I Thought I Was Too Old to Fall in Love Again

I have always considered myself to be contentedly settled, assured, and experienced. How, then, could this stranger come along and bewitch me so completely? By Jack D. Minzey

I never believed in love at first sight until, most unexpectedly and bewilderingly,

it happened to me. From the moment I first saw her, it was as though her eyes entered my heart and pierced clear through to my soul. What else could it be but love?

She should have known that I was a happily married, contentedly middle-aged man. But she was beautiful and, oh, how she knew it – and she used that beauty to overwhelm me. I tried to ignore the feelings she stirred in me, but with each day that passed, I knew I was becoming a captive to her charm. I was under her spell completely.

She had so many enchanted moods: She was happy, sad, sweet, cute, pouty, serious, funny, and flirtatious. Each mood followed the other in dizzying succession. And each was effective – helplessly I reacted to each in exactly the manner she expected.

I tried to appear blasé about our relationship; however, that was clearly a façade, and my friends saw through it instantly. Even my wife became aware of the new object of my affections. Surprisingly, she was more tolerant about what was happening than I would have expected. She even seemed to share my excitement over this new woman in my life. This, I might add, immediately gave our marriage a whole new dimension.

Where will it all lead? It’s hard to say. I thought the thrill of this new relationship would be soon gone. And yet, a year has passed since she first entered my life, and I am still helplessly smitten. Each time I see her she is more bewitching, and each time she finds a new way to claim my heart. It used to be just a shy glance or gesture. Now she is bolder and offers me a touch with her little hand, a hug, an occasional kiss on the cheek. I would gladly give her the world at such moments.

I guess it’s possible that our relationship is just a figment of my imagination, and she has never spoken to me of love. And yet, when I look at that pretty, dimpled face, when I gaze into her dark, shining eyes, I know in my heart that she is thinking…

“I love you, Grandpa.”

FOLLOW-UP ACTIVITIES

Step 1. Discuss the following questions in pairs.

1. What do you notice first about a person when you meet him/her for the first time?

2. If you had a chance to change something in your appearance and character what would you change and why?

3. What is beauty in your understanding?

4. What kind of people will always/never arrest your attention?

5. What is your birth sign? Do you think this affects your character?

6. What kind of people do you find it hard to get on with? Why?

7. What traits of character are necessary to possess in order to be successful at work?

8. What is the difference between an acquaintance and a friend? Is it easy for you to make friends and be a true friend?

9. What kind of people do you prefer to spend your time with: introverts or extroverts? Why?

10. What relationships do you appreciate most of all? Why?

11. Why do friends drift away from each other sometimes? What are the reasons that we drop friends?

12. What do men and women value in friendship?

13. What do you think is most important in people’s relationship?

14. What is your own definition of love?

15. How do men differ from women in loving?

16. What is your ideal of a woman/man?

Step 2. Approve or disapprove of the following ideas reasoning your own opinion.

1. Characters and appearances always clash.

2. Children always take after their parents.

3. You inherit a character from your parents and can’t really change it.

4. Our relationship with people depends on our attitude to them.

5. You should always praise your friend’s merits.

6. Love fades away with years.

7. Very often we “grow out” of some friendships.

8. We are always attracted to people who resemble us.

9. Parents should choose friends for their children.

10. Colleagues at work can’t become friends.

11. It is impossible to eradicate negative traits of character in a person.

12. Business relations are never sincere.

13. It’s better if a friend has different interests.

14. It is rude to talk about people’s faults behind their backs.

Step 3. Comment on the quotations below. Be as specific as you can.

1. “Take away love and our earth is a tomb”. R. Browning

2. “To love is to admire with the heart; to admire is to love with the mind”. T. Gautier

3. “The really great person is the person who makes everybody feel great”. G.K. Chesterton

4. “Be nice to people on the way up because you’ll meet them on the way down”. W. Mizner

5. “People hate, as they love, unreasonably”. W. Thackeray

6. “The better I get to know men, the more I find myself loving dogs”. Charles de Gaulle

7. “I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an Honest Man”. G. Washington

8. “Human nature is rarely uniform”. W. Scott

9. “You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends”. J. Conrad

10. “A friend is a present which you give yourself”. R. L. Stevenson

11. “Friendships are fragile things and require as much care in handling as any other fragile and precious thing”. R. S Bourne

12. “A friend is a single soul dwelling in two bodies”. Aristotle

13. “Everything must be beautiful in a person – face, clothing, spirit and mind”. A. Chekhov

14. “We reproach people for talking about themselves; but it is the subject they treat best”. A. France

15. “We make more enemies by what we say than friends by what we do”. J. Collins

Step 4. Make up stories using the following proverbs and sayings. The contents of the story should reveal the gist of the proverb/saying.

1. Happiness is based on relationships with people you love and respect.

2. Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated.

