lyrical rhythms and ‘beat boxing’, the music was a way to express feelings about inner-city life. Hip Hop emerged as turntables began to be used to form part of the rhythm by ‘scratching’ (the sound created by running the stylus over the grooves of an LP). As Hip Hop music emerged so did a new outlet for artistic visibility. Keith Haring began using posters to place his uniquely drawn figures and characters in public places. Soon he began to draw directly on subway walls and transit posters. The uniqueness of his drawings eventually led to their being shown in galleries and published in books and his art became ‘legitimate’.
B. At about the same time as Keith Haring, a delivery messenger began writing ‘Taki 183’ whenever he delivered documents. Soon his name was all over the city. Newspapers and magazines wrote articles about him and Keith Haring, and soon both became celebrities. This claim to fame attracted many young people, especially those involved with rapping, and they began to imitate ‘Taki 183’, as a means to indicate the writer’s presence, i.e. the age-old statement of I was here. Graffiti was soon incorporated int the Hip Hop culture and became a sort of triad with rapping and breakdancing. Breakdancing has since lost much of its initial popularity, while rapping has emerged as a major style in American music. New York City was inundated with graffiti during the late seventies and early eighties, but as media coverage faded so did the graffiti. Then, in the mid-eighties, a national TV programme did a graffiti story and set off a graffiti wildfire which has since gone global.
C. In the past, graffiti artists usually worked alone, but the size and complexity of pieces, as well as safety concerns, motivated artists to work together in crews, which are groups of graffitists that vary in membership from 3 to 10 or more persons. A member of a crew can be ‘down with’ (affiliated with) more than one crew. To join a crew, one must have produced stylish pieces and show potential for developing one’s own, unique style. A crew is headed by a king or queen who is usually that person recognised as having the best artistic ability among the members of the crew. One early crew wrote TAG as their crew name, an acronym for Tuff Artists Group. Tag has since come to mean both graffiti writing, ‘tagging’ and graffiti, a ‘tag’. Crews often tag together, writing both the crew tag and their own personal tags. Graffiti has its own language with terms such as piece, toy, wild-style, and racking.
D. At first pens and markets were used, but these were limited as to what types of surfaces they worked on, so very quickly everyone started using spray paint. Spray paint could mark all types of surfaces and be quick and easy to use. However, the spray nozzles on the spray cans proved inadequate to create more colourful pieces. Caps from deodorant, insecticide, and other aerosol cans were substituted to allow for a finer or thicker stream of paint. As municipalities began passing graffiti ordinances outlawing graffiti implements, clever ways of disguising paint implements were devised. Shoe polish, deodorant roll-ons and other seemingly innocent containers were emptied and filled with paint. Markers, art pens and grease pens obtained from art supply stores were also used. In fact, nearly any object which can leave a mark on most surfaces is used by taggers, though the spray can is the medium of choice for most taggers.
E. As graffiti has grown, so too has its character. What began as an urban lower-income protest, graffiti now spans all racial and economic groups. While many inner-city kids are still heavily involved in the graffiti culture, taggers range from the ultra-rich to the ultra-poor. There is no general classification of graffitists. They range in age from 12-30 years old, and there are male and female artists. One tagger recently caught in Philadelphia was a 27-year-old stockbroker who drove to tagging sites in his BMW. Styles have dramatically evolved from the simple cursory style, which is still the most prevalent, to intricate interlocking letter graphic designs with multiple colours called ‘pieces’ (from master-pieces). Gang markings of territory also fit the definition of graffiti, and they mainly consist of tags and messages that provide ‘news’ of happenings in the neighbourhood.
F. Graffiti shops, both retail and on-line, sell a wide variety of items to taggers. Caps, markers, magazines, T-shirts, backpacks, shorts with hidden pockets, even drawing books with templates of different railroad cars can be purchased. Over 25,000 graffiti sites exist on the world wide web; the majority of these are pro-graffiti. Graffiti vandalism is a problem in nearly every urban area in the world. Pro-graffiti web sites post photos of graffiti from Europe, South America, the Philippines, Australia, South Africa, China and Japan. Billions of dollars worldwide are spent each year in an effort to curb graffiti.
