http://www.tv5.org/cms/USA/Programs/p-13398-s5-z413-lg3-TEMPS-PRESENT.htm?prg_id=281159&



ааааааааааа!! хочу ее!!
все-таки надо учить французский. хотя если уж ее нет в сети - то ее нет. не ловить же ее по телевизору!

раздражение?
тогда мы идем к вам!

Зарядка в лесу

Мы шагаем, мы шагаем!

Выше ножки поднимаем!

Через камушки и кочки,

Через ямки и пенечки!

Раз-два, три-четыре,

Мы в лесу, а не в квартире!

Распрямили спинку,

Вышли на тропинку:

Ставим ножки аккуратно

И идем туда - обратно!

Раз-два, три-четыре,

Мы в лесу, а не в квартире!

В прятки с зайкой поиграем,

Под кустом поприседаем.

Ручки, солнышко, давай,

И как зайка приседай!

Сели – спрятались! Ку-ку!

Встали – снова наверху!

Сели-встали, сели-встали,

Вот как в прятки мы играли!

Раз-два, три-четыре,

Мы в лесу, а не в квартире!

Упираем руки в бок

И лягушкой скок да скок!

Мы подпрыгнем высоко,

Лес увидим далеко.

Раз-два, три-четыре,

Мы в лесу, а не в квартире!

Мы шагаем, мы шагаем!

Выше ножки поднимаем!

Через камушки и кочки,

Через ямки и пенечки!

Попрощаемся с друзьями

И домой вернемся к маме.



Раз-два, три-четыре,

Мы опять в своей квартире!

Пес и кошка

Стихи Р.Киплинга в переводе А.Дольского

Кошку погладишь - она запоет,
Выпустит тонкие когти.
Пес, если нужно всю ночь у ворот
Честно под дождиком мокнет.
Кошка лукаво отводит свой взгляд,
Смотрит на звезды в окошко.
Пес мой безмерно доволен и рад,
Лишь приласкаешь немножко.

Если же гости придут в выходной.
Кошка в истоме и лени,
Громко трещит, как волчок заводной
Щурясь у них на коленях.
Пес от моей не отходит руки,
Слушаясь каждого жеста.
Дружба дороже, чем все пироги,
Даже из сдобного теста.

Кошке хоть тысячу раз повтори: -
"Киска, не рви мою шапку".
Пес мой веселый несет, посмотри,
Утром пропавшую шапку.
Кошка гуляет всю ночь напролет,
Пес мой - мальчишка примерный.
Он храпака под кроватью дает,
Значит - он друг самый верный!

Pussy can sit by the fire and sing,
Pussy can climb a tree,
Or play with a silly old cork and string
To 'muse herself, not me.
But 1 like Binkie my dog, because
He knows how to behave;
So. Binkie’s the same as the First Friend was.
And I am the Man in the Cave.

Pussy will play man-Friday till
It’s time to wet her paw
And make her walk on the window-sill
(For the footprint Crusoe saw);
Then she fluffles her tail and mews,
And scratches and won’t attend.
But Binkie will play -whatever I choose.
And he is my true First Friend.

Pussy will rub my knees with her head
Pretending she loves me hard;
Rut the very minute I go to my bed
Pussy runs out in the yard.
And there she stays till the morning-light;
So I know it is only pretend;
But Binkie, he snores at my feet all night,
And he is my Firstest Friend!

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,
She had so many children she didn't know what to do!
So she gave them some broth without any bread,
And she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed!

Mary had a little lamb its fleece was white as snow;
And everywhere that Mary went, the lamb was sure to go.
It followed her to school one day, which was against the rule;
It made the children laugh and play, to see a lamb at school.
And so the teacher turned it out, but still it lingered near,
And waited patiently about till Mary did appear.
"Why does the lamb love Mary so?" the eager children cry;
"Why, Mary loves the lamb, you know" the teacher did reply.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses, And all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!

Ring-a-Ring o'Rosies
A Pocket full of Posies
"A-tishoo! A-tishoo!"
We all fall Down!

rosy rose

Разночтения между письмом и произношением объясняются консерватизмом английской орфографии. Сегодня английские слова пишутся так, как читались 500-600 лет назад. Поэтому на первом этапе (пока не накоплен опыт и не выработалась интуиция) произношение некоторых слов приходится заучивать.
Хуже того: слова, пишущиеся одинаково, могут произноситься по-разному. Например, read [ri:d] 'читать', но read [red] 'прочел'; reading ['ri:dıŋ] 'чтение', но Reading ['redıŋ] 'Рединг (название города)'; live [lıv] 'жить', но live [laıv] 'живой'; wind [wınd] 'ветер', но wind [waınd] 'виться'. Для запоминания таких слов рекомендую составлять фразы типа I read [red] a red book about Reading 'Я прочел красную книгу о Рединге'.
Слово bow произносится как [bau], когда оно означает 'гнуть, кланяться'. Однако, когда оно обозначает 'лук', то звучит [bou]. Чтобы это запомнить, составим фразу: I refuse to bow to a clown 'Я отказываюсь кланяться клоуну', где слова bow и clown содержат один и тот же дифтонг [аu].
Двояко может выговариваться и слово row. Произносясь [rou], то обозначает 'ряд' и для его запоминания в этом значении пригодится фраза We have rows of rose bushes in the garden 'У нас в саду есть ряды розовых кустов', в которой слова rows и rose звучат одинаково. Слово row может звучать и как [rau], тогда оно означает 'ссора'. Во фразе There was a terrible row in the house 'В этом доме была ужасная ссора' слова row и house характеризуются одним и тем же дифтонгом.

Помню, как нам в институте объясняли, что усвоение нового материала происходит по такой схеме - объяснение - навык - речевое умение, а потом сказали, что соответственно уроки делятся на три типа. Кто и когда решил, что каждому из этих этапов надо посвящать целый урок - не имею понятия. Но, видимо, влиятельный человек был...
Тут еще заморочка с навыками - умениями - в чем разница. Навык - вроде как рефлекс. Получается, что у человека должен появиться рефлекс в ходе выполнения drills and written practice, а потом он его перенесет в другие ситуации - разовьет речевое умение... Тут, по-моему, дело в отношении к ошибкам при speaking - их же нельзя делать согласно советской методике. Навык уже должен быть! Поэтому и тратится куча времени на формирование этого навыка, а если он, не дай Бог, не очень хорошо сформировался, то до речевых умений вообще дело не доходит.

просматривала инет на предмет house home flat и наткнулась на блог, в котором англичанин представляет свою квартиру с фотографиями+ комментарии к его посту.
Вот, к примеру, один человек представляет «свой» дом (британский) а потом спрашивает что то вроде: Is this what you imagine a British house is like inside? I have no idea whether our house is typically British or not. Let me know what you think? What surprised you? What did you expect and not expect to see? What do you think are the main differences between my house and yours?
Остальные обсуждают, затем сравнивают с домами своей страны.

Графические диктанты[2]

Выполняются на бумаге в клеточку под диктовку взрослого. Ребенка просят провести линию следующим образом:

1. Две клетки влево, две клетки вверх, две клетки вправо, две клетки вниз, две клетки вправо, две клетки вверх, две клетки влево.

2. Одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вверх, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вверх, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вверх, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вверх, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вниз, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вниз, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вниз, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вниз, одна клетка вправо.

