In servizio sulla Linea Mediterraneo - Nord America sailing 1968

radiant white with red trim

tourist class three decks below

ninety foot beam

seven hundred feet long

twenty-nine thousand one-hundred-ninety-one gross tons

simultaneously animate and inanimate

steam turbines power two propellers

a vessel of decks, boilers and a captain's bridge above

one thousand fifty five persons eating

bread baked fresh

traveling at twenty-three knots

these days at sea

we've gone all wobbly

think in all directions

three meals

antipasto

four varieties olives greens and blacks

fish eggs

medley of paper-thin Genoa salamis

prosciutto

lunch noodles

supper soup

meat

potatoes

green salad

fancy cake

sorbet

fresh fruit

cheese on a platter

retsina

red and white table wines in glass pitchers

we drink red like water

w ev e gone all wobbly flail our arms

set time ahead an hour each night

getting harder to get to breakfast

at this pace.

past and future events of human affairs in the spray of upheaval are irrelevant

Exercise 9. Make a list of footgear. Transcribe every word. Use the nouns in sentences of your own. Repeat for clarity of articulation.

Exercise 10. Read the poem. Write down, translate and transcribe every unknown word. Describe the house where you live. Tell about your family holiday:

June Eighth Five Years After June Eighth Nineteen Sixty Eight

For Ruth. Through many blue moons, best friends.

Five

red roses.

Fresh pressed

white linen cloth

white candles wick

white light two

chairs weighted

cool champagned

fingers love glistening glasses

toy with the chill

right arms raise eyes

meet

Best friends stood

bridenmaid and best

man

before the fireplace

living room

walls candied with

Parker Paint pink.

afternoon sun streamed

well wishes

and a minister

blessed.

Toast fifth anniversary

of arguments,

the alcohol the hang-

overs the where-

were-you-last-

night’s slugfests

sudden understanding

the diamonds

swirling on her hand died

mismatched, a mistake.

Cheers.

Exercise 11. Read, translate, and transcribe the poem by C. Levin. Give comparative and superlative of adjectives:

The Journey To Change Our Lives

Our last day on Chios Ted caught an octopus

near the little village of Langados where we found

a lame old sailor in a rough beard who beat it

for us against the dusty rocks while we watched,

eviscerated it and cooked it in a firepit in its ink

in exchange for ouzo. Over an hour

it boiled in a dented pot long used

for this purpose. Ugly raw skin becoming

gelatinous, exuding dark juice. The silent

old man nodding cut hunks of hard bread,

sliced cucumbers to mix with smelly feta. And

we watched sitting on short painted stools,

village life going

quietly. No person came to cheer

our journey tomorrow. Leaving,

probably forever. It was hard

to chew and dry but we praised it

eloquently over and over

making it into

what we had trusted

it was all going to be.