G. While most taggers are simply interested in seeing their name is as many places as possible and as visibly as possible, some taggers are more content to find secluded warehouse walls where they can practise their pieces. Some of these taggers are able to sell twelve-foot canvases of their work for upwards of $10 – $12,000. As graffiti was introduced to the art world, two trends happened. One, the art world of collectors, dealers, curators, artists and the like helped graffitists evolve in style, presumably by sharing their artistic knowledge with the newcomers. Two, the exposure helped to expand graffiti into all parts of the world. Furthermore, more progressive cities have recognised the talent of graffitists by providing a means for them to do legal graffiti art, which has helped to foster the art form and lessen the amount of graffiti art that appears in the city as vandalism. Likewise, organisations who support graffiti artists seek out places to do legal graffiti such as abandoned buildings, businesses, or community walls in parks. What this shows is that some graffiti, particularly in the form of a spray can art, is recognised as art by the conventional art world.
Kiến thức cần nắm:
Câu hỏi
Questions 1 – 7
Reading Passage 1 has seven paragraphs, A-G. Choose the correct heading for each paragraph from the list of headings below.
i. Becoming mainstream art
ii. The Culture Of Graffiti
iii. Tools Of The Trade
iv. Internet Art Styles
v. Crossing Boundaries
vi. Cashing In On The Craze
vii. Trends In Street Music
viii. Gradually gaining popularity
ix. A Solitary Existence
x. From Ancient To Modern
- Paragraph A
- Paragraph B
- Paragraph C
- Paragraph D
- Paragraph E
- Paragraph F
- Paragraph G
Questions 8 – 10
Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage 1?
In boxes 8-10 on your answer sheet, write
TRUE – if the statement agrees with the writer’s claims
FALSE – if the statement contradicts the writer’s claims
NOT GIVEN – if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
- The introduction of anti-graffiti laws managed to curb its spread in some cities.
- Along with Hip Hop music came a new way of visual expression.
- There was hostility towards graffiti artists among the established art community.
Questions 11 – 13
Complete each sentence with the correct ending A-F below.
- Graffiti is flourishing in the 21st century as people from all backgrounds have begun to ……………………….
- As graffiti has developed, it has come to ……………………….
- Graffiti artists used many ingenious methods to ……………………..
A. use it as a means of expression of rebellion against law enforcement.
B. become increasingly more difficult to succeed in the art world.
C. transcend race, status, and gender.
D. realize that inner-urban areas where poverty is the norm are decreasing.
E. conceal their intentions from law enforcement officers.
F. embrace it as a means of expression.
Đáp án kèm phân tích
Questions 1 – 7: Matching Headings
14. x (From Ancient To Modern)
- Giải thích: Đoạn văn đi từ nguồn gốc từ vựng cổ đại (Hy Lạp và Latin) cho đến sự hình thành của phong cách Hip Hop hiện đại tại New York những năm 1970.
- Vị trí: “The word ‘graffiti’ derives from the Greek word graphein… Today, we equate graffiti with the ‘New York’ or ‘Hip Hop’ style which emerged from New York City in the 1970s.”
15. viii (Gradually gaining popularity)
- Giải thích: Mô tả sự lan tỏa của graffiti từ một cá nhân (Taki 183) thành một hiện tượng được báo chí chú ý và cuối cùng bùng nổ toàn cầu nhờ truyền hình.
- Vị trí: “Newspapers and magazines wrote articles about him… then, in the mid-eighties, a national TV programme… set off a graffiti wildfire which has since gone global.”
16. ii (The Culture Of Graffiti)
- Giải thích: Nói về các quy tắc trong giới graffiti như làm việc theo nhóm (crews), hệ thống cấp bậc và ngôn ngữ/thuật ngữ riêng.