3. Одна клетка влево, четыре клетки вверх, три клетки вправо, четыре клетки вниз, одна клетка влево, три клетки вверх, одна клетка влево, три клетки вниз.

4. Одна клетка влево, три клетки вверх, две клетки влево, одна клетка вверх, пять клеток вправо, одна клетка вниз, две клетки влево, три клетки вниз.

5. Одна клетка вниз, пять клеток вправо, одна клетка вверх, пять клеток влево, три клетки вверх, пять клеток вправо, три клетки вниз.

6. Четыре клетки вверх, две клетки вправо, одна клетка вверх, одна клетка вправо, одна клетка вниз, две клетки вправо, четыре клетки вниз, две клетки влево, одна клетка вверх, одна клетка влево, одна клетка вниз, две клетки влево.

7. Одна клетка вверх, четыре клетки вправо, четыре клетки вверх, одна клетка вправо, четыре клетки вниз, четыре клетки вправо, одна клетка вниз, девять клеток влево.

8. Одна клетка вправо, семь клеток вверх, одна клетка вправо, пять клеток вниз, три клетки вправо, пять клеток вверх, одна клетка вправо, семь клеток вниз, одна клетка вправо.

9. Четыре клетки вверх, одна клетка вправо, три клетки вниз, пять клеток вправо, три клетки вверх, одна клетка вправо, четыре клетки вниз, семь клеток влево.

10. Пять клеток вверх, три клетки вправо, две клетки вниз, пять клеток вправо, одна клетка вниз, пять клеток влево, две клетки вниз, три клетки влево.

Для нас выполнение ДЗ - это БОЛЬ.... Ребенок будет заниматься всем чем угодно только не тем что надо... Причем пробовали как метод кнута, так и метод пряника - не работают оба. Я поняла, что у детей тоже есть свое настроение и от него зависит многое. Пичем дети слабее могут контролировать это самое настроение... то есть если это самое настроение ПРОТИВ уроков, уборки, одевания, умывания (нужное подчеркнуть), то переделать его в ЗА не представляется никакой возможности. (и Ругались и кричали и просили и умоляли и все все на свете разрешали и даже дрались - бесполезно - РЕ закрывается в свой кокон и его не вытащить от туда)Единственный выход - помыть, одеть, убрать, расстелить кровать за него... С уроками сложнее - так как я считаю что это Ребенок должен делать сам, иначе упустит материал, и нагнать будет трудно, ведь одно вытекает из другого...
В первом классе уроков не было по определению во втором классе забили на все кружки, так как уроки, на которых надо было тратить 40 минут мы тратили 6-7 часов.

Отдельная песня - это исправление ошибок - Мы их не признаем категорически :
-Я сделал правильно, это Ты говоришь, что не правильно - значит Ты виновата, что я должен переделывать

Сейчас он ходит на продленку... это спасает... А классная сказала - что если не хочет пуст не делает, только надо ее предупредить. У нее своя методика как мотивировать детей и приучать к слову НАДО!!!

Согласна с предыдущим оратором про святость Домашки и посещаемости, хотя бы до 9 класса (у нас в Латвии учататся дети 12 лет...)

Mon livre de francais. Французский язык 2 класс. Аудиокурс на 2-х кассетах
Французский язык 3 класс. Аудиокурс на 3-х кассетах
Автор: Касаткина Н.М.

Французский язык 4 класс. Аудиокурс Le francais en perspective IV

Русско-англо-франко-итальянский словарь в картинках

Новый Оксфордский иллюстрированный словарь/The new Oxford Picture Dictionary
Автор: Parnwell E.C


Книга: face2face Cambridge English Course. Pre-Intermediate
Автор: Chris Redston, Gillie Cunningham, Alison Greenwood, Nicholas Tims

В Москве запретят полиэтиленовые пакеты

В скором времени продукты в московских торговых магазинах будут упаковывать не в привычные пластиковые пакеты, а в бумажные и биоразлагающиеся упаковки.

Как известно, полиэтилен разлагается в земле более 100 лет, а при сжигании выбрасывает вредные вещества, нанося непоправимый вред экологии. Поэтому уже в сентябре власти Москвы, экологические и общественные организации начнут крупную акцию по борьбе с полиэтиленовыми пакетами и пластиковой упаковкой.

Месячник борьбы с пластиком начнется праздником и концертом в «Лужниках», где в небо будет запущен огромный биоразлагаемый пакет с аэростатом внутри. Организаторы полагают, что это событие будет включено в Книгу рекордов Гиннесса и послужит дополнительной рекламой для экологически безвредной упаковки.

Кроме того, при поддержке правительства Москвы будут показаны ролики социальной рекламы, предлагается также указывать на пластиковых пакетах сведения о том вреде, который они наносят окружающей среде.

Власти надеются, что к 2012 году биоупаковка полностью вытеснит полиэтиленовые пакеты в торговых сетях Москвы, даже несмотря на то, что экологичные пакеты примерно на 20% дороже обычных.

городской телефон на козлова

(с)

Но я так считаю только потому, что я фашист и не способна принять право других на свой образ жизни.

Took a while to drag me out of bed,
Aim some coffee at my head,
Saw the clock Im running late,
Its an ordinary day.

And I'm like a dog on heat,
Knock one out and then fall asleep,
Its sad but true,
I'd rather be with you.

Dont you forget about me,
When youre a celebrity,
It will be only you and me before too long.

So little time so much to do,
I'd rather spend my days with you.
So little time so much to do,
I'd like to spend one day with you.
And if that day is not enough,
Maybe we can stay in touch,
But I'm not making plans for tomorrow,
For tomorrow nevre comes.

Said I've been celibate for years,
Not out of chance theres no-one here,
See I cant get my end away,
Another ordinary day,
And Id love to see a little more of you,
Your clothes would look better on my bedroom floor...bedroom floor.

Dont you forget about me,
When you're a celebrity,
I know you're busy,
But we all need somebody - before too long.

So little time so much to do,
I'd rather spend my days with you.
So little time so much to do,
I'd like to spend one day with you.
And if that day is not enough,
Maybe we can stay in touch,
But I'm not making plans for tomorrow,
For tomorrow nevre comes.

Its in your eyes, oooooh...

Закрывая дверь, он придержал ее, чтобы она тихо закрылась. Обычно людям и в голову не приходило подумать о подобных мелочах, и дверь хлопала со всего размаха.

...

Во всем, что он делал, в том, как он работал, чувствовалась сила, даже своего рода власть. Он не ждал каких то предложений, а сам брал то, что хотел, очень мягко и одновременно настойчиво изменяя и приспосабливая реально существующую действительность к тому видению, которое сложилось в его воображении.

...

Франческа обвела взглядом его фигуру. Она видела, как джинсы туго обтянули мускулы бедер, когда он опустился на колени, старая застиранная рубашка прилипла к спине, а седеющие волосы разметались по воротнику. Она смотрела, как он, сидя на корточках, привинчивает какую то деталь к штативу, и впервые за всю свою жизнь почувствовала, что в ней начинает выделяться горячая влага просто от одного взгляда на мужчину

The New York Times
May 30, 2004
Friends, Friends With Benefits and the Benefits of the Local Mall
By BENOIT DENIZET-LEWIS

Jesse wants to meet at Hooters. ''It's 40 minutes from where I live,'' he says, ''but trust me, it's worth the drive.''

