Unit 3. Relationships

Relax

1.

The Irish poet and playwright, William Butler Yeats, is one of the most famous writers in the English language. He was born in Dublin in 1865, but his family moved from Ireland to England when he was 2 years old. His mother used to tell her children Irish folk tales to remind them of their homeland and when Yeats grew up and became a poet he often included characters and events from these stories in his poetry. The family returned to Dublin when Yeats was fifteen. In 1889 Yeats met a rich young woman called Maud Gonne. She was a political activist who was fighting for Irish independency from England. Yeats fell in love with her. And in 1891 he asked her to marry him – she refused. He asked her again in 1899, 1900 and 1901. She refused all three times. In 1917 Yeats asked Maud Gonne’s daughter to marry him but refused too. Later that year at the age of fifty-two he finally got married. His was twenty-six years old Georgy Hide Lease. Yeats wrote many plays and poems. The most important influences on his work were early dramatic poets and his own interest in Irish nationalism and mysticism. His early poems are mostly about love, beauty and Irish folk tales. His later works have a less streamlike style and were often more political. In 1923 he received the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died at the age of 73, a few months before the start of the Second World War. He was buried in France, but in 1948 his remains were removed to Ireland.

2.

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim Soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Unit 4. Party

Listening

Rio Carnival Says “No” to Violence

Rio de Janeiro’s world famous carnival opened on Sunday with a riot of colour and music. Hundreds of thousands of partygoers arrived in the city to dance through the streets and watch parades, samba dancers, and hundreds of other colourful attractions. In keeping with tradition, Rio’s mayor handed the key to the city to the king of the carnival – named Rei Momo. This year, carnival king Alex de Silva took the key for the ninth year running in a noisy ceremony in front of Rio’s city hall. Mayor Cesar Maia declared: "From this moment, happiness will reign across the city." Mr de Silva echoed these words. He said the carnival “requires some serious work, but…we have the right to play”. He hoped people would be “filled with the spirit of carnival” and could “enjoy the mixing between social classes and respect each other”.

In spite of the positive words expressed by the mayor and carnival king, violence is overshadowing this year’s event. A wave of drug-related violence has hit the headlines in recent days. One battle between drug gangs resulted in a six-year-old boy being dragged four kilometres through the streets by a gang member’s car. The child’s death shocked even city residents, who have become almost immune to hearing about child murders. In another incident, the vice president of a top samba school and his wife were shot dead last week. Mayor Maia said that: "Rio has to overcome these regrettable events and promote its true nature.” He stressed that the majority of Brazilians are “calm, peaceful, and happy people”. He told reporters that the carnival was a good time to say “no” to violence.