In the airport parking garage, there is a classic Mercedes convertible that I've been playing with for several reonths. After weeks of staring at I, | figured out how to filits tank from a barrel of stabilized gasoline I found in the service rooms. Ther | romembered how to urn the Key and stat it, after Bushing ils owner's dry corpso to the pavement. But | have no idea how to drive. The best I've been bie to do is back out of the parking spot and ram into a nearby Hummer. Sometimes | just sit there with the ergine purring, my hands resting limply on the wheel, willng a tiue memory to pop into my head. Not another hazy Impression or vague awareness cribbed from the collective subconscious. Something specific, bright and vivid. Something unmistakably mine. | strain mysel, trying to wrench it oul of the blackness.! mest M later that evening at his home in the women's bathroom. He is sitting in front of a TV plugged into a long extension cord, gaping ata latenight sott-core movie he found in some dead man's luggage. | don't know why ne does this. Erotica is meaningless for us now. The blood Goesi't pump, tne passion decan't euirgo. I've walked in on M with his ‘gtlfriends’ before, and they're just elancing there naked, staring at each other, sometimes rubbing their bodies together but looking tired and lost. Maybe i's a kind of death throe. A distant echo of that great moivator that once starled \Wars and inspired symphonies, that drove human history out of the caves and into space. M may be heldirg on, but those days ate over now. Sex once a law os undisputed as gravity, has been disproved “The equation is erased, the blackboard broken. Sometimes it's a rellef. !remember the need, the insatiable hunger that ruled my life and the lives of everyone around me, Sometimes I'm glad to be free fit, There's less trouble now. But our loss of this,the most basic of all human passions, might sum up Sur less of everything else. I's made things quieter. Simpler. And it's one of the surest signs thet wo're dead T watch M from the doorway. He sits on the litle metal folding chair with his hands between his knees like a schoolboy facing the principal. There are times when I can almost glimpse the person he once ‘was under all that rotting flesh, and it prickles my heart. "Did... bring It” he asks, without looking away fom the TV. | hold up what Ive been carrying. A human brain, fresh from today's hunting trip, na longer ‘warm but stil pink and buzzing with life. (Isaac Marion — Warm Bodies) Reading Comprehension 1. Paraphrase the following italicized words and phrases. 2, Who is the narrator in the text? Is he a human being? = Commenton the following sentences: “Sex, once a lawas undisputed as gravity, has been disproved. The equation is erased, the blackooard broken.” 4, What does the phrase ,insatiable hunger” refer to? Voesbulary exercises ‘Translate into English, using vocabulary from the text 4. Absinele bazSiau, In timp co pisica torcea. Pe masa se afla un peste, proaspat adus dupa partida de pascuit 2 Se ageza pe scaurul pliant, ca un scolar in faja cirectoruul gcoi 3. Televzorul este pus In prza printi-un prelungitor, iar adolescentii se wits absorbit la un fim do ‘groaza noaptea tarziu 4. Mia vonit deodati un gnd tn minte. M& doare inima sé m8 gandesc ca persoana aceasia care era cancva plind de viata, este acum ca un cadavru, 5 Am incercat sa ii smulg cartea din man, dar nu am reusi,oricat de mult m-as fi strddult. 6 Au incercat sa se agate ce trecutul lor, dar amintrite le deveniserd din oe In ce mai neciare. 7, Toate acestea nu mai ineeamnd nimic aeum, chiar si cea mai fundamentalé dintre pasiunile omenesti ‘a pierdut definitiv. Nu mai rimane decat senzatia de foame nepotolité. 8 Pare Intradevér s8 treaca prin chirurile mort. In cur&nd o s8 si dea sférgitul - sangele nu va mal circula. ©. Dupa ce m-am uitat le masin8 ore i gi, mi-am dat coama cum-sé-i umplu rézervorul cu benzina dintr-un container 10. Aceasia teorie a fost in cele din urma contrazisa si toate datele care fuseserd obtinute, au fost sterse