Read the following letter from someone living in New Mexico.
Dear (student’s name),
You asked me why I like living in New Mexico. I like it here because the landscape is so beautiful. We have mountains, mesas, rivers, and forests. Mesas are common in the Southwest United States; mesa is the Spanish word for a broad, flat-topped mountain. For 12 years, I have hiked and explored several days a week, and I still find new places that take my breath away.
What else do I like about living in New Mexico? I like the sunshine. We have over 300 sunny days a year, with deep blue skies. Because we are 7,000 feet above sea level and because the weather is very dry, the air is very clear. Since our elevation is so high and there aren’t any clouds, the nights here are much colder than the days.
The many days of sunshine we have are a very good thing for our state. Did you know that New Mexico receives more than 3,200 hours of sunlight per year? With that much sunlight, we are one of the sunniest states in the United States and have a lot of solar energy potential. Some people say that if we could use the energy from all of the sunlight New Mexico receives, we could provide more than enough power for the whole United States!
In fact, I’ve been reading a lot about solar energy lately. Solar energy is a good source of power because most of the world receives sunlight, because sunlight will not run out, and because solar energy causes less pollution than other forms of energy. There are many simple ways to use the sun’s energy. For example, houses can be designed to let a lot of sunlight in (to keep the house warmer) or to shut out most sunlight (to keep the house cooler). Also, special pieces of glass can be placed into the roofs of houses to let natural sunlight in. These are called skylights.
The weather in New Mexico is good for making energy out of sunlight, but sometimes the lack of rain is a problem for people living here. Most of the state is desert, and there isn’t enough water for drinking, growing food, and other uses. Farming is very difficult here because of the water shortage. There are many laws about water use in New Mexico so that everybody uses just enough. The need for water increases as more and new homes are built.
So, as with all states, there are things that are wonderful and others that are difficult about living in New Mexico. How about you? Do you like living where you are?
[20]
2 Write your letter, briefly commenting on the letter form New Mexico and responding to the questions asked:
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· What do you like about living where you are?
· What things are wonderful and difficult about living there?
READING FICTION 2
1 Read the text with ‘a critical eye’ and comment on it.
…"Do you mean to say you're content to waste your life here? When I think of the great hopes you had when we left college it seems terrible that you should be content to be no more than a salesmen in a cheap-John store."
"Oh, I'm only doing that for the present, and I'm gaining a great deal of valuable experience. I have another plan in my head. Arnold Jackson has a small island in the Paumotas, about a thousand miles from here, a ring of land round a lagoon. He's planted coconut there. He's offered to give it me."
"Why should he do that?" asked Bateman.
"Because if Isabel releases me I shall marry his daughter."
"You?" Bateman was thunderstruck. "You can't marry a half caste. You wouldn't be so crazy as that."
"She's a good girl, and she has a sweet and gentle nature. I think she would make me very happy."
"Are you in love with her?"
"I don't know," answered Edward reflectively. "I'm not in love with her as I was in love with Isabel. I worshipped Isabel. I thought she was the most wonderful creature I had ever seen. I was not half good enough for her. I don't feel like that with Eva. She's like a beautiful exotic flower that must be sheltered from bitter winds. I want to protect her. No one ever thought of protecting Isabel. I think she loves me for myself and not for what I may become. Whatever happens to me I shall never disappoint her. She suits me."
Bateman was silent.
"We must turn out early in the morning," said Edward at last. "It's really about time we went to bed."
Then Bateman spoke and his voice had in it a genuine distress.
"I'm so bewildered, I don't know what to say. I came here because I thought something was wrong. I thought you hadn't succeeded in what you set out to do and were ashamed to come back when you'd failed. I never guessed I should be faced with this. I'm so desperately sorry, Edward. I'm so disappointed. I hoped you would do great things. It's almost more than I can bear to think of you wasting your talents and your youth and your chance in this lamentable way."
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"Don't be grieved, old friend," said Edward. "I haven't failed. I've succeeded. You can't think with what zest I look forward to life, how full it seems to me and how significant. Sometimes, when you are married to Isabel, you will think of me. I shall build myself a house on my coral island and I shall live there, looking after my trees — getting the fruit out of the nuts in the same old way that they have done for unnumbered years — I shall grow all sorts of things in my garden, and I shall fish. There will be enough work to keep me busy and not enough to make me dull. I shall have my books and Eva, children, I hope, and above all, the infinite variety of the sea and the sky, the freshness of the dawn and the beauty of the sunset, and the rich magnificence of the night. I shall make a garden out of what so short a while ago was a wilderness. I shall have created something. The years will pass insensibly, and when I am an old man I hope I shall be able to look back on a happy, simple, peaceful life. In my small way I too shall have lived in beauty. Do you think it is so little to have enjoyed contentment? We know that it will profit a man little if he gain the whole world and lose his soul. I think I have won mine."
Edward led him to a room in which there were two beds and he threw himself on one of them. In ten minutes Bateman knew by his regular breathing, peaceful as a child's, that Edward was asleep. But for his part he had no rest, he was disturbed in mind, and it was not till the dawn crept into the room, ghostlike and silent, that he fell asleep.’… [21]The Excerpt from Somerset Maugham (1874–1965)
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"The Fall of Edward Barnard", 1921
2 Questions for Discussion.
1. Why does Bateman think that living the life Barnard has is a waste of time?
2. What plans for the future does Barnard have? Are they similar to Bateman’s?
3. What does Edward tell Bateman about Eva?
4. What have you learned about Eva’s family background?
5. What do you think about Barnard’s and Bateman’s understanding of success in life?
6. Why do you think Bateman is worried?
7. What might be the continuation of the story?
8. What do you think about the story? Whose perspective do you share?
9. Can you outline any similarities between the past, described in the story, and the present life in the globalized world?
10. What values do people have nowadays? How can it influence the person’s life?
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2.3 Addressing Social Issues & Human Rights Protection
LEAD –IN
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