Drcula: Reading and listening.

Originally Dracula is a gothic novel written by Bram Stoker in the form of

journals and letters. It was first published in 1897. Stoker was born in Ireland
in 1847 and died in England in 1912. PLOT
It is the year 1875, Jonathan Harker, an English lawyer from London, travels
to Transylvania (Romania) to help Count Dracula buy a house in England. As
soon as he arrives there, the villagers warn him about the Count because he
is a vampire, but considering them just superstitious people, Harker
disregards their warnings. He goes to Draculas castle and stays there as his
guest. The Count appears to be an elegant and refined person as well as a
mysterious and deceiving man. Very soon a series of strange events start to
occur around, including the behaviour of the Counts assistant, a bizarre
man named Renfield. After a while, Jonathan realises that he actually cannot
get out of the castle and that the Count shows a peculiar interest in Mina
Murray, Jonathans fiance. The Count is sure she is the reincarnation of
Elisabeta, his one and only love. Mina and her best friend Lucy Westenra are
on holidays in Whitby and exchange letters with Jonathan. Dracula travels to
London by ship while Jonathan remains a prisoner in Transylvania. After
some time, he manages to escape and meets Mina in Budapest where they
get married. Back in London they find Lucy is seriously ill. A famous doctor,
Van Helsing is called to treat her and he discovers that she has been bitten
by a vampire. After a creepy behaviour, Lucy dies but the doctor finds out
that she is not really dead and that she has become a vampire. Knowing
this, Van Helsing insists that they have to kill her by driving a stake through
her heart. They do so, and she is able to rest in peace. Van Helsing and
Jonathan realise that Count Dracula is behind all this and therefore decide to
hunt him down to prevent more bloodshed. Meanwhile, Dracula makes Mina
fall under his spell in order to be with Elisabeta again. Finally, Van Helsing
and Jonathan confront the vampire but, will it be that simple to kill Count
Dracula? It is said vampires are astonishingly witty creatures and Dracula
himself is a legendary one
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS: 1) Was Dracula originally a stage
play? If not, what is it? 2) What is gloomy and grotesque? 3) Why does
Jonathan Harker travel to Transylvania? 4) What do the villagers tell him? 5)
How is the Count described at the beginning? 6) Who is Renfield? 7) Is
Jonathan a guest in the castle? Why? 8) Who is Mina Murray? 9) Who does
Dracula think Mina is? 10) Why do they call Dr. Van Helsing? 11) What does
Van Helsing discover? 12) Why do they have to kill Lucy Westenra? How? 13)
Who does Van Helsing hunt down?
Complete the sentences Do this activity after you have finished reading the
story. Put the verbs in brackets in the correct form to complete each of
these sentences.

1 Mr Hawkins ....... to go to Transylvania himself, but he has hurt his leg and
cannot travel. (intend)
2 The train ....... Vienna in good time and ... in Klausenburg yesterday
evening. (leave, arrive)
3 While he ... the horses down, a circle of wolves ... around the coach. (calm,
form)
4 My lamp ..., but the room ... by brilliant moonlight. (go out, light)
5 I ... some of the gold with me and try to climb down the walls. (take)
6 Renfield said, I am here to follow your orders. I ... a long time for this
moment. (wait)
7 Renfield is trying to catch birds to eat alive! If I ... living things, I ...
forever, he cried. (eat, live)
8 I found the servants half-asleep and I believed they .... (drink)
9 Your spirit, dead or alive, ... free until he is truly dead, said Van Helsing.
(not be)
10 I ... glad to see the look of peace on their faces when I ... the horrible
work. (be, finish)

Answers 1 had intended 2 left, arrived 3 was calming, formed 4 had gone
out, was lit 5 will take 6 have waited 7 eat, ll live 8 had been drinking 9 will
not be 10 was, had finished.

Adolf Hitler: A HERO IN HIS OWN MIND.

We explore the biography of the German dictator of the 1930s and 40s, Adolf Hitler,
and the role he played in German and European affairs during WWII.

Adolf Hitler
It's hard to write objectively about some figures in history. For example, some past U.S.
leaders, like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln, are nearly universally loved. At the same
time, some figures are universally loathed. Perhaps the greatest example of this second
category is Adolf Hitler. The dictatorial, highly anti-Semitic leader of 1930s and 40s Germany is
largely responsible for one of the largest wars in the history of mankind and the death of
approximately six million Jews. In this lesson, we will explore
Hitler's early life as well as the military and domestic policies
that helped him achieve his goals.

