Practise Listening 27 - The agony of notre dame - Thấm Tâm Vy

Nội dung text: Practise Listening 27 - The agony of notre dame - Thấm Tâm Vy

1. France Now that those flames have been extinguished, questions will turn to why Notre Dame THE AGONY OF NOTRE DAME burned, and how it can be rebuilt. The Paris public prosecutor has opened an investigation, declaring that “nothing suggests it was a deliberate act.” If this was PARIS indeed an accident, the focus will be the works to renovate the 19th-century spire, which The fire has devastated the world’s most famous cathedral. But not destroyed it began last summer. It was the oakbeamed roof above the vaults that proved to be both so flammable, and so difficult for the fire brigade to get to. Thanks to the efforts of 400 The cathedral of Notre Dame is a “majestic and sublime edifice”, a “vast symphony in th th firefighters—as well as to the craftsmanship of the 12 - and 13 -century stonemasons stone”, wrote Victor Hugo. “Every surface, every stone of this venerable pile, is a page who built the soaring stone vaults beneath the roof—the cathedral’s main medieval of the history not only of the country, but of science and of art.” The devastating fire structure was largely saved. that broke out on April 15Th, and destroyed much of the gothic cathedral’s wood- Firefighters also managed to save many religious artefacts and relics. How stable the timbered roof and spire, stunned and distressed the French with a force that far remaining structure is, and whether the stone has been permanently weakened by the exceeded the building’s religious significance. As the flames engulfed the roof, intense heat, say engineers, will have to be assessed once the masonry has cooled. Mr President Emmanuel Macron spoke for many across France when he tweeted that he Macron vowed that, no matter what, the cathedral will be rebuilt, and launched a was witnessing “part of us burn”. fundraising initiative to that end. In a country that lacks a tradition of private Why has the fire at Notre Dame stirred such emotion in France? In a city of broad philanthropy, it was notable that France’s richest businessmen vowed to contribute. vistas and stolen glimpses, it serves as a fixed point for Parisians; a stable presence that Two luxury titans, Bernard Arnault and François Pinault, between them pledged €300 emerges reliably into view, like a much-loved aunt, from bridges across the river Seine. million ($340 million). Visited by 13 million tourists a year, the cathedral has been the backdrop to countless The search for somebody to blame will absorb France for some time. Many will want expressions of awe and romance, as well as been-there selfies. Locals may be riled by to know exactly what precautions were taken by those working on the renovation, and the narcissistic crowds, but are proud of what draws them. The 850-year-old cathedral is what exactly was the nature of the disaster-planning for a monument of this scale and a national landmark that offers something particular: a form of timelessness, drama and national importance, situated amid narrow streets on an inaccessible island in the centre spirituality, to set against the modernity and engineering prowess of the Eiffel Tower. of the city. A broader question is whose responsibility it should be to maintain secular On the night, as firefighters struggled to control the blaze, it looked for a stretch as if France’s great religious buildings. The government had contributed to the renovation of the centuries were dissolving in flames. For Parisians, watching in eerie silence on the Notre Dame’s spire. But the cathedral had to raise funds to renew its bells in 2012, and bridges, the wait was agonising. In his preface to “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, the the agreement between the archdiocese and the government over upkeep is unclear. novel that reawakened the French to the cathedral’s splendour, Hugo had warned darkly On the morning after the fire, tourists gathered along the cobbled quays to get their that “soon, perhaps, the Cathedral itself will have vanished from the face of the earth.” shot of the old survivor, damaged but unfallen. For locals, sadness at the damage was As the fire blazed, the visceral fear that Hugo might have been right seemed to touch a mixed with deep relief that it had not been far worse. At one point, and after five profound yearning for Our Lady to survive. months of unrest by gilets jaunes (yellow jackets), the fire seemed to be a ghastly The cathedral had withstood ransacking during the wars of religion, looting during the symbol for the torment of France. It broke out just before Mr Macron was due to unveil revolution, two world wars and Nazi occupation, becoming an emblem of resistance in his response to those protests, and to his “great national debate”, in a speech he the face of a constantly disrupted history. More than this, Notre Dame is a product of promptly had to postpone. The moment was supposed to mark the end of a disaster. the paradoxes of that history. It is where an emperor, Napoleon, was crowned in 1804, Instead, it brought another. and where the founder of modern republican France, Charles de Gaulle, was Mr Macron now faces a different challenge. The country was already divided, and the remembered upon his death. It was at once a living place of worship for the French president unloved. Today Notre Dame is charred, and Paris, and all of France, is in pain. Catholic church, and the property of the French secular state: a symbol in itself of the Just occasionally, such a national drama can help to pull a divided country together. On country’s history and its present, in all its glorious contradictions. the night, Mr Macron made a good start. But he has yet to bring closure to his great As he visited the site shortly before midnight, Mr Macron, so often perceived as out of debate. It will take particular skill to do this while offering solace to a nation still in touch, for once found the right words to express this. “Notre Dame de Paris is our shock after the drama of Notre Dame.  (The Economist, UK, April 20, 2019) history, our literature,” he declared. “The place where we have lived all our great Notes: moments, epidemics, wars and liberation. It is the epicentre of our lives and the point - been-there selfies: các tấm ảnh tự sướng từng chụp ở đó - visceral: theo bản năng - in eerie silence: trong sự im lặng thần bí - launched a fundraising initiative to that end: phát động sáng kiến gây quỹ cho mục đích đó from which we measure distance from Paris. This history, it is ours and it is burning.” - archdiocese: giáo phận (công giáo) - to bring closure to = put an end to: kết thúc Thẩm Tâm Vy ‘s Archives PRACRISE LISTENING 27 ~ THE AGONY OF NOTRE DAME