Recently, we made a trip to visit Dong Ho village with a desire to meet the old artisan - Nguyen Huu Sam. Just when we arrived at the dyke in the village and talked with the villagers about the artisan, they intimately told us about him.The old house owned by the artisan is situated in a long alley of the village. On the walls of the house there are many folk paintings in different genres, from daily life paintings to landscape paintings shown in a set of “four seasons” and "four times". Mr. Sam told us about his past. When he was three years old, he was instructed in the craft of making Dong Ho paintings by his father. At five, he could help his father apply the Dong Ho paintings, and learn how to print the paper with proper colors. At seven, he was able to draw with a pen and make the most difficult samples. Years went by and the soul of Dong Ho folk paintings has kept seashell powder paint to the poonah-paper.In the 1940s, this craft flourished. At that time, he was assigned by his parents to take the paintings to the market for sale. Mr. Sam said that 17 families in the village have been engaged in making Dong Ho paintings. Artisan Sam has always been devoted to the making of Dong Ho paintings and has waited for opportunities to restore this traditional craft. In 1967, when the local authorities assigned him to restore the traditional genre of Dong Ho folk paintings, he gathered 50 villagers with professional skills and collected hundreds of woodblocks to establish the Dong Ho Painting Cooperative. Thanks to his efforts, such famous paintings as “Rat’s wedding”, “Rooster”, “Scene of jealousy” and “Writing verses about precious flowers” have been revived. Dong Ho paintings have been available in many parts of the world such as Japan, France, Germany, Singapore and the United States.
36. The themes of Dong Ho paintings are about__________
A. landscapes B. weddings C. various aspects of life D. animals and flowers
37. In order to make Dong Ho paintings, we need seashell powder paint, the poonah-paper and__________
A. proper colors B. water C. markets D. woodblocks
38. From paragraph 3, we can infer that when Mr. Sam was very young, he mostly helped his parents by__________
A. applying the woodblocks with proper paints and pressing them on sheets of paper
B. applying seashell powder to make various paints for painting making
C. drawing with a pen and using proper paints to make many copies of paintings
D. collecting and taking the paintings to the market for sale
39. All of the following can be inferred about the artisan - Mr. Sam – EXCEPT that__________
A. he is popular in the village
B. he could paint when he was three
C. he keeps a collection of Dong Ho paintings in his house
D. he local authorities tried to revive the traditional craft
40. In the writers’ opinions, the future of Dong Ho paintings is__________.
A. international B. concerning C. optimistic D. negative