Early Life
Adolf Hitler was born in 1889 in Austria, the son of an
Austrian customs official, and spent most of his childhood
in the Linz area. When Hitler was 18, he used some of the
money from his father's inheritance and moved to Vienna
to study art. Hitler was deeply disappointed when his
applications to art school in Vienna were rejected, and he
drifted for several years afterward. According to Hitler in
his autobiography, it was in this listless period that he first
encountered the anti-Semitic ideas which would help sculpt his fascist political views.
When World War I broke out in 1914, Hitler immediately applied to join the Germany army. He
was embittered by Germany's defeat in the war, and felt its leaders had betrayed the country.
He felt both the demilitarization of Germany and its being forced to pay the full costs of the
war were enormous humiliations for the German people.

Rise to Power
Soon after the war, Hitler began working side-by-side with German ultranationalists. Over the
following years he helped create the National Socialist German Worker's Party (NSDAP, or
more commonly, Nazi). Hitler gained power within the party leadership and a reputation as an
orator. His public speeches, often in beer halls, attracted disgruntled Germans by the
hundreds and thousands.

Early Hitler-designed logo of Nazi Party

In 1923, Hitler was arrested after an attempted coup and was sentenced to five years in
prison, of which he served less than a year.
In that short time in prison, Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, literally ''My Struggle,'' which was part
autobiography, part anti-Semitic political treatise. Hitler's ideology appealed to everyday
Germans; Hitler blamed Germany's problems not on Germans themselves but upon foreign
powers and Jews.
Hitler's popular message saw the Nazi Party gain seats in the German government each
election. In the 1932 German elections, the Nazi Party won more seats in the Reichstag
(Germany's parliament) than any other party. Hitler was narrowly defeated in the race for the
presidency by Paul von Hindenburg, and Hindenburg appointed Hitler chancellor instead.
However, Hindenburg's health was failing and before long Hitler held most of the legitimate
power in the German government. In 1933, all other parties beside the Nazi Party were
outlawed, and in 1934, Hitler abolished the presidency and merged its powers with his own,
making him the de facto dictator of Germany. Over the next few years, Hitler consolidated his
power and used his position to persecute Jews and other minorities in Germany.

Military Tactics
By the end of the 1930s, Hitler's Germany was ready to expand. He built up Germany's
military, and in 1938 he unilaterally annexed Austria, claiming his intentions were to unite all
German-speaking people in one German state. The same year, he got several European leaders
to sign off on the Munich Agreement, which gave a portion of Czechoslovakia to Germany in
order to avoid war. Still not satisfied, Germany seized all of Czechoslovakia in 1939. His
invasion of Poland in September 1939 triggered the beginning of World War II.
Germany was initially successful militarily because of Hitler's blitzkrieg strategy. A German
term meaning ''lightning war,'' blitzkrieg utilized the relatively new technology of tanks to
crash through enemy territory quickly, focusing on cities and other strategic points and
avoiding the battle. Miles behind this advanced vanguard of tanks the German infantry

mopped up the remaining opposing forces. The innovative

strategy was highly successful, and by the end of 1941
Germany had conquered much of Eastern and Western
Europe.

German Tanks in Poland, 1939

Extension Activity: Do research on current world

leaders, and write a description on any of their
characteristics that remind you of Adolf Hitler or
of Nazi rule in general.
Movie: Listening and speaking.

A tale of nineteenth-century New York high society in which a young

lawyer falls in love with a woman separated from her husband, while he is
engaged to the woman's cousin.

One of the themes central to The Age of Innocence is the struggle between the individual and the
group. Newland Archer has been raised into a world where manners and moral codes dictate how
the individual will act, and in some cases, even think. At many points throughout the book, both
Archer and Ellen Olenska are expected to sacrifice their desires and opinions in order not to upset
the established order of things. In The Age of Innocence, this established order most often takes
its most concrete form as the family. One of the individual's duties is to promote and protect the
solidarity of his group of blood and marital relationships. Later in the novel, when Countess Ellen
Olenska wishes to reclaim her freedom by divorcing her husband, she is discouraged from this
action because the family fears unpleasant gossip. And of course, Ellen and Archer's decision not
to consummate their love is based largely on their fear of hurting the family.
Ostensibly, this duty to the family and to society ensures that each individual will behave
according to a strict code of morality. Another of her large themes is that appearances are seldom
synonymous with realities. Hypocrisy runs in Old New York.

Questions:

1) Today we live still feigning

what we are not or do not
feel. Is it true?
2) What do you think about the
hypocritical people? Have
you ever pretended love?.

3) We are living in the world of having and not be, arent we?.
4) Can you marry for duty?. Would you prefer to be alone?.

5) I married her/him because she 's/hes a good person. What do

think about this comment?.
6) Most of the time she/he stays because she has no other choice
and because family Review. Have you lived this situation?.
7) To have a successful marriage we have to be tolerant and know
relent.
8) The magic formulae is to love and be loved.