The passage mainly discusses ancient Greek pottery and its __________ .

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 35 to 40.

Often  the  craft  worker’s  place  of employment  in  ancient  Greece  was  set  in  rural  isolation.  Potter,  for instance, found it convenient to locate their workshops near their source of clay, regardless of its relation to the center of settlement, At Corinth and Athens, however, two of the best-known potters’ quarters were situated on the cities’ outskirts, and potters and makers of terra-cotta figurines were also established well within the city of Athens itself. The techniques of pottery manufacture had evolved well before the Greek period,  but marked  stylistic developments  occurred  in  shape  and  in  decoration,  for  example,  in  the interplay  of  black  and  other  glazes  with  the  red  surface  of  the  fired  pot.  Athenian  black-figure  and  red-figure decoration, which emphasized human figures rather than animal images, was adopted between 630 and  530  B.C.;  its  distinctive  color  and  luster  were  the  result  of  the  skillful  adjustments  of  the  kiln’s temperature during an extended three-stage period if firing the clayware. Whether it was the potters or the vase-painters  who  initiated  changes  in  firing  is  unclear;  the  functions  of  making  and  decorating  were usually divided between them, but neither group can have been so specialized that they did not share in the concerns of the other.

The  broad  utility  of  terra-cotta  was  such  that  workers  in  clay  could  generally  afford  to confine themselves to either decorated housewares like cooking pots and jars or building materials like roof tiles and  drainpipes.  Some  sixth-and  fifth-century  B.C.  Athenian  pottery  establishments  are  known  to  have concentrated  on  a  limited  range  of  fine  ware,  but  a  rural  pottery  establishment  on  the  island  of  Tliasos produced many types of pottery and roof tiles too, presumably to meet local demand. Molds were used to create  particular  effects  for  some  products,  such  as  relief-decorated  vessels  and  figurines;  for  other products  such  as  roof  tiles,  which  were  needed  in  some  quantity, they  were  used  to  facilitate  mass production. There were also a number of poor-quality figurines and painted pots produced in quantity by easy, inexpensive means- as numerous featureless statuettes and unattractive cases testify.

The passage mainly discusses ancient Greek pottery and its __________ .

• A. production techniques
• B. similarity to other crafts
• C. unusual materials
• D. resemblance to earlier pottery