Sculptor brings clay to life

2022-04-29浙江

疯狂英语·新读写 2022年5期

浙江江丽

题材：传统艺术体裁：记叙文文章词数：363 建议用时：7分钟

Sculptor Jia Yinzheng is an art and craft master in his late 30s.Locals call his home a neighborhood museum.

A wooden knife is all he needs to bring his lumps (块) of clay to life. After he's fin⁃ished, the figures have their own characters, moods and stories. His works are delicate, as he pays a great deal of attention to adding vivid expressions and details to his works. Jia's clay figurines represent characters in Shanxi legends and folk culture, which makes them popular with local residents.

Born in Qingxu County, Taiyuan, in 1983, Jia is the fifth generation of his family to work with clay.When he was young, his father would give him clay toys he'd made,and one of Jia's favorite childhood pur⁃suits was making miniature clay sculptures of cats,dogs,pigs,sheep,and even household objects and furniture.

Jia worked as an advertising designer before he met a folk artisan earning his living by making clay sculptures. Then he quit his job and started to learn how to sculpt figures out of clay under the artisan. In 2010, Jia began to make clay figurines on his own. This was when he met his most important teacher, Fan Yongliang, a master of clay sculpture⁃making. Fan felt it was important to give Jia the guidance to ensure that Jia's talent, skill and passion for the intangible cultural heritage could later be passed down to future genera⁃tions.As a result of Fan's tutoring,Jia made quick progress,both in terms of his ability and his creative concepts. He began to tell stories from his hometown's history by using clay figurines in vivid clay settings.

After winning a couple of national prizes, Jia became a well⁃known artist. Four years ago,he moved his studio to Xiaoyaotou,where the city government has provided workshops for over 20 intangible cultural heritage projects. The village has become a tourist attrac⁃tion.“I am happy to see so many young people come to the village to learn traditional crafts,”Jia said.

As his master told him once before, the pursuit of perfection in traditional arts and crafts is infinite,and their future always lies with the young.

Reading Check

1.The underlined word“delicate”in paragraph 2 can be replaced by .

A.easily damaged B.quite small

C.carefully made D.pretty cool

2.What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A.Jia's family background. B.Jia's road to becoming a sculptor.

C.Jia's achievements as a sculptor. D.Jia's experiences as an advertising designer.

3.Which of the following may Jia's master agree with?

A.Workshops for traditional arts are unnecessary.

B.The elderly should pass traditional arts down.

C.Advanced technology can be used to protect traditional arts.