Sculpting papaya fruits into realistic flowers木瓜之上，美丽绽放

阮氏秋是从事并不断提高用木瓜雕刻逼真花朵这一传统艺术的越南艺术家。

主题语境：艺术 篇幅：363词 建议用时：7分钟

1 Nguyen Thi Thu is one of the few remainingartists practicing and constantly enhancing the traditionalVietnamese art of sculpting realisticlookingflowers out of papaya fruits.

2 Thu became fascinated with carving variousflowers from papaya fruits at the age of 15， when， like many other parents during the 1980s，her family registered her for an exclusive class on the art of sculpting the tropical fruit. Shewas fascinated by the traditional art form， but then she had to move to Russia for 15years， where， because she was too busy working and had no access to green papayas，she couldn＇t practice her favorite art form. She tried it with all sorts of other fruits andvegetables， including watermelons， but nothing was quite like the papaya she knew. Whenshe went back to Hanoi in 2009， she immediately got back into papaya sculpting， and shehas been practicing the craft ever since.

3 According to Ms Thu， in order to become beautiful flowers， papaya fruits must meetthe following criteria： have smooth dark green skin， elongated shape， and be firm to thehand. Before sculpting， she cuts the papaya in half， and soaks it in cold water for 1 hour to remove the sap. She then uses simple tools such as a knife to split the petals， scissors to cutand shape the petals， and chopsticks to bend the petals. Finally， she uses a food coloringbrush on the flowers to really make them look like the real thing.4 Over the years， Nguyen Thi Thu has taught herself to carve various types of flowers，from primrose and lotus to water lily and peony， but her favorite by far is also one of themost complicated， the chrysanthemums （菊花）. Creating a single flower takes between 45minutes and over an hour， depending on the complexity of the design.

“5 I often fall asleep thinking of how to sculpt a certain flower， and then I get out of bedto practice，” Ms Thu said.“ I passionately sculpt papaya flowers until 3 to 4 in the morning.There are many kinds of chrysanthemums in the world， so even if I dedicate my entire lifeto carving each one， I probably won＇t be able to.”

Reading Check

1. How old did Ms Thu begin learning the art of papaya sculpting？

A. At 5 years old.

B. At 15 years old.

C. At 25 years old.

D. At 30 years old.

2. Why was Ms Thu unable to practice her papaya sculpting while in Russia？

A. She couldn＇t find a teacher for the art.

B. She lost interest in the art form.

C. She had no access to green papayas.

D. She was studying other forms of art.

3. Which of the following best describes Ms Thus carving？

A. Boring. B. Wellpaid.

C. Demanding. D. Dangerous.

4. Which flower does Ms Thu think is one of the most complicated to sculpt？

A. Lotus. B. Primrose.

C. Water lily. D. Chrysanthemum.

Language Study

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

She was fascinated by the traditional art form， but then she had to move to Russia for15 years， where， because she was too busy working and had no access to green papayas，she couldn＇t practice her favorite art form. 她对这种传统的艺术形式非常着迷，但后来她不得不移居俄罗斯，在那里生活了 15 年，因为工作太忙，没有机会得到青木瓜，所以她无法练习自己最喜爱的艺术形式。

【点石成金】本句是一个由but连接的并列句。where引导定语从句，先行词为Russia；because引导原因状语从句。

Ⅱ. Fill in the blanks with the word and phrases in the box in proper forms.

become fascinated with constantly access to go back depend on fall asleep

1. The diploma course would offer remote ________ course materials via the Internet＇s world wide web.

2. The temperature remained ________ while pressure was a variable in the experiment.

3. The boy ________ making model airplanes since the age of 3.

4. One afternoon， I got bored and actually ________ for a few minutes.

5. The risk and severity of sunburn ________ the body＇s natural skin colour.

6. The firefighters ________ into the house with scant regard for their own safety.

主题应用·语库构建

Ⅰ. 主题单词

绘画

canvas 画布

brush 画笔

palette 调色板

easel 画架

pigment 颜料

watercolor 水彩

sketch 素描

portrait 肖像

landscape 乡村风景画

雕塑

sculptor 雕塑家

marble 大理石

chisel 凿子

bronze 青铜

statue 雕像

carving 雕刻品

mold 模具

basrelief

浅浮雕

armature（ 塑像内部的）支架

installation 现代雕塑装置

建筑

facade（ 建筑物的）正面

column 柱子

dome 穹顶

arch 拱门

blueprint 蓝图

foundation 基础

beam（ 建筑物的）梁

ornament 装饰

cornice 檐口

balustrade 栏杆

摄影

aperture（ 尤指摄影机等的光圈）孔径

lens 镜头

focus 焦点

exposure 曝光

tripod 三脚架

frame 框架

snapshot 快照

filter 滤镜

其他

melody 旋律

harmony 和声

rhythm 节奏

chord 和弦

playwright 剧作家

costume 服装