Jesse is 15. Surprisingly, there is no age requirement to dine at Hooters. When I call the restaurant to make sure I'm not aiding and abetting teen delinquency, the woman who picks up seems annoyed I would even ask. ''No, we're a family restaurant,'' she says. So, amid the bronzed, scantily clad waitresses and a boisterous bachelor party, I find Jesse, a high-school sophomore with broad shoulders and messy brown hair peeking out from underneath his baseball cap. Jesse is there with four of his close friends, whom he has arranged for me to meet.

Among them is Caity, a thin, 14-year-old freshman with long blond hair and braces, who says that she is a virgin but that she occasionally ''hooks up'' with guys. Caity doesn't make clear what she means by ''hooking up.'' The term itself is vague -- covering everything from kissing to intercourse -- though it is sometimes a euphemism for oral sex, performed by a girl on a boy. Sitting next to Caity is her best friend, Kate, also 14, whom everyone affectionately refers to as the ''prude'' of the group. Outgoing and attractive, she's had a boyfriend for a couple of months, but they haven't even kissed yet.

In her New England exurban world, where, I was told, oral sex is common by eighth or ninth grade, and where hookups may skip kissing altogether, Kate's predicament strikes her friends, and even herself, as bizarre. ''It's retarded,'' she says, burying her head in Caity's shoulder. ''Even my mom thinks it's weird.''

Just a few weeks ago, Caity and Kate met a cute boy at the mall. ''Me and Kate walked into this store,'' Caity says, ''and this boy saw the shirt Kate was wearing that says, 'Kiss Me, I'm an Amoeba.' So he was, like, 'That's an awesome shirt.' And she was, like, 'Want me to make you one?' So he went and got Sharpies, and she went and got T-shirts, we met back there and then he said to me, 'You want my screen name?' So he wrote it on my arm. He just got his license, so he came up, and we hooked up.''

I ask Caity if that's it, or if her hookup might lead to something more. ''We might date,'' she tells me. ''I don't know. It's just that guys can get so annoying when you start dating them.''

Adam, a 16-year-old sophomore at the end of the table, breaks in, adding that girls, too, can get really annoying when you start dating them. A soccer player with shaggy blond hair and a muscular body, he likes to lift his shirt at inappropriate times (like now, to the Hooters waitress) and scream, ''I've had sex!'' Adam has had the most hookups of the group -- about 10, he estimates.

When he lived in Florida last year, he lost his virginity to a friend who threw a condom at him and ordered him to put it on. ''Down in Key West, high-school girls are crazy,'' Adam said. ''Girls were making out with each other on the beach. Lesbians are cool!''


While Adam and Caity denied it, there was a thick fog of sexual intrigue that surrounded their friendship -- and a few weeks after our dinner at Hooters, Jesse sent me an online message notifying me of a hookup in the making between Adam and Caity. They were planning to go over to Jesse's house and ''mess around.'' As Jesse explained it, Adam told Caity he didn't want a relationship, and she replied that that was fine, she didn't want one, either.

According to Jesse, Caity set the ground rules. ''Caity told me, 'Adam knows he's not going to get in my pants, but I might get into his.' For now they might just make out, but Caity said that if they hang out a lot more, maybe they'll do more.'' The next day, Jesse messaged me to say that the hookup never materialized. ''Everyone got busy. But I'm guessing it still might happen.''

I first met Jesse online at facethejury.com, one of many Internet sites popular with high-school and college students, where teenagers can post profiles, exchange e-mail and arrange to hook up. (Though facethejury.com, like many such sites, requires members to be 18, younger teenagers routinely lie about their age.) Over the course of several months spent hanging out and communicating online with nearly 100 high-school students (mostly white, middle- and upper-middle-class suburban and exurban teenagers from the Northeast and Midwest), I heard the same thing: hooking up is more common than dating.

Most of the teenagers I spoke to could think of only a handful of serious couples at their school. One senior in Chicago, who'd been dating the same girl since sophomore year, told me that none of his friends want girlfriends and that he's made to feel like a ''loser'' because he's in a relationship. As if searching for reassurance, he turned to me and asked, ''Do you think I'm a loser?''

The decline in dating and romantic relationships on college campuses has been deplored often enough. By 2001, it had become so pronounced that a conservative group, the Independent Women's Forum, was compelled to take out ads in college papers on the East Coast and in the Midwest pleading with students to ''Take Back the Date.'' But their efforts don't seem to have paid off. The trend toward ''hooking up'' and ''friends with benefits'' (basically, friends you hook up with regularly) has trickled down from campuses into high schools and junior highs -- and not just in large urban centers. Cellphones and the Internet, which offer teenagers an unparalleled level of privacy, make hooking up that much easier, whether they live in New York City or Boise.

And yet, still, many date. Or sort of, falling out of romantic relationships into hookups and back again. When teenagers do date, they often do so in ways that would be unrecognizable to their parents, or even to their older siblings. A ''formal date'' might be a trip to the mall with a date and some friends. Teenagers regularly flirt online first, and then decide whether to do so in real life. Dating someone from your school is considered by many to be risky, akin to seeing someone from the office, so teenagers tend to look to nearby schools or towns, whether they're hoping to date or just to hook up.

It's not that teenagers have given up on love altogether. Most of the high-school students I spent time with said they expected to meet the right person, fall in love and marry -- eventually. It's just that high school, many insist, isn't the place to worry about that. High school is about keeping your options open. Relationships are about closing them. As these teenagers see it, marriage and monogamy will seamlessly replace their youthful hookup careers sometime in their mid- to late 20's -- or, as one high-school boy from Rhode Island told me online, when ''we turn 30 and no one hot wants us anymore.''

Brian, a 16-year-old friend of Jesse's, put it this way: ''Being in a real relationship just complicates everything. You feel obligated to be all, like, couply. And that gets really boring after a while. When you're friends with benefits, you go over, hook up, then play video games or something. It rocks.''

Why Valentine's Day Is for Losers

Dating practices and sexual behavior still vary along racial and economic lines, but some common assumptions, particularly about suburban versus urban kids, no longer hold true. Parents often think that teenagers who grow up in cities are more prone to promiscuous sexual behavior than teenagers in the suburbs. But according to a comprehensive study sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Development, more suburban 12th graders than urban ones have had sex outside of a romantic relationship (43 percent, compared with 39 percent).

It's unclear just how many teenagers choose hookups or friends with benefits over dating. Many, in fact, go back and forth, and if the distinction between hooking up and dating can seem slippery, that's because one sometimes does lead to the other. But just as often, hooking up is nothing more than what it's advertised to be: a no-strings sexual encounter. Recent studies show that it's not uncommon for high-school students to have sex with someone they aren't dating. A 2001 survey conducted by Bowling Green State University in Ohio found that of the 55 percent of local 11th graders who engaged in intercourse, 60 percent said they'd had sex with a partner who was no more than a friend. That number would perhaps be higher if the study asked about oral sex. While the teen intercourse rate has declined -- from 54 percent in 1991 to 47 percent in 2003 -- this may be partly because teenagers have simply replaced intercourse with oral sex. To a generation raised on MTV, AIDS, Britney Spears, Internet porn, Monica Lewinsky and ''Sex and the City,'' oral sex is definitely not sex (it's just ''oral''), and hooking up is definitely not a big deal.