- Vị trí: “artists… work together in crews… A crew is headed by a king or queen… Graffiti has its own language with terms such as piece, toy, wild-style, and racking.”
17. iii (Tools Of The Trade)
- Giải thích: Liệt kê chi tiết các công cụ vẽ, sự cải tiến các loại nắp bình xịt và cách ngụy trang dụng cụ.
- Vị trí: “everyone started using spray paint… Caps from deodorant, insecticide… were substituted… Shoe polish, deodorant roll-ons… were emptied and filled with paint.”
18. v (Crossing Boundaries)
- Giải thích: Khẳng định graffiti không còn giới hạn ở tầng lớp nghèo mà đã xuất hiện ở mọi thành phần xã hội, từ người nghèo đến môi giới chứng khoán đi xe BMW.
- Vị trí: “What began as an urban lower-income protest, graffiti now spans all racial and economic groups… taggers range from the ultra-rich to the ultra-poor.”
19. Paragraph F: vi (Cashing In On The Craze)
- Giải thích: Đề cập đến khía cạnh kinh tế: các cửa hàng bán đồ graffiti và chi phí khổng lồ mà các thành phố phải bỏ ra để xử lý nó.
- Vị trí: “Graffiti shops, both retail and on-line, sell a wide variety of items… Billions of dollars worldwide are spent each year in an effort to curb graffiti.”
20. Paragraph G: i (Becoming mainstream art)
- Giải thích: Sự công nhận của giới nghệ thuật truyền thống, giá trị cao của các tác phẩm và việc chính quyền cung cấp không gian vẽ hợp pháp.
- Vị trí: “Some of these taggers are able to sell twelve-foot canvases of their work for upwards of $10 – $12,000… recognised as art by the conventional art world.”
Questions 8 – 10: TRUE / FALSE / NOT GIVEN
8. NOT GIVEN
- Giải thích: Bài đọc có nói về việc các thành phố chi tiền và ra luật để kiềm chế graffiti, nhưng không thông tin nào khẳng định các luật này “đã thành công” (managed to curb) ở một số thành phố.
- Vị trí: “Billions of dollars worldwide are spent each year in an effort to curb graffiti.” (Chỉ nói về nỗ lực chi tiền, không nói về kết quả thành công)
9. TRUE
- Giải thích: Sự ra đời của nhạc Hip Hop đi kèm với một lối thoát mới cho sự hiển thị nghệ thuật (chính là graffiti).
- Vị trí: “As Hip Hop music emerged so did a new outlet for artistic visibility.”
10. NOT GIVEN
- Giải thích: Không có thông tin về sự thù địch. Ngược lại, đoạn G còn nói giới nghệ thuật đã giúp đỡ các nghệ sĩ graffiti phát triển.
- Vị trí: “the art world of collectors, dealers, curators, artists and the like helped graffitists evolve in style…”
Questions 11 – 13: Sentence Completion
11. F (embrace it as a means of expression.)
- Giải thích: Vì graffiti đã lan rộng ra mọi tầng lớp và được giới nghệ thuật công nhận, con người bắt đầu đón nhận nó như một cách biểu đạt.
- Vị trí: “graffiti now spans all racial and economic groups… recognised as art by the conventional art world.”
12. C (transcend race, status, and gender.)
- Giải thích: Graffiti hiện tại đã vượt qua các ranh giới về chủng tộc, địa vị kinh tế và giới tính.
- Vị trí: “spans all racial and economic groups… there are male and female artists.”
13. E (conceal their intentions from law enforcement officers.)
- Giải thích: Nghệ sĩ sử dụng các vật dụng như hộp lăn khử mùi hay xi đánh giày để ngụy trang sơn xịt nhằm qua mắt chính quyền.
- Vị trí: “As municipalities began passing graffiti ordinances… clever ways of disguising paint implements were devised.”
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