3. Lend your money and lose your friend.

4. Clothes do not make the man.

5. Beauty lies in lover’s eyes.

6. A fair face, but a foul heart.

7. To err is human.

8. Nature is stronger than rearing.

9. Do as most men do, and most men will speak well of you.

10. Love not at first look.

11. Love is ageless.

12. Hate not at the first harm.

13. The way to have a friend is to be one.

14. Be slow in choosing a friend, but slower in changing them.

15. Better be alone than in bad company.

16. A man must eat a peck of salt with his friend, before he knows him.

Step 5. Read the beginning of the text about friendship and develop the idea touched upon in it.

A proverb advises “Hold a true friend with both hands”. True and faithful friends are indeed a treasure. It’s one of life’s blessings to have a friend with whom we can discuss our fears and problems, share our joys and dreams. A true friend is someone who accepts us totally as we are in spite of our faults. A true friend stands at our side during the best and the worst of times. That’s why we speak of “friends and acquaintances” because we know the difference…

Step 6. Make up and act out conversations that would be appropriate in the situations below. Work in groups of 2 or 3.

1. You want to go on a blind date with a person you chatted on the phone. Describe to him/her your appearance and the clothes you will be wearing so that she/he can easily recognize you.

2. You are the director of a private language school. You urgently need a teacher of English. There are several candidates. You’ve looked through their CVs and now are going to interview one of them. Find out as much as possible about his/her character and decide whether he/she will be suitable for this position.

3. You are a psychologist. A married couple has come to you in hope to get your professional advice. They claim that psychological incompatibility makes their marriage unhappy. Try to find a way to save their marriage.

Step 7. Arrange a group discussion on the problems suggested below.

1. It’s a common truth that appearances are deceptive. So is it worth judging by appearances? Give your reasons.

2. There are people with whom we make our relationships just immediately and there are those with whom we find it hard to get on with. What does it depend on? Share your thoughts on this problem.

3. Do you remember your first meeting with your friend? What were your first impressions of him/her? Were they right or wrong?

4. “Beauty is only skin deep”. Do you agree?

5. How do you understand the following idea: “Treat everyone you meet like you want to be treated”?

6. Will you agree with the saying “Friends are thieves of our time”?

7. Practically everyone is dreaming of having a perfect partner in life. Give your idea of an ideal man/woman.

8. “True love doesn’t consist of holding hands, it consists of holding hearts. O.A. Battista. Do you approve of this point of view? What’s your own definition of love?

9. These days horoscopes can be found not only in newspapers and magazines but also on the Internet. What do you think about astrology and horoscopes? Do you believe in them?

Step 8. Debate on the controversial statements. Work in two groups. One group should agree with the statements below and the other should disagree. Put forward the appropriate arguments and convince the members of the other group.

1. Appearance counts more than character.

2. Friendship between a man and a woman just can’t exist.

3. Love at first sight always brings disappointment afterwards.

Step 9. Fulfill the following written assignments.

1. Write a description of the character and appearance of a person you admire.

2. Write about your first impressions of someone who later became very close to you.

3. Write a description of how your classmate /friend has changed in appearance and behaviour since you were at school.

4. Write a paragraph giving a detailed description of your favourite film star or singer.

5. Write a letter to a newspaper entitled “Love is all you need”.

6. Write an argumentative essay on the topic “You can’t be a close friend with someone in your own family”.

UNIT 5

FOOD AND MEALS

READING

Read the texts below attentively in order to immerse into the atmosphere of the topic under discussion and be able to use information and ideas from them in the activities following afterwards.

Text 5.1.

Correct Eating Habits

“Eat to live. Do not live to eat” is an old saying the truth of which a person realises only when he or she suffers from some serious ailment like a heart condition and is advised by his or her physician to cut down on his or her food. All schools of medicine lay emphasis on correct eating habits for a healthy life.

Remember that after you have had a hearty meal, the pressure on your heart is increased. The amount of food should be such that the hunger is assuaged, but there is no feeling of fullness.

The second golden rule is to avoid fats and too much starch and carbohydrates derived from sugar. In communities where sugar intake is low, there is very little incidence of heart disease.

The third rule is that stimulants like spices (chillies etc.) should be avoided. A bland diet with a little salt and a pinch of pepper may not taste as good as highly spiced food would, but it would be safer in the long run.

Kids with high cholesterol need an exotic diet. Mostly, they should stick to the guidelines that apply to all adults. Officially, the American Heart Association recommends that kids get no more than 30 percent of their calories from fat. That means (1) Limiting fast-food runs to once or twice a week. Otherwise, push the salads and leave out the jumbo fries, high-fat sauces, and everything-but-the-kitchen-sink burgers; (2) Sticking to lower-fat pizza toppings like mushrooms, ground beef, veggies, and plain cheese; (3) Choosing peanut butter, lean meat or skinless chicken or turkey for lunchtime; put limits on high-fat items like hot dogs, luncheon meats, and deep-fried anything; (4) Serving more complex carbohydrates like fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain products. Kids may not always eat them, but at least they’ll recognise them on sight.