The teenagers I spoke to talk about hookups as matter-of-factly as they might discuss what's on the cafeteria lunch menu -- and they look at you in a funny way if you go on for too long about the ''emotional'' components of sex. But coupled with this apparent disconnection is remarkable frankness about sex, even among friends of the opposite gender. Many teenagers spend a lot of time hanging out in mixed-gender groups (at the mall, at one another's houses), and when they can't hang out in person, they hang out online, asking the questions they might not dare to in real life. While this means that some friendships become sexually charged and lead to ''friends with benefits'' (one senior from Illinois told me that most of her friends have hooked up with one another), a good number remain platonic.

On Valentine's Day, I was invited to spend the evening with 12 junior and senior friends in an upper-middle-class suburb of Chicago. They were hanging out, eating pizza and watching TV. Not one had a Valentine, and most said they wouldn't have it any other way. Several pointed out that having close friends of the opposite sex makes romantic relationships less essential. Besides, if you feel like something more, there's no need to feign interest in dinner and a movie. You can just hook up or call one of your friends with benefits.

''It would be so weird if a guy came up to me and said, 'Irene, I'd like to take you out on a date,''' said Irene, a tall, outgoing senior. ''I'd probably laugh at him. It would be sweet, but it would be so weird!''

Irene and her friends are not nerds. They are attractive and well liked, and most have had at least one romantic relationship. If that experience taught them anything, it's that high school is no place for romantic relationships. They're complicated, messy and invariably painful. Hooking up, when done ''right,'' is exciting, sexually validating and efficient.

''I mean, sometimes you'll go out with a group of friends and meet someone cool, and maybe you'll hang out and hook up, but that's about it,'' said Irene's friend Marie (who asked me to use her middle name). ''There's a few people I know who date, but most of us are like, 'There's no one good to date, we don't need to date, so why date?' ''

Once Upon a Time, Before the Internet . . .

The last time American teenagers seemed this uninterested in monogamous, long-term relationships was the 1930's and early 1940's, when high-school popularity was largely equated with social (but not sexual) promiscuity: the ''cool kids'' had lots of dates with lots of different people, while the ''losers'' settled down with one person or didn't date at all. This more-the-merrier philosophy played itself out most significantly on the dance floor, where there was nothing more embarrassing for a young woman than to be stuck with the same boy all night.

In her book ''From Front Porch to Back Seat: Courtship in 20th-Century America,'' Beth Bailey, a professor of American Studies at the University of New Mexico, points out that magazine advice columns at the time urged teenagers to keep their options open -- and, most important, to appear to be always in demand. Dating was seen as a competition that must never be lost. The advice column in Senior Scholastic, a current-events magazine for high-school students, told girls never to reject any boy outright, because ''he may come in handy for an off night.'' And Ladies Home Journal urged teenagers to be open to blind dates: they ''help keep you in circulation. They're good press agents. They even add to your collection.''

Bailey found that ''going steady,'' when it was discussed at all before World War II, was often ridiculed by teenagers and the media. Dating a variety of people simultaneously was the key to a good social standing in high school. ''These dates had to be highly visible, and with many different people, or they didn't count,'' Bailey writes.

But the war changed everything. Suddenly, women outnumbered men, and popular women's magazines and advice books scared American girls with dire warnings like ''Male shortage. . . . It's worse than ever,'' and ''Baldly stated, many girls of your generation will never marry.'' Young women apparently took up the challenge, because by 1959, 47 percent of brides were under 19, and those who weren't would often report that they had gone to college solely to find a husband.

With marriage occurring at a younger and younger age, teenagers started dating earlier, too. It wasn't uncommon for 13-year-olds to go steady. Bailey cites one 1961 study of a middle-class district in Pennsylvania, in which 40 percent of fifth graders were already dating (for many, this meant holding hands and kissing). One frustrated high-school boy wrote a letter to Senior Scholastic complaining that everyone he knew went steady, and that he was labeled a ''playboy'' for wanting to date different girls.

By the late 60's and early 70's, the rituals of high-school dating had taken on an almost prehistoric cast. The ''rules'' -- boy calls girl, boy asks girl out, boy drives to girl's house, boy talks to girl's dad, boy takes girl to movies, boy has her home by 11 (or else) -- were viewed as restrictive and old-fashioned, not to mention sexist. And that's pretty much how things stood until the Reagan era, when dating made a serious comeback. Many teenagers settled down into a mix of serial dating and going steady -- being ''popular'' often meant having a highly coveted boyfriend or girlfriend. And while parents may have felt, as they typically do, that they didn't always understand teenage culture, most still thought they had a pretty good idea of whom their kids were talking to regularly. ''Teens still had to call the home to reach the person they were interested in,'' Bailey says. ''But then came cellphones and the Internet.''

Logging On, Tuning Out

It's no coincidence that hooking up has become popular with teenagers just as the Internet has become an integral part of their social lives. Until about five years ago, Internet meeting sites were mostly the domain of gay and lesbian high-school students looking for love, sex or someone to talk to. Today many heterosexual teenagers place personal profiles on meeting sites, usually without their parents' knowledge, and spend hours in chat rooms. (Two of the more popular sites -- hotornot.com, with 4.3 million members, and facethejury.com, with 1.2 million -- were both launched in late 2000.) And while gay high-school boys frequently advertise that they ''don't do hookups'' and are only looking for relationships, fewer straight teenagers make that claim -- and many make it clear that they're looking for anything but commitment.

''Straight teens have abandoned the rituals of dating, while gay teens have taken them on,'' says Peter Ian Cummings, the editor of XY, a national magazine for young gay men. The Internet, Cummings says, has made it possible for heterosexual teenagers to act the way ''most of straight society assumes gay men act.''

The day I spent with Haris and Emcho, two varsity soccer players at a high school in the Chicago area, would seem to bear that out. I'd met Emcho (he asked me to use his nickname) on facethejury.com, where he typically receives high ratings. (Visitors to the site rate personal photos on a scale from 1 to 10, with anything under a 5 meaning, as one teenager told me, ''that you should crawl into a hole and die.'')

Tall and lanky, with brown hair and a crush-inducing smile, Emcho said there are benefits to being highly rated on a site like facethejury. There was the college girl online who invited Emcho and a friend over to a party at her apartment. ''I was online writing my senior paper,'' Emcho said, ''and this girl instant-messages me and says, 'Hey, I saw your picture on facethejury.''' She invited Emcho over that night. They had sex in her bathroom, Emcho told me, and met up a few more times, but he says he cut it off when she started talking about wanting to date him.

Emcho and Haris said they're both partial to ''preppy suburban girls.'' As Haris put it, ''City girls are cool, but suburban girls are crazy cool!'' (Meaning, Haris explains, that suburban girls are ''easier.'') Recently, he and Emcho met up with two high-school girls. One girl offered to sneak them all into her house, where she and Emcho hooked up on the floor, while Haris and her friend used the closet.

With so many teenagers online willing to hook up, Emcho and Haris say there's no need to rush a relationship. ''A lot of guys get in relationships just so they can get steady [expletive],'' Haris told me. ''But now that it's easy to get sex outside of relationships, guys don't need relationships.''

Last year, there was one girl Emcho really liked who really liked him, but he decided to wait a year or two before beginning a relationship with her. ''He's waiting until the well runs dry,'' Haris said with a smile. It didn't seem to occur to Emcho that the girl might not be available once he's ready.

