NARRATOR:
You will hear two art students, Jess and Tom, discussing plans for their course projects.
NARRATOR:
First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.
NARRATOR:
Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.
JESS:
How's your art project coming along, Tom?
TOM:
We were told to use birds as the central theme, and wildlife isn't usually something I'm keen on.
TOM:
Still, the topic's growing on me.
TOM:
I'm nearly done with the initial phase.
JESS:
At first, I felt overwhelmed by the information sheets listing books and online materials.
JESS:
But once I started reading, I became much more engaged.
TOM:
That happened to me too.
TOM:
There were so many ways to investigate birds in art.
TOM:
How artists show their colors, motion, and surfaces.
TOM:
I was therefore quite excited about going to the bird park.
JESS:
Which was such a disappointment.
JESS:
The rain was so heavy that we saw almost nothing.
JESS:
The Natural History Museum trip gave us far more to work with.
TOM:
The displays on evolution were fascinating.
TOM:
I also got a lot from Dr. Fletcher's workshops, especially when we generated ideas together.
JESS:
I was ill and couldn't attend them.
JESS:
I would have liked to look at work produced by students in earlier years.
TOM:
I guess they deliberately didn't show us that.
TOM:
They probably wanted original work, rather than imitation.
JESS:
Have you written your project proposal?
TOM:
I have, though I haven't submitted it yet, because parts need changing.
TOM:
Most of my research notes simply record what I found.
TOM:
They don't judge its value.
TOM:
I need to make them more critical.
JESS:
I hadn't realized evaluation was expected.
JESS:
I'll revise mine as well.
JESS:
Did you include a project schedule?
TOM:
Yes, and I made a mind map too.
JESS:
So did I, and I liked doing those.
JESS:
What I found difficult was explaining why I'd chosen each step in my action plan.
TOM:
Sorry, what do you mean?
JESS:
We're supposed to justify the decisions we make.
TOM:
I missed that requirement.
TOM:
I can put the justification in now.
TOM:
I've already prepared the video diary presentation and decided exactly what the finished piece should be.
JESS:
I heard that at this point, we should avoid defining the final result too narrowly.
JESS:
Keeping it open gives us room to develop our ideas later, so I'm going to make that part of my proposal less definite.
TOM:
Oh, that makes sense.
TOM:
I'll alter mine in the same way.
NARRATOR:
Before you hear the rest of the discussion, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.
NARRATOR:
Now listen, and answer questions 25 to 30.
TOM:
One section I'm struggling with asks us to choose bird paintings and explain their personal significance.
TOM:
I picked Lancer's Falcon.
TOM:
The bird is upright with its head turned, yet it seems to look directly at the viewer.
TOM:
The image unsettles me, but I need a stronger interpretation than that.
JESS:
You might focus on the sense that its gaze warns of something harmful.
JESS:
My choice is Audubon's Fish Hawk.
JESS:
It's diving above the water, with a fish in its claws, and its large, dark wings dominate the scene.
TOM:
Could you link that to hunters and the way animals depend on one another for food?
JESS:
Perhaps, but I'd rather talk about the feeling of speed created by the image.
JESS:
Do you remember Van Gogh's Kingfisher?
JESS:
It's sitting on a reed beside a stream.
TOM:
Yes, the blue, red, and black tones are striking.
JESS:
I chose it because I once saw a kingfisher while walking with my grandfather as a child.
JESS:
That moment has stayed with me ever since.
TOM:
So an experience from your own life can be the interpretation?
TOM:
Then I have a portrait called William Wells.
TOM:
I've forgotten who painted it, but it shows a middle-aged man who has just killed a bird.
TOM:
His face and the way he holds it suggest uncertainty about what he's done.
TOM:
For me, it shows people's conflicting feelings about using nature for their own purposes.
JESS:
That's interesting.
JESS:
I selected Gauguin's Virumati, painted in Tahiti.
JESS:
A woman appears with a white bird behind her, and the bird is eating a lizard.
JESS:
I wanted to know what it symbolized and found that it represents existence continuing without end.
TOM:
My last picture is a portrait of the young Giovanni de' Medici.
TOM:
He has a tiny bird in one hand, and what matters to me is the care he takes not to injure it.
NARRATOR:
That is the end of part three.
NARRATOR:
You now have one minute to check your answers to part three.