Fortunately, lots of foods that kids like are also good for them. Most breakfast cereals are low in fat, for instance, as are pasta, lean meats, bread, tuna, skinless chicken, and fruit.

Text 5.2.

Do You Eat the Right Food?

What do we mean by a well-balanced diet? This is a diet that contains daily servings from each of the basic food groups: meat, vegetable and fruit, milk, bread and cereals. There’s no doubt that food tastes and preferences are established early in life. No one is born a “sugar freak” or a salt craver. An incredible statistics is that between 30 and 50% of all the calories eaten each day are consumed in the form of between-meal snacks. Unfortunately, the usual between-meal foods are low in nutritive value and too high in calories and refined sugar. Some excellent snacks that should always be available are plain yoghurt, carrots, pieces of apple, cheese and natural fruit juice. Eating yoghurt as a snack food is far healthier and more nutritionally sound than eating so-called “junk” food, which is less nutritious and too high in sugar and calories. Salted peanuts seem to be the least popular snacks today.

People who diet know that if they stick to a low-fat, high-fibre intake they will be able to eat well without putting on weight. Instead of going on crash diets they are learning to educate their stomachs by eating sensible food. They can still enjoy chocolates and cream cakes once a week or so, but they know they have to cut down their intake slightly the next day.

Research is indicating that “we are what we eat”. Recent work shows that Italians, who tend to eat lots of fresh fruit and vegetables that contain vitamins C and E, have low levels of heart attacks. Scots, however, tend to have a diet that is high in animal fat and low in fibre. Heart disease is a widespread problem in Scotland.

Now, evidence shows that it is especially vitamins C and E which control the probability of attacks of angina – the severe chest pains which are usually a warning of heart disease. The value of vitamin C and E was shown in a recent survey of Scotsmen. Scientists studied 110 people who suffered chest pain but had not consulted their doctors or changed their diets. The results showed that the people with low levels of each vitamin had experienced three and a half times more angina than those in the control group of men who had not had chest pain. The answer seems to be cut down on meat, cheese, lard and butter and tuck into fruit, vegetables, olive oil, and other vitamin C and E-rich foods.

Text 5.3.

Another View of Fast Food

I would like you to try a little thought experiment with me. Let’s put our heads together to see if we can design the Worst Diet in the World, one that would be most likely to undermine health and shorten life.

To begin, let’s stuff it with calories, more than most people will be able to burn off, so that it will promote obesity. We should overload it with carbohydrate calories from high-glycemic-index foods. That means lots of refined flour in fluffy breads and pastries, a lot of potatoes, sweets, and sweet drinks…

For fat we will need a glut of saturated fat in the form of cheese, butter, cream, and other whole-milk products, along with a lot of beef and unskinned chicken. That will ensure that most people will develop unhealthy levels of cholesterol and increased risks of cardiovascular disease. We should also include plenty of hydrogenated fat in the form of margarine, vegetable shortening, and snack foods made with partially hydrogenated oils… We should also throw in some well-used cooking fat, consisting of cheaper vegetable oils…

As for protein, we should probably go for as much as we can eat and make it mostly commercially raised meat and poultry rather than fish or vegetable protein. That will maximize intake of drugs and hormones used to raise animals for meat as well as environmental toxins concentrated in their fat and other tissues. A lot of the meat in the diet should be processed (into hot dogs, lunch meats and the like) to add more sodium, saturated fat, and unhealthful chemical additives. We should encourage everyone to drink cow’s milk throughout life to make sure we affect the lactose-intolerant fraction of the population…

The Worst Diet in the World should also be distinguished by what it does not provide. We will want very inadequate amounts of the micronutrients, especially those that protect the body from effects we are trying to achieve by the above selection of macronutrients. The easiest way to make sure of that is to restrict fruits and vegetables. Of course, we will allow unrestricted amounts of floury potatoes (preferably French fried or otherwise prepared with quantities of margarine, butter, and sour cream)…but we don’t want people eating too many greens and brightly colored fruits and vegetables… Perhaps pickles, high in sodium, and ketchup, high in sugar and sodium, will count as vegetables in our diet. These rules will keep fiber intake low, prevent people from eating too many protective phytochemicals, and maybe even get levels of vitamins and minerals down low enough to cause suboptimal functioning of many systems of the body without producing overt deficiency symptoms that might lead people to take corrective action.

From what I know about the scientific basis of human nutrition, I am quite sure that a diet of this sort, though it will sustain life and growth, will also have tremendous consequences as people age. It will increase the frequency of degenerative diseases, lowering the age at which they appear, accelerating their progression, and worsening their severity. It will certainly promote obesity, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and cancer and probably will adversely affect liver, kidney, and brain function…It might even make people less energetic and worsen their moods…

Thank you for indulging this exercise in fantasy. Now I have a real-world assignment for you. I would like you to visit three different fast-food restaurants of your choice, study the menus in them, and observe what the customers are eating. Then I want you to think about how closely those menus approximate the Worst Diet in the World we have just designed…

Text 5.4.