James Hong, co-founder of the meeting and rating site hotornot.com, which is wildly popular among teenagers, knows that much of his demographic thinks like Emcho and Haris. He says his site purposefully doesn't advertise itself as a dating service (most of its members are under 24). ''You'll never see the word 'dating' on our site, because that's much too serious for our demographic,'' he says. ''There are obviously relationships that come from the site, but mostly I think it's a lot of hanging out and hooking up. This demographic doesn't want to appear like they're needy and looking for a relationship.''

But the neediness comes through in other ways. Many teenagers are obsessed with how complete strangers view them, and they check their online ratings several times an hour. You have to show enough of your body to entice -- washboard abs and cleavage are sure bets -- but not enough to have your photo rejected by the site moderators. If your ratings climb high enough, the sites will often feature your profile in their ''top girls'' or ''hottest guys'' sections, making some high-school students feel like superstars.

Once there, you're likely to receive hundreds of adoring e-mail messages from teenagers around the country, and many local offers to hang out and hook up. For teenagers who already consider themselves attractive, the sites can be an ego boost. And for teenagers who aren't sure, the sites offer a chance -- with the right picture -- to feel wanted, too.

But if your ratings are only average, it can be tough. I spoke to several boys with low ratings who tried hard to sound unfazed, but underneath their nonchalance was an obvious hurt. One pouty, brown-haired sophomore in Boston with an average rating called facethejury.com a ''whorehouse for people who hate themselves and the way they look, and search for affirmation from the outside.'' So why is he on it? ''Boredom,'' he told me. ''It's also entertaining in a perverse kind of way. I've had four highly overweight women in their late 20's ask to meet me.''

There's something surreal about teenagers with online personal profiles, and that's especially true when they're 13-year-olds, which is some of what you'll find on buddypic.com. Out of some 50,000 profiles, more than 4,000 are from baby-faced kids around the country. Some lift their shirts in their pictures, showing off their stomachs. Others make it clear what they aren't looking for. ''LOTS of piercings, ugly . . . chicks, snitches, teacher's pets, stinky . . . chicks'' reads one 13-year-old's ''Dislikes'' column. His ''Likes'' column is simpler: ''Sexy body, Blonde, Blue eyes . . . good personality, willing to go out of their way to be with me.''

Buddypic.com is careful to advertise itself as ''fun, clean and real.'' But on facethejury, ''adult'' meeting sites are just a click away. The links are advertised alongside teenage profiles, which makes for some eerie echoes between the self-styled photos of teenage members -- suggestively posed and airbrushed -- and the longstanding conventions of adult erotica. For many teenage boys and some teenage girls, Internet porn, cybersex and real-time cam-to-cam connections exert a strong pull. As one Boston teenager told me, ''Who needs the hassle of dating when I've got online porn?'' Most of the boys I spoke to said they have access to Internet porn, and many said they started watching it regularly at 12, 13 or 14 years old. Some experts maintain that this kind of exposure is a lot more damaging than sneaking a peek at your dad's Playboy collection. ''The Internet gives teen boys the idea that girls are interchangeable sexual objects at their disposal,'' says Lynn Ponton, a professor of psychiatry at the University of California at San Francisco and the author of ''The Sex Lives of Teenagers.'' ''So how can they ever be developmentally ready for a real-life relationship?''

No Pain, All Gain?

Yet for all the resemblance of teenage hookup culture to a 70's singles bar, the old stigmas and prejudices haven't disappeared altogether. Most teenagers who engage in hookups still worry about being discreet. ''If you're not careful, by lunch the next day at school, everyone will know,'' says Irene, the senior from the Chicago suburb. ''Some people won't care, but others will, and if it happens too often, it will hurt your reputation.''

And girls aren't the only ones who are worried. David, a boyish, brown-haired, 18-year-old varsity basketball player at an all-boys high school in Chicago, said the same thing. Like many male varsity athletes I spoke to, David says he isn't lacking for hookup possibilities. But he tries to be cautious. After all, too much hooking up can ruin any chances for a future relationship -- and, like many teenagers, he holds out the possibility of dating if the ''perfect'' person comes along.

''I've got like five girls in my phone book I can call or text-message who will give it up to me,'' he says. ''But I don't just hook up with anyone. You have to be careful. I have this huge crush on this girl who knows a lot of the girls I know, and I don't want her to find out I hook up a lot and think I'm dirty.''

David isn't the only teenager who used the word ''dirty'' to describe hookups. Inherent in the thinking of many teenagers is the belief that hooking up, while definitely a mainstream activity, is still one that's best kept quiet. And underneath the teenage bravado I heard so often are mixed feelings about an activity that can leave them feeling depressed, confused and guilty.

As much as teenagers like to talk a good game, hooking up isn't nearly as seamless as they'd like it to be, and there are many ways it can go wrong. At the Valentine's Day gathering, Irene and her friends laid out the unwritten etiquette of teenage hookups: if you want it to be a hookup relationship, then you don't call the person for anything except plans to hook up. You don't invite them out with you. You don't call just to say hi. You don't confuse the matter. You just keep it purely sexual, and that way people don't have mixed expectations, and no one gets hurt.

But, invariably, people do. Many teenagers told me they were hurt by hookups -- usually because they expected or hoped for more. But they often blamed themselves for letting their emotions get the best of them. The hookups weren't the problem. They were the problem.

When Irene was 15, she hooked up for a while with a boy (''We basically became friends with benefits,'' she says) who never came around to asking her out officially, as Irene secretly hoped he would. In the end, she was devastated. ''Since then, I've become really good at keeping my emotions in check,'' she says. ''I can hook up with a guy and not fall for him.''

In fact, many teenagers opt for hookups after a romantic relationship has soured. Boys are less likely to admit this, although Jesse, from New England, isn't afraid to. ''I'd usually hook up because I got my heart broken by a girl, and I didn't want to feel like I had lost everything,'' he said. ''So I'd hear that a girl was interested in me, I'd get a ride to her house, we'd hang out and mess around some and I'd leave. Afterward I'd feel dumb, like it wasn't needed. But before you do it, you feel like it's definitely needed.''

Melissa, a senior in a high school north of Boston, confessed she'd never had a good relationship. ''Dating causes pain,'' she told me when I first communicated with her online. ''It's easier not to get attached. And I realized that if it's O.K. for guys to play the field and have sex with 28,000 people, I should be able to, also.''

The day we met in person, Melissa was in a foul mood. Her ''friend with benefits'' had just broken up with her. ''How is that even possible?'' she said, sitting, shoulders slumped, in a booth at a diner. ''The point of having a friend with benefits is that you won't get broken up with, you won't get hurt. He told me online that he met a girl that he really likes, so now, of course, we can't hook up anymore.''

Melissa and the boy used to meet up about once a week. ''To be honest, we don't even really like hanging out together,'' she told me. They met only to have sex. ''I go to his house, we sit there and talk for two minutes, then we go at it. Then we sit there again for about 10 minutes, and I go home.'' (Clearly, for some teenagers, ''friends with benefits'' is a misnomer. Take away the sex, and they probably wouldn't hang out at all.) Melissa forwarded me one of her online conversations with the boy:

Boy: What are you doing other than not talking to me?

Melissa: Nothing at all. . . .

Boy: Wow, you're as bored as I am?!? . . .

Melissa: Booooooooored.

Boy: lol. Yup. Life is good. lol.

Melissa: Freakin' fantastic. Lemme tell ya.

Boy: I wish you lived like next door. . . . It would be so much easier. . . . Like I don't know about you, but I wanna [expletive].

