Mastering Skills for the TOEFL iBT 2nd - Speaking

Transcriptsalso allow her to pay for housing at the beginning ofthe semester. This way, she will not have to wait untilshe gets money from working during the school year.Q6 Practice 1Step 1 - LectureM: Today I want to talk about minimalism—a prominentmovement in American and European art—whichemerged around the 1960s. The idea of minimalismwas to reduce a work of art to its minimum numberof colors, shapes, lines, and textures. Minimalistartists resisted the traditional idea that art had torepresent an object or an experience. Instead, theycreated paintings and sculptures that were uniqueobjects unto themselves—objects that didn’tstand for something else. To achieve this effect,minimalist artists used two design techniques intheir art.First, they tended to use materials that wereuniform in shape. Take, for instance, Carl Andre’s1969 sculpture “Steel Zinc Plain.” This is a perfectexample of how minimalist artists chose thesimplest, most uniform shapes to piece togethera work of art. Andre uses one of the very simplestof geometric structures: the square. He tooksquare plates of zinc and square plates of steeland arranged them in a checkerboard pattern onthe floor. So basically, he created what looked agiant checkerboard that could be walked over andstood upon.Second, minimalist artists often used one kind ofmaterial in a repeating pattern. The 1966 pieceby Dan Flavin called “Monument for V. Tatlin”clearly demonstrates the use of repetition. In thispiece, Flavin uses only one type of material: apre-made fluorescent tube—you know, those long,glowing tubes used for industrial lighting. He tookseveral of these and arranged them into a miniaturemonument. The idea was inspired by the Russianartist Vladimir Tatlin’s proposed design for anew revolving spiral monument that would betaller than the Eiffel Tower. But in the end, Flavincreated a simple sculpture that was nothing likethe traditional grandeur of a real monument.Step 3 - Sample ResponseMinimalist artists reduced artwork to its basic colorsand shapes. The professor says minimalist artists createdsimple, unique objects by using uniform materials andarranging lots of them in a repeating pattern. The firstpiece that the professor mentioned was as an exampleof how minimalists use uniform shapes. In his piece,the artist used square-shaped plates and arrangedthem in a checkerboard pattern that people can walkon. The second piece the professor mentioned was anexample of how minimalists use repetition. For hispiece, the artist took several fluorescent tubes andarranged them into a simple miniature tower. Thisminiature tower was inspired by plans for a grand newmonument.Q6 Practice 2Step 1 - LectureM: There are many theories out there about what ittakes to be an effective leader, but the one attributethat links all these theories together is charisma.Charisma is the ability to inspire enthusiasm,interest, or affection in other people. So basically,the theory of charismatic leadership assumesthat all good leaders must have charisma in orderto attract followers . . . and according to the theory,charismatic leaders share two common traits.First of all, charismatic leaders create a compellingvision that appeals to their followers’ values,interests, hopes, and dreams. A charismatic leaderis not content simply to lead a group along itspresent course, but strives to reach high goalsand ideals. In this sense, Dr. Martin Luther KingJr., a famous American during the 1960s, was acharismatic leader; his vision was this: that allmen were created equal no matter their differences.He helped convince people that treating certainAmericans unfairly was wrong and attracted alarge number of followers who helped accomplishhis vision. He was thus able to inspire the Americangovernment to pass laws that guaranteed certainrights for all people.Secondly, charismatic leaders demonstrate theirvision through action. They don’t just delegatetasks and tell people how to behave, but ratherexhibit ideal behavior through their own actions.There was a famous World War II general, namedPatton, for example, who once demonstrated thisapproach to leadership by intervening at the sceneof a traffic jam. He pulled up to the jam, and ratherthan yelling orders, he got out of his jeep andstarted directing traffic himself. As traffic startedto move, he turned the job over to the militaryTranscripts 7