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Love Is Life
What is love?
Even in this advanced age of science, when people conquer space,
do the shopping via the Internet, clone animals and transplant
organs, they still don't fully understand the nature and purpose
of love. There are numerous definitions of love. For example,
the dictionary defines love as 'a strong feeling of fondness for
another person, especially between members of a family or close
friends'. Love is a mixture of complex and extremely powerful
feelings. It is a major theme in philosophy, literature, music,
poetry and cinematography.
A great number of
scientists and psychologists have been trying to understand the
essence of love. Robert Sternberg, an American psychologist, has
proposed a triangular theory of love. To his mind love is made
of some combination of intimacy, passion and commitment.
According to Robert Sternberg, intimacy 'encompasses feelings of
closeness, connectedness, and bondedness'. Passion 'encompasses
drives that lead to romance, physical attraction, and sexual
consummation'. Commitment is 'the decision to remain with
another, and in the long term, the shared achievements and plans
made with that other'. Robert Sternberg has affirmed that
'passion is the quickest to develop, and the quickest to fade.
Intimacy develops more slowly, and commitment more gradually
still'. Different stages and types of love can be explained by
different combinations of these three elements. Robert Sternberg
has also distinguished such types of love as nonlove, liking or
friendship, infatuated love (pure passion), empty love
(commitment without intimacy or passion), romantic love
(emotional and physical bonds), companionate love (intimate,
non-passionate love), fatuous love (passion without intimacy),
consummate love (perfect love).
Scientists affirm
that love has a chemical basis. Recent studies in neuroscience
have shown that when people fall in love, the brain consistently
releases a certain set of chemicals that stimulate the
brain's pleasure center and cause increased
heart rate, loss of appetite and sleep, and an intense feeling
of excitement. This stage generally lasts from one and a half to
three years. So it is not unusual that passion which
characterizes the first stage of love disappears with the
passing of time and other feelings such as respect, tenderness
and affection set in. Only true love stands the test of time.
People who are truly in love and who have been together for
years don't grow apart but draw closer to one another.
Studies have also
indicated that brain scans of people who are in love resemble to
those with a mental illness. Scientists say that love
deactivates the brain regions associated with negative emotions,
with social judgment and with judging other people's intentions
and emotions. That is why people in love are often unable to
make critical judgments and they look at their partner through
rose-coloured spectacles.
What is the
secret of long-term relationships? Why do some couples live long
and happily together while others separate? Maybe the secret is
to try to understand and forgive each other and to feel the
responsibility for your partner's life. Shared interests unite
people while sincerity and mutual understanding form emotional
closeness. And of course it is very important to have confidence
in each other as in true love there is no room for doubt and
jealousy.
1. Complete each sentence (A-H) with one of the endings
(1—8):
A. Love is a mixture of
B. To Robert Sternberg's mind, love is made of some combination
of
C. Different stages and types of love can be explained by
D. Robert Sternberg has also distinguished such types of love as
E. Scientists affirm that love
F. Passion which characterizes the first stage of love
G. Studies have also indicated that brain scans of people
infatuated by love
H. People who are truly in love and who have been together for
years don't grow apart but
1. draw closer to one another.
2. disappears with the passing of time.
3. nonlove, liking or friendship, infatuated love, empty love,
romantic love, companionate love, fatuous love, consummate love.
4. resemble to those with a mental illness.
5. different combinations of these three elements.
6. complex and extremely powerful feelings.
7. has a chemical basis.
8. intimacy, passion and commitment.
2. Give the definitions of the following words
• fondness
• romance
• intimacy
• affection
• passion
• relationship
• commitment
• jealousy
3. Read and translate the following proverbs and sayings and
find their Russian equivalents. Explain their meaning
• All is fair in love and war.
• Faults are thick where love is thin.
• Love conquers all.
• Love laughs at locksmiths.
• Love and cough cannot be hid.
• He that loves the tree, loves the branch.
• Love makes the world go around.
• Love is not found in the market.
• Love is blind.
• No herb will cure love.
• When poverty comes in at the door, love flies out at the
window.
• Old love does not rust.
4. Agree or disagree with the following statements. Explain
your point of view
• Lt is no use trying to understand the essence of love.
Love is not science. It is magic.
• Opposites attract.
• Love is just chemistry.
• Love is a natural feeling like hunger or thirst.
• Love can't last forever.
• We often look at our partner through rose-coloured spectacles.
• Only true love stands the test of time.
• In true love there is no room for doubt and jealousy.
5. Answer the questions
1) Why is love a major theme in philosophy, literature,
music, poetry and cinematography?
2) What can you say about the triangular theory oflove? Do you
agree with it?
3) What is the difference between intimacy, passion and
commitment?
4) What do scientists say about the essence oflove?
5) What are the symptoms of love?
6) Why can't we say that passion and love are synonyms?
7) Why do people who are in love often seem to be mad?
8) What is the secret of long-term relationships to your mind?
9) Why is love important in people's life?
10) Do you agree that 'all we need is love'? Explain your
answer.
6. Read the quotations about love. Choose any statement and
comment on it
'All love shifts and changes. I don't know if you can be
wholeheartedly in love all the time.' (Julie
Andrews)
'Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving
someone deeply gives you courage.'
(Lao Tzu)
'Life is the flower for which love is the honey.' (Victor Hugo)
'Love does not begin and end the way we seem to think it does.
Love is a battle, love is a war; love
is a growing up.' (James A. Baldwin)
'Love does not dominate; it cultivates.' (Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe)
'Love is always bestowed as a gift -freely, willingly and
without expectation. We don't love to be
loved; we love to love.' (Leo Buscaglia)
'When love is not madness, it is not love.' (Pedro Calderon de
la Barca)
'Take away love and our earth is a tomb.' (Robert Browning)
'True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few
have seen.' (Francois de La Rochefoucauld)
Read some poems about love and discuss them. Recite your
favourite poem about love and analyze the poet's attitude to
love.
O, my Love's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June:
O,
my Love's like
a melody
That's sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou, my Bonnie lass,
So
deep in love am I:
And
I will love thee still, my dear,
Till all the seas gang dry:
Till all the seas gang dry, my dear,
And
the rocks melt the sun;
I
will love thee still, my dear,
'While the sands of life shall run.
And fare thee well, my only Love!
And
fare thee well a while!
And
I will come again, my Love,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
by Robert Burns
SONNET 148
О mе,
what eyes hath Love put in my head, 'Which have no
correspondence with true sight! Or, if they have, where is my
judgment fled, That censures falsely what they see aright? If
that be fair whereon my false eyes dote, 'What means the world
to say it is not so? If it be not, then love doth well denote
Love's eye is not so true as all men's 'lip.' Mow can it? O, how
can Love's eye be true, That is so ve^d with watching and with
tears? 9(p marvel then, though I mistake my view; The sun itself
sees not till heaven clears. О cunning Love! with tears thou
keep'st me blind, Lest eyes well-seeing thy foul faults should
find.
by William Shakespeare
Love?
Its really only a matter of the reaction of a trained mind
to a neurological stimulus, brought about by the signals from
the senses and the increased hormone content of the blood, that
makes love ■ 'But all the same I like it.
by Peter Spence
A. There are a lot of definitions of love. Read what other
people say about this wonderful feeling and give your own
definition.
• Love is a canvas furnished by nature and embroidered by
imagination. (Voltaire)
• Love is a game that two can play and both win. (Eva Gabor)
• Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which
becomes a habit. (Peter Ustinov)
• Love is an irresistible desire to be irresistibly desired.
(Robert Frost)
• Love is being stupid together. (Paul Valery)
• Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life. (Leo
Buscaglia)
• Love is like war: easy to begin but very hard to stop. (H. L.
Mencken)
• Love is the beauty of the soul. (Saint Augustine)
• Love is the poetry of the senses. (Honore de Balzac)
B. Read the text 'Love Is Life' to learn more about love.
Из учебного пособия
"Открывая
мир с английским языком. Современные темы для обсуждения.
Готовимся к ЕГЭ" Юнёва С.А. 2012г.
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