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 following questions from 35 to 42.
In the West, cartoons are used chiefly to make people laugh. The important feature of all these cartoons is the joke and the element of surprise which is contained. Even though it is very funny, a good cartoon is always based on close observation of a particular feature of life and usually has a serious purpose.
Cartoons in the West have been associated with political and social matters for many years. In wartime, for example, they proved to be an excellent way of spreading propaganda. Nowadays cartoons are often used to make short, sharp comments on politics and governments as well as on a variety of social matters. In this way, the modern cartoon has become a very powerful force in influencing people in Europe and the United States.
Unlike most American and European cartoons, however, many Chinese cartoon drawings in the past have also attempted to educate people, especially those who could not read and write. Such cartoons about the lives and sayings of great men in China have proved extremely useful in bringing education to illiterate and semiliterate people throughout China. Confucius, Mencius and Laozi have all appeared in very interesting stories presented in the form of cartoons. The cartoons themselves have thus served to illustrate the teachings of the Chinese sages in a very attractive way.
In this sense, many Chinese cartoons are different from Western cartoons in so far as they do not depend chiefly on telling jokes. Often, there is nothing to laugh at when you see Chinese cartoons. This is not their primary aim. In addition to commenting on serious political and social matters, Chinese cartoons have aimed at spreading the traditional Chinese thoughts and culture as widely as possible among the people.
Today, however, Chinese cartoons have an added part to play in spreading knowledge. They offer a very attractive and useful way of reaching people throughout the world, regardless of the particular country in which they live. Thus, through cartoons, the thoughts and teachings of the old Chinese philosophers and sages can now reach people who live in such countries as Britain, France, America, Japan, Malaysia or Australia and who are unfamiliar with the Chinese culture.
Until recently, the transfer of knowledge and culture has been overwhelmingly from the West to the East and not vice versa. By means of cartoons, however, publishing companies in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore are now having success in correcting this imbalance between the East and the West.
Cartoons can overcome language barriers in all foreign countries. The vast increase in the popularity of these cartoons serves to illustrate the truth of Confucius’s famous saying “One picture is worth a thousand words.”
Which of the following is most likely the traditional subject of Chinese cartoons?
A. The stories and features of the lives of great men the world over.
B. The illiterate and semi-literate people throughout China.
C. Jokes and other kinds of humor in political and social matters.
D. The philosophies and sayings of ancient Chinese thinkers.
Đáp án D.
Dịch câu hỏi: Điều nào sau đây rất có thể là chủ đề truyền thống của phim hoạt hình Trung Quốc nhất?
A. Những câu chuyện và nét đặc trưng về cuộc sống của các vĩ nhân trên toàn thế giới.
B. Những người mù chữ và ít chữ trên khắp Trung Quốc.
C. Truyện cười và các loại hài hước khác trong các vấn đề chính trị và xã hội.
D. Những học thuyết triết học và danh ngôn của các nhà tư tưởng Trung Quốc cổ đại.
Thông tin: “Confucius, Mencius and Laozi have all appeared in very interesting stories presented in the form of cartoons. The cartoons themselves have thus served to illustrate the teachings of the Chinese sages in a very attractive way.”
(Khổng Tử, Mạnh Tử và Lão Tử đều xuất hiện trong những câu chuyện rất thú vị được trình bày dưới dạng phim hoạt hình. Do đó, các phim hoạt hình đã có tác dụng minh họa những lời dạy của các nhà hiền triết Trung Quốc một cách rất hấp dẫn.) => Đáp án D.