Digital ACT Reading Practice Question #1723

As it is used in the passage, the word "patina" refers to: Passage Excerpt (Humanities): Rooted in Zen metaphysics, the Japanese aesthetic philosophy of wabi-sabi posits that true beauty resides not in symmetrical perfection or lavish ornament, but in the imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete. This ethos found expression in the sixteenth-century tea ceremony codified by Sen no Rikyu. Rikyu rejected imported Chinese porcelain favored by warlords, substituting unglazed, hand-molded Japanese earthenware—such as Raku tea bowls—marked by uneven rims and scorched glaze patches. In wabi-sabi, the patina of age, the chip repaired with golden lacquer (kintsugi), and the moss-covered lantern are celebrated because they bear witness to the inexorable flow of time and natural decay. To pursue flawless perfection is to deny the fundamental nature of existence.