Melissa: U always wanna [expletive].

Boy: True.

Melissa: Haha.

Boy: But that's cuz we've been talking about it and haven't done it. It's built up.

Melissa: That's bc u haven't picked me up yet silly. . . . Well I'm gonna go

lay down. U know my number and where I live if things work out soon.

Boy: Hey wait. If I can do you wanna come over?

Melissa: Sure. So just call me.

Boy: Do you have condoms?

Melissa: Yes dear.

Boy: Hold on.

Melissa: I'm holding.

Boy: I can come get you right now if you want.

Melissa: Um gimme a sec. . . .

Boy: O.K.?? I'll come get you now if you're ready. . . .

Melissa: But I'm gonna be boring tonite . . . and I'm just telling u I'm not in the mood for nething but str8-up sex.

''I have my friends for my emotional needs, so I don't need that from the guy I'm having sex with,'' Melissa explained at the time, sounding very much like the ''Sex and the City'' character Samantha Jones. So why, now that the boy had ''broken up'' with her, was she feeling so depressed? ''It's really stupid, I know,'' she said, shaking her head. ''It's kind of ironic, isn't it? I try to set up a situation where I won't get hurt, and I still manage to get hurt.''

On the plus side, there's a new boy who's interested in her. ''Problem is, he's annoying,'' Melissa said. ''I liked him before we hooked up. Now I can't stand him. He's so needy, and he won't stop calling.'' Melissa said she was going to wait until after Valentine's Day to tell him she was not interested. ''I want a Valentine's Day present,'' she said. ''After that, I'm just not going to answer my phone.'' (As it turned out, they broke up before Valentine's Day.)

Like other high-school girls I talked to, Melissa says she doesn't see why boys get to have ''all the fun,'' although during the few months we communicated, it was clear that Melissa's hookups rarely brought her joy. She complained often about being depressed, and her hookups, which she hoped would make her feel better, usually left her feeling worse. But a few days after a hookup, she would have forgotten that they tended to make her miserable, and would tell me excitedly about a new boy she was planning to meet. When that boy failed to show or called to say he was running an hour late, Melissa's spirits would sink -- again.

But when I asked Melissa whether she thought hookups worked equally well for girls and boys, she surprised me with her answer. ''It's equal,'' she said. ''Everyone is using each other. That's fair.''

Girls Just Want to Have Fun?

Ashley, an outgoing junior who is friends with Jesse, met her current boyfriend at a concert in her hometown. Her parents initially balked at the age difference (she's 17, he's 21), but she was quick to reassure them. ''People assume that if the guy's older, he's the one making all the moves and using the girl,'' Ashley told me. ''But trust me, I was definitely the aggressor. I got into his pants. He didn't get into mine.''

The question of who's in control and who is getting the short end of the stick -- whether in dating or hookups -- kept cropping up. ''Guys who are 16, 17, 18, they're just totally clueless,'' said Irene, the 17-year-old from the upper-middle-class Chicago suburb. ''They'll be like, 'I kind of want you, but now that I have you, I don't really want you anymore, so maybe I should break up with you and have you as a friend with benefits.''' Irene, like many of her high-school friends, has no problem meeting boys who are in college -- and the implication is that maybe they offer something high-school boys don't.

So who's hooking up with guys in high school? Freshmen and sophomore girls. ''Some senior girls won't even look at us,'' said one high-school senior from Glenview, another suburb of Chicago, ''but underclassmen, they look at us like we're gods. Which, of course, we are, so it works out well.'' He told me that he regularly hooks up with a sophomore from another school, but he doesn't take her out with his friends. ''Until I find someone special, I'm playing the ballfield.''

While many girls insist they receive sexual attention during hookups, just as many boys say hookups are mostly about pleasing the guy. Michael Milburn, professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and co-author of the book ''Sexual Intelligence,'' an examination of sexual beliefs and behaviors in America, says that the boys' take is more accurate. ''Most of the time, it's the younger girl performing fellatio on the older boy, with the boy doing very little to pleasure the girl,'' Milburn says. Some girls told me that guys think it's ''nasty'' to perform oral sex on a girl. So a lot of girls will just perform oral sex on the guy ''and not expect anything in return, because she'll know that he probably thinks it's gross,'' Irene told me. But her friend Andi pointed out that many girls are themselves insecure about receiving oral sex; they'd rather just have intercourse.

There's a firm belief among many experts on teenage sex that girls, however much they protest to the contrary, are not getting as much pleasure out of hookups as they claim. I was invited to a high school in Boston, where I met with a group of seniors who were debating this very issue. I relayed a conversation I'd had with Marline Pearson, a sociologist who has developed a school curriculum for teenagers called Love U2: Getting Smarter About Relationships, Sex, Babies and Marriage. ''In some ways,'' Pearson said, ''I think girls had more power in the 1960's, when they said: 'O.K., you want to get to first base? This is what you have to do.' Today it's: 'O.K., you want to get to third base? Come over.' I'm a feminist, but I think we've put girls back in the dark ages, with very little power.''

One girl, a brown-haired senior who says she sometimes hooks up with guys she meets through friends, doesn't feel that she's in the dark ages, or that she's powerless. ''If I ask a guy to come over to my house and hook up,'' she said, ''I'm the one benefiting, because I'm the one who wants to. . . . It's not just about pleasing the guy.''

Her friend, a well-spoken senior with shaggy brown hair, faded jeans and a T-shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her shoulders, listened quietly as her friends defended a woman's right to hook up. Finally, and with some hesitation, she voiced an unpopular opinion among her friends.

''I feel like women have less power today,'' she said. ''It's not just that the guy often doesn't respect the girl or the girl's sexuality, but the girl sometimes doesn't really respect and validate herself. I have a friend who's 20, and he goes on the Internet and meets 16-year-old girls from the suburbs.'' He drives out there, she performs oral sex on him and he drives home. ''Who has the power there? I think that a lot of the times girls are really self-destructive.''

''Well,'' the first girl said, slightly annoyed, ''I don't see why a guy can have a random hookup with a girl and no one questions his motives, but when a girl does it, there's this assumption that she's a girl, so she automatically wants more out of a hookup. When I hook up, I don't want more, and it's not self-destructive. And I enjoy it.''

Dr. Drew Pinsky, co-host of ''Loveline,'' a popular, nationally syndicated radio program that has some two million listeners and that was featured on MTV, doesn't buy it. ''It's all bravado,'' he says. ''Teens are unwittingly swept up in the social mores of the moment, and it's certainly not some alternative they're choosing to keep from getting hurt emotionally. The fact is, girls don't enjoy hookups nearly as much as boys, no matter what they say at the time. They're only doing it because that's what the boys want.''

Wendy Shalit, whose book, ''A Return to Modesty,'' embodies what has been termed ''the new chastity,'' also says she believes that girls are being manipulated, but by a society that tries to convince them that they should act like boys, turning sexual modesty into a sign of weakness or repression -- something young women are taught to be embarrassed about. ''In the age of the hookup,'' Shalit writes, ''young women confess their romantic hopes in hushed tones, as if harboring some terrible secret.''

Those who embrace an abstinence-only sex-education program try to influence teenage behavior by explaining that sexual pleasure requires mutual respect and security. Sarah LaBella works for CareFirst Prevention Services, a group that has taught in junior high and high schools since 1998. One gray, frigid February afternoon, I sat in on a class she was giving to teenage girls in an unremarkable suburban Illinois high school with a view of Dunkin' Donuts.

''Do you want to know the difference between girls and guys?'' LaBella asked. Some of the girls listened intently, others doodled or stared blankly out the window. ''Guys are like microwaves. You hit the right button, and they're ready to go. We, on the other hand, are ovens. It takes a little while for us to get heated up. You have to preheat us.''

Most of the girls smiled, and several laughed. LaBella smiled, too, because if you can make teenagers laugh (with you, not at you), you might get them to actually listen. LaBella, who typically delivers her message to coed classes, knows that some teenagers tune her out between the S.T.D. slide show and the claim that ''the best sex'' happens only within marriage. But she says that many teenagers listen intently, as if hearing some life-altering wisdom. ''We know that most teenagers are never really taught what's involved in making a healthy relationship,'' she told me after class. ''They're trying to build relationships out of hookups or casual sex, and those relationships do not tend to be fruitful ones.''

But are teenagers -- and teenage girls in particular -- always ill served by choosing hookups over relationships? Jeanette May, co-founder of the Coalition for Positive Sexuality, a grass-roots advocacy and educational organization based in Washington that argues that teenagers should be supported in making their own decisions about safe sex and their sexuality, is one of the few adults I spoke to who doesn't think so. ''Often, I think girls, if they are getting as much out of it as the guys, are better served by having sex for their pleasure, without a lot of emotional attachment,'' she says. ''Because they would feel more empowered to practice safe sex, use birth control and avoid sexual interactions that would not benefit them. When girls think they are in love or in a relationship that will lead to love, they're more easily manipulated.''

Few adults would take that line. Regardless of which end of the political spectrum they find themselves on, parents and teen-sexuality experts tend to agree on one thing: hooking up is a bad thing for teenagers. They insist that it's bad emotionally and potentially bad physically. Female adolescents ages 15 to 19 have the highest incidence of both gonorrhea and chlamydia, and according to the latest C.D.C. figures, 48 percent of new S.T.D. cases reported in 2000 occurred among 15- to 24-year-olds. Many of the teenagers I talked to told me that no one they know uses condoms during oral sex, only during intercourse.

''Both conservatives and liberals have their respective blinders on when talking about teen sexuality,'' says Milburn, co-author of ''Sexual Intelligence.'' ''I can think of nothing more important than getting in schools and talking about sexual intelligence and healthy relationships, but most conservatives don't want an open and honest discussion about teen sexuality, and they oppose any conversation that doesn't focus on abstinence until marriage. And many liberals will resist any discussion that might touch on the negative consequences of unbridled sexuality. The conversation we need to have with teens is: 'What's the role that sexuality should play in an emotionally healthy person's life? What are the different ways that people can be sexual? What are the potential dangers?' ''

It's Saturday Night and . . .

For all the efforts to make teenagers aware of the dangers of hookups, many of the high-school students I spoke to shrugged off the idea that hooking up is ultimately a bad thing. As they see it, if they're not going to marry for another 10 years, why not focus on other things (friendships, schoolwork, sports) in high school? And if they're not hurting anyone and not getting anyone pregnant, where is the harm in a little casual fun? The truth is, teenagers may spend less of their time hooking up than adults think they do -- for many of them, friendships have become the most important part of their social lives. Kate, Caity and Adam (the group I first met at Hooters with Jesse) often spend weekend nights hanging out together and talking about sex in ways many adults would find difficult to do themselves.

I met up with them again one Saturday evening, as they lounged around a friend's living room. No one was paying much attention to the music video playing on the big-screen TV. Instead, they spent the night talking about music, soccer, their town (and why it's better than the next town over), oral sex (why some people can't do it well), masturbation (whether girls do it, and if so, whether they do it in the shower) and anything else that sprang to mind.

But the big news was that Kate still hadn't kissed her boyfriend. ''We talk about it all the time, but it's like whenever we get to a point when we're going to, we don't,'' Kate said. ''I feel like I'm going to have to make the first move, and I don't do first moves!''

''Why don't girls make first moves more often?'' asked Brian, Jesse's 16-year-old friend. ''It's really annoying.''

''Oh, they do if they're drunk!'' said Adam (the boy who likes to lift his shirt), sitting on the couch and strumming a guitar.

A lot had happened since I first met Jesse. Through a friend, Adam met a girl he actually would date, except she lived too far away. The biggest development, though, was that Caity and Adam had made out at a concert in front of all their friends. ''It was really disgusting,'' Jesse said. ''They did it right in front of everybody. And it was long.'' Both Adam and Caity dismissed it as a momentary lapse. ''It just happened,'' Caity said. ''Nothing serious,'' Adam said.

The two got to only first base (kissing), which is about the only base that anyone can agree on anymore. ''I don't understand the base system at all,'' Jesse said, lying on the floor and staring at the ceiling. ''If making out is first base, what's second base?''

''We need to establish an international base system,'' Brian said. ''Because right now, frankly, no one knows what's up with the bases. And that's a problem.''

Jesse nodded in agreement. ''First base is obviously kissing,'' Brian said.

''Obviously,'' Jesse said.

''But here's the twist,'' Brian said. ''Historically, second base was breasts. But I don't think second base is breasts anymore. I think that's just a given part of first base. I mean, how can you make out without copping a feel?''

''True,'' Jesse said. ''And if third base is oral, what's second base?''

''How does this work for girls?'' asked Ashley, the 17-year-old junior. ''I mean, are the bases what's been done to you, or what you've done?''

''If it's what base you've gone to with a girl, you go by whoever had more done,'' Jesse told her.

''But we're girls,'' Ashley said. ''So we've got on bases with guys?''

''Right, but it doesn't matter,'' Jesse said. ''It's not what base you've had done to you, it's what bases you get to.''

Kate shook her head. ''I'm totally lost.''

''See how complicated this is?'' Brian said. ''Now if someone asks you, 'So, how far did you get with her?' you have to say, 'Well, how do your bases go?' ''

Benoit Denizet-Lewis is a contributing writer for the magazine and a fellow at the Alicia Patterson Foundation. He last wrote for the magazine about the down-low culture.


Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

Бывает такое, что сказки становятся жизнью. Когда в легкие втягивается хрусткий морозный воздух, когда ослепительно сверкает снег или успокаивающе постукивает блестящими каплями по дремотной земле дождь, когда взлетает мягкими облачками под босыми ступнями песочная пыль дорог и солнце переливается зайчиками на доверчивых ресницах; тогда внимательные глаза видят, как сказки играют и переливаются в зеленых листьях деревьев, в веселом блеске снега, в ласковом тепле солнца и в бесконечной голубизне неба, отражаясь в глазах океаном чудес, открывая незаметную дверь в мир, где сказки танцуют с жизнью один бесконечный и прекрасный танец...
И в этом мире есть место, где небо, великое далекое небо, взирающее на нас со своей высоты ласково и спокойно, соединилось, не в силах выдержать разлуки, со своим отражением, со столь же великим и прекрасным океаном. В бесконечном танце радости и единства они сплелись, омывая солью волн, каплями дождя и радости точечный рай на земле. Все, что угодно, может стать раем, когда вокруг танцует любовь, и в танце неба с океаном это был маленький остров.
Простерла свой мягкий плюш буйная кружевная зелень, вытянулись вверх длинношеие пальмы, раскинулись нарядные цветастые магнолии, принимая ласку счастливого неба; наслаждаясь дыханием любви океана, сплели причудливые узоры кораллы, резвились в бирюзе радостные рыбки, иногда чуть-чуть подпрыгивая над водой, чтобы поблестеть на солнце серебристыми спинками. Укутанные энергией любви зрели желто-красные персики, наливались соком оранжевые солнышки апельсинов, почти сочились светлым янтарем колючие ананасы и лопались от сладости королевские кокосы. Это ли не место для сказки?
Да, это поистине сказочное место. И жила там, совсем не подозревая о чудесах своей прекрасной родины, маленькая серебристая рыбка. Такое часто случается - сказочность, привычная с самого рождения, совсем не кажется таковой, это просто жизнь. Но ведь и сама жизнь - это сказка. Рыбка часто слышала от взрослых рыб, скользящих мимо, что она живет в необыкновенном месте, но чем это место так необычно, волшебно и чудесно, она не могла добиться от загадочных соотечественников, плавно ускользающих в глубь синевы. Нет, она, конечно, любила свой дом и считала его самым прекрасным и уютным местом по всей протяженности океана. Океан давал рыбке дом, еду, друзей и развлечения. Рыбке жилось весело: она любила играть, прячась в лабиринтах кораллов, с друзьями, а потом погоняться за вкусными рачками или пожевать чуть жестковатую водоросль, поплавать наперегонки или поскакать над водой океана, красиво сверкнув чешуйками. Но иногда бессонными ночами, подпрыгивая над волнами, она видела луну, чья бледная сияющая округлость манила сильнее, чем стадо наивкуснейших рачков. Луна была видна и под водой, но там она не казалась столь загадочной и заманчивой. Только выпрыгивая в сухой текучий воздух рыбка чувствовала смутное желание поплыть на молчаливый зов этой чудесной рыбы. Луна быстро уплывала, оставляя рыбку мучаться чувством неисполнившейся мечты. На следующий день рыбка была вялой и ждала наступление вечера, но приход луны следующим вечером странно не волновал рыбку: сколько бы она ни прыгала, но не слышала зова удивительной рыбы, бесшумно пересекающей свое пространство.
Рыбке быстро надоедало напрягать мышцы своего тела, выпрыгивая на волны, тщетно пытаясь привлечь внимание загадочной луны. Она предпочитала свои старые излюбленные занятия и игры безнадежному ожиданию непонятно чего от этой просто наистраннейшей рыбы. Так было всегда. Но приходит время и надежное и постоянное "всегда" лопается, как перезревший фрукт.
Новое появление луны почему-то не вылилось в прежнюю увлекательную игру. Что-то изменилось в самой рыбке и трепещущее сердце наполнилось на этот раз тоской. Рыбка, не замечая усталости в своем теле, выпрыгивала и выпрыгивала на поверхность волн, открывала рот, беззвучно вопрошая нарушительницу покоя: "Кто ты? Кто ты? Скажи же мне!" Но луна молчала и все так же бесшумно плыла по отраженному океану. Ее день не пришел.
Беспокойство, поселившееся в сердце маленькой рыбки, рвало на части ее серебристое тело. Покой забыт, голод и сон спрятались пугливо от нервной рыбки в кораллах, как когда-то пряталась от веселых друзей и сама она. В глухой тоске она металась сквозь толщу океанской воды, почти наталкиваясь и еле-еле ускользая от столкновения с другими рыбами. Пробивая, как стрелой, своим телом поверхность волн, она умоляла любимую стихию: "Скажи! Скажи мне!" Но океан молчал все так же ласково кутал мечущуюся рыбку в свои объятья. Не замечая заботы океана рыбка мчалась вниз, к самому дну, и, взъерошивая ракушечный песок, горько плакала от непокидающей ее скорби о неизвестной потере. Так пролетело несколько дней. Рыбка эмоционально почти совсем истощилась, во взгляде скользила болезненная отрешенность, а опустошенность и ощущение потери гулко стучали в нежном сердце. Чтобы сохранить силу тела и не умереть от голода, она изредка пожевывала попадающие ей на пути водоросли, поглядывая на небо даже днем, ожидая луну, хотя днем она никогда не проплывала.
И само солнце покажется тусклым электрическим огоньком в ночи по сравнению со звездой, вспыхнувшей в сердце маленькой несчастной рыбки, когда днем луна спустилась к шелковой поверхности океана и заглянула в израненную душу рыбки сквозь утомленные блестящие глаза. Она скользила над поверхностью воды в деревянной лодке, не спускаясь в волны, и пела прекрасную чарующую песню. Вблизи она была еще прекрасней, хоть и не была рыбой, как сначала показалось маленькой рыбке. Луна была человеком. Рыбка плыла за лодкой, сердце следовало за прекрасными цвета океана глазами, душа пела в унисон волшебной песне. Тысячи радужных неосязаемых ракушек зазвенели в ожившем сердце рыбки. Она забыла про слезы, про тоску, про чувство потери. Нечто бесконечно прекрасное, доселе не изведанное, нарождалось внутри трепещущего сердечка в серебристом теле. Красота пробудилась вокруг и раскрасила мир в цвета радости, волны подхватывали рыбкино тело и нежно качали его, осыпая солеными поцелуями. Только теперь рыбка стала понимать странные и загадочные слова больших рыб с блестящими глазами о чуде этого места, о волшебстве его жизни. Весь океан дышал блаженной радостью вместе с рыбкой, а небо отразило счастье сверкающих глаз.
Рыбку закружило в водовороте неизвестного, но такого сладкого и безумно прекрасного чувства. Она танцевала в волнах, купаясь в звуках льющейся песни, а потом напрягла все свое тело и изо всех сил выпрыгнула из воды навстречу голосу счастья. Легкое тело подхватил игривый ветер и кинул под ноги голосу. Горячие, но мягкие руки подхватили отважную рыбку, и перед глазами уже начинающей задыхаться рыбки проплыл зелено-голубой океан глаз луны, блеск темных ресниц, мягкая улыбка.
И в следующую секунду рыбка уже оказалась в воде, заботливо принятая обратно в объятия ласкового океана. Еще оправляясь от столкновения с воздухом, рыбка вспоминала пьянящие глаза, легкое влажное дыхание и чудесную серебристую, словно спинка самой рыбки, песню.
Переливающиеся звуки голоса затихали - луна удалялась, но тоска не посетила сердце рыбки. Счастье, обретенное так внезапно, и радость танцевали затейливый танец внутри серебристого тела. Ничто, даже возможная смерть, не смогли омрачить яркости нарастающей жизни. Весь мир слился в один рыбкин танец, океан и небо пели ей о счастье, и изумрудная листва вторила им, соглашаясь. И небо как-то очень щедро пролилось дождем на податливое тело океана, поэтому сумерки пришли очень быстро, и ночь, вздохнув соленым и прохладным ветерком, вступила в мир, аккуратно рассеяв небесную влагу и открыв необыкновенно яркие звезды. И вселенная зазвенела самой прекрасной, чистой и самой настоящей мелодией, когда рыбка слилась в единой песне с возлюбленной луной.

... Он так ходил, как в наши дни не ходят.
Он так глядел, как эти – не глядят!..
... Ты что ли выйди, говорю, порадуй.
На очерк скул, помазанный помадой,
И не смотрю, как будто мне не сын.
А он лежит, как затемно остыл.
Так: руку – за голову, лоб – в другