Ticket 5

A Welsh Festival

I think the last days have been two of the most interesting days I have ever spent. I
have seen a Welsh Eisteddfod, a national gathering of an enormous crowd of
people devoted to music and poetry. The Welsh are a nation of singers. Wherever
you get a crowd of Welshmen, whether they’re down the mine, in the factory or
waiting on the platform for train, they just can’t help bursting into song ” Anyone”.
I heard a crowd of 50,000 Welshmen before a rugby match at Cardiff singing
“Land of my Fathers” and I will never forget it.

You could hardly find a town in Wales, however small, that hasn’t a choir. Its
conductor isn’t a trained musician; he may be only a miner, an agriculture labourer
or the milkman; but the university lecturer or the doctor’s daughter will be happy
to work under his leadership. The choir will gather in the little chapel almost every
night for practice as they are preparing for the Eisteddfod, and the pieces set for
competition (this year they are two difficult works by Bach and Brahms) need a lot
of practice to bring them to perfection. I should think the Welsh are the only
people in the world whose only national festival is devoted to music and poetry.

Answer the following questions:

1)What does the author think about the Welsh?

2)What did the author hear before a rugby match at Cardiff?

3)Why will the choir gather in the little chapel ?

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