READING COMPREHENSION

Complete the text with the right paragraphs A-G. 0 has been provided as an example.

THE ART OF CONVERSATION by John Armstrong (Philosopher, University of Melbourne)

Conversation is civilized speech. It is more purposeful than chatter; more humane than gossip; more intimate than
debate. But it is an elusive ideal.

In our verbal exchanges we often flip from one topic to another – while conversation suggests something more sustained,
more substantial.

A conversation is the encounter of two polished minds: tactful enough to listen, confident enough to express their true
beliefs; subtle enough to search out the reasons behind the thoughts.

0. G A conversation is a work of art with more than one creator. So, quite often, two or more people cannot rise Commented [LMP1]: The previous paragraph starts with
to the level of conversation. They talk with one another. It may be cheerful, it may be polite, it may be a bit the same words
funny, it may be informative. But it lacks something crucial to conversation: the risk of seriousness. Commented [LMP2]: Relates to “the encounter of two
minds”
Secretly we yearn for real conversation, because we long to encounter the best and most substantial versions of other
Commented [LMP3]: Serious conversation is described in
people. We long for the truth of ourselves to be grasped and liked by another person.
the paragraph above

A classical conception of conversation takes convergence as its final – if distant – goal. When intelligent, reasonable Commented [LMP4]: Relates to the last sentence of
and cultivated people disagree there is almost always some hidden confusion or failure of evidence that explains the previous paragraph
lack of harmony. But with time and care these failings can be made good. Classical conversation is the mutual aid in the
joint pursuit of the truth.

1. A An interim benefit of such conversation is the light it sheds on what decent people really actually do disagree Commented [LMP5]: Refers to classical conversation
about. And more than that it illuminates the intimate why: the motives, fears, hopes, associations, key
experiences, leaps of logic and quiet deductions – all of the things that add up to explaining why a serious
person holds the view they do. Commented [LMP6]: Decribes classical conversation

This is surprisingly rare. How often, really, do we appreciate why someone thinks as they do?

This is why true conversation is not quite like a debate. In a debate one feels that an argument has priority. In
conversation it is the person that comes first. And though our traditions of law, science and scholarship, and even of
politics, make a noble cause of putting the argument first, there is something they lose along the way.

In the end, all beliefs are the beliefs of individuals. This does not establish truth – for what is the case is the case whether
anyone assents to it or not.

My point is the worth of a truth, the significance of an idea, the power of a belief, depends on the inner life of the person
who holds it. And if we do not know about that inner life, we do not really know that idea.

But this is to move from the classical to a more romantic ideal of conversation. The finest talk with another person is
the search for soul-companionship.

2. F The most tender-ideal vision of conversation is given by Tolstoy’s hero Levin in a moment of great personal Commented [LMP7]: Refers to a more romantic ideal
happiness: try to see what is precious to the person you are conversing with and you will discover that it is
precious to you as well. Commented [LMP8]: This talks about the search for soul-
companionship
In a 1962 essay, the political philosopher, Oakshott, advanced a rather wonderful vision of an entire culture as a kind of
conversation. And the vision gets its power from being – I think – a lovely distortion. It is not so much true to the facts
as true to our hopes. It is how our culture might be, if it were improved.

As civilised human beings, we are inheritors, neither of an inquiry about ourselves and the world, not of an accumulated
body of information but of a conversation, begun in the primeval forests and extended and made more articulate in the
course of centuries.
 3. C It is a conversation which goes on both in public and within each of ourselves. Of course there is argument Commented [LMP9]: Makes reference to “a
and inquiry and information, but wherever these are profitable they are to be recognised as passages in this conversation,begun in the primeval forests and extended
conversation, and perhaps they are not the most captivating of the passages. and made more articulate in the course of centuries”

Conversation is not an enterprise designed to yield an extrinsic profit, a contest where a winner gets a prize, nor is it an
activity of exegesis; it is an unrehearsed intellectual adventure.

Education, properly speaking, is an initiation into the skill and partnership of this conversation in which we learn to
recognise the voices, to distinguish the proper occasions of utterance, and in which we acquire the intellectual and moral
habits appropriate to conversation. And it is this conversation which, in the end, gives place and character to every
human activity and utterance.

I think, though, that more weight should be given to the consequential benefits of good conversation. There are things
worth loving other than intellectual adventure.

4. E Still, taking inspiration form this grand utterance, perhaps there are many parts of this great conversation Commented [LMP10]: The utterance is “There are things
which need attention. worth loving other than intellectual adventure”

For years, I’ve been longing to get into a big, sustained conversation about art. I have heard, in my life, an embarrassing
quantity of talk about art; I have heard (I should think) just about every possible point of view set forth and maintained
with deep conviction.

I have heard every view disparaged. But I have, to be honest, heard hardly any conversation about art. That is
conversation that tries to get to know an alternative point of view, that is curious to find the best expression of its own
opinion – not just the most strident or most celebratory.

One of the most precious aspects of conversation is that it does not presuppose agreement. It presupposes civility and
sincerity. Painfully often we preach to the choir. We advance our views in ways designed to make those who already
agree with us cheer. Conversation has something of the missionary about it: it is interested in meeting the unbeliever,
the sceptic, the doubter, the opponent.

5. D So here’s my idea. I’d like to pursue the great conversation about art. And I’d like to start with the central
question: how should we define art? Otherwise we won’t be sure what we are talking about. Commented [LMP11]: Questions in next paragraphs deal
with art issues
The great conversation spreads out to embrace a wide range of issues: why is art important - if in fact it is? One what
grounds, if any, can a work of art be correctly described as great? Who decides what counts as good art, and are they
right people to do so.

Should the state subsidise art? If so, what modes of support are most effective? And these questions grow out of, and
into, a million others – about exhibitions, galleries, favourite postcards.

6. B But the point is not merely to spread out. The aim of great conversation is to organise, to connect, to unify – Commented [LMP12]: The great conversation about art
even, dare I say it, to simplify. spreads out to embrace many different issues

So speak to me. How should art be defined? Commented [LMP13]: Elicits an answer from reader