chocos

This passage is an extract from the novel “A Home At The End Of The World”, which was written by Michael Cunningham and published in 1990. Michael was born in 1952 in Ohio and now lives in New York. He received the Pulitzer Prize in 1999 for his novel “The Hours”, which was made into a film.
There are three characters: Jonathan, Bobby (who is a friend of Jonathan, and often visits him to share meals or listen to music) and Jonathan’s mother (the narrator of the story). The scene takes place at Jonathan’s room.
Bobby decides to call Jonathan’s mother to listen to a new record by Van Morrison. She likes the music. But then, Jonathan, who scorns the singer, qualifying him as “a little bit wimpy” challenges his mother by making her listen to a Jimi Hendrix’s song, which he thinks she doesn’t like very much. His intention is to get rid of her. She apparently doesn’t know what to do but refuses to put up with the situation. Then, she proves she is smarter than her son, as she rises to the challenge and dances with Bobby, who seems to be very uneasy with the situation and tries to calm things down. In the end, Jonathan’s mother feels like a winner, because she sees that Jonathan is disappointed, as he realized that she had not cowered before his hard-driving music.
I think the narrator did the right thing to dance to the music, because it was a way to prove to her son that she doesn’t consider Jimi Hendrix as a stranger, and that hard-rock isn’t a new kind of music, but a style created many years ago.
What about you, do you think the narrator did the right thing to dance to the music? Why?

(Source of the picture: www.michaelcunninghamwriter.com/books/home_at_the_end/)

”Jaska’s dream house
My dream house would be very big. There would be three floors, and a swimming pool in the house, and in the backyard. There would also a big plasma-tv and huge stereo speakers. The house would be in Helsinki.”

While Jaska’s dream house would be in Helsinki, mine would problably be either in Caribbean or in a ski spot, anywhere in Europe. It would’nt have to be big, just comfortable and modern, but I would choose a great localisation for it.

I spent my last Carnival holidays on the countryside, at a farm located in Sorocaba, which is about 100 km far from São Paulo (1 h 15 min by car). This farm belongs to a friend of my father and it is a quite big place. He invited many friends, so the house was full. I had a great time there: walking, riding horses, swimming, playing table tennis, soccer, etc… The only thing that bothered me was the weather: it was so hot (32 degrees), that sometimes I couldn’t even stand outside the house!

In Brazil, Carnival is one of the most important holidays: people use to drink and party a lot, all over the day. It normally lasts 5 days: from Saturday to Wednesday. Every school is in vacations during those five days. That’s why, in Carnival, traveling is very common. But it’s not everybody that drinks, celebrates this holiday, although most of people think that all Brazilians do it. I know lot of persons who prefer to stay at home and relax, instead of going to the streets to dance, for instance.
The main festivity in our Carnival takes place in Rio de Janeiro, with its samba schools (Mangueira, Portela and Beija-flor are the most famous and popular).

The Carnival as it is celebrated here has European origins. When the Portuguese colonizers arrived, in the 16th century, they bring their traditions too, and Carnival was among them. The festival was linked to the beginning of spring, and the idea behind it was to move evil spirits away. But then, obviously, the Brazilian people modified this party, according to its lifestyle (for instance, fantasies were more charged than they are now and masks were always used), and some African rituals are now present in the celebrations. So the Carnival we have here currently is more Brazilian than European.

I think Carnival is a great period. Almost everyone is happy and a good vibration can be felt. It is a cultural custom, which symbolizes our country around the world and attracts many tourists.

My name is André. I’m Brazilian and French. I was born in São Paulo, on 4th September 1990. I’ve been studying at the Lycée Pasteur since I was two years old and now I’m in the 2nde1 (10th or 11th grade, I’m not sure). I’m a green-eyed and brown-haired young man I’m about 1,73 meters tall.

I like all kind of sports, especially playing soccer and tennis, skiing and surfing. I’m also very keen on travelling. My favourite places are Australia (which I don’t know but would like to visit, because I think it’s a very beautiful and interesting country, with history and many places to know, such as the Sydney opera house and the Gold Coast), the U.S.A and France. I’ve already been to the U.S.A for four times, to Miami, Orlando and Colorado. In France, I’ve visited Paris and the region of Savoie. What I like the most about travelling is to meet new countries, cultures and, depending on the trip, to practice sports. I can’t bear getting up in the morning when I’m tired. I’m keen on everything blue and I’m fond of rock and rap. I really can’t resist pizza, Japanese food and pasta.