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 from 24 to 30.
Duncan Phyfe made some of the most beautiful furniture found in America. His family name was originally Fife, and he was born in Scotland in 1768. In 1784, the Fife family immigrated to Albany, New York where Duncan’s father opened a cabinetmaking shop. Duncan followed his father’s footsteps and was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker. After completing his training, Duncan moved to New York City.
Duncan Fife was first mentioned in the 1792 NYC Directory as a furniture “joiner” in business at 2 Broad Street. Two years later, he moved, expanded his business, and changed his name to Phyfe. He was a quiet-living, God-fearing young man who felt his new name would probably appeal to potential customers who were definitely anti-British in this post-Revolutionary War period.
Duncan Phyfe’s name distinguished him from his contemporaries. Although the new spelling helped him better compete with French emigrant craftsmen, his new name had more to do with hanging it on a sign over his door stoop.
The artisans and merchants who came to America discovered a unique kind of freedom. They were no longer restricted by class and guild traditions of Europe. For the first time in history, a man learned that by working hard, he could build his business based on his own name and reputation and quality of work.
Phyfe’s workshop apparently took off immediately. At the peak of his success, Phyfe employed 100 craftsmen. Some economic historians point to Phyfe as having employed division of labor and an assembly line. What his workshop produced shows Phyfe’s absolute dedication to quality in workmanship. Each piece of furniture was made of the best available materials. He was reported to have paid $1,000 for a single Santo Domingo mahogany log.
Phyfe did not create new designs. Rather, he borrowed from a broad range of the period’s classical styles, Empire, Sheraton, Regency, and French Classical among them. Nevertheless, Phyfe’s high quality craftsmanship established him as America’s patriotic interpreter of European design in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Although the number of pieces produced by Duncan Phyfe’s workshop is enormous, comparatively few marked or labeled pieces have been found extant. In antiques shops and auctions, collectors have paid $11,000 for a card table, $24,200 for a tea table, and $93,500 for a sewing table
What is the main idea of the passage?
A. The business of cabinetmaking
B. The significance of Duncan Phyfe’s name
C. Duncan Phyfe’s life and career
D. Duncan Phyfe’s cabinetmaking designs
Đáp án C
Đâu là ý chính của đoạn văn?
A. Việc kinh doanh ngành đồ gỗ mỹ nghệ.
B. Ý nghĩa của cái tên Duncan Phyfe.
C. Cuộc đời và sự nghiệp của Duncan Phyfe.
D. Việc thiết kế đồ gỗ mỹ nghệ của D. Duncan Phyfe.
Giải thích: Xuyên suốt toàn bài đều nói về Duncan Phyfe trên khía cạnh cuộc đời và sự nghiệp làm đồ nội thất của ông.
Một số dẫn chứng như:
+ “he was born in Scotland in 1768. In 1784, the Fife family immigrated to Albany, New York where Duncan’s father opened a cabinetmaking shop. Duncan followed his father’s footsteps and was apprenticed to a cabinetmaker” – (Ông được sinh ra ở Scotland vào năm 1768, gia đình ông nhập cư vào Albany, New York- nơi mà cha ông mở một cửa hàng đồ gỗ mĩ nghệ. Duncan đã nối gót cha và theo học nghề đồ gỗ mĩ nghệ).
+ “Two years later, he moved, expanded his business, and changed his name to Phyfe” – (2 năm sau, ông rời đi và mở rộng việc kinh doanh, đổi tên thành Phyfe”.
+ “At the peak of his success, Phyfe employed 100 craftsmen” – (Vào thời kì đỉnh cao của thành công, Phyfe đã thuê về 100 thợ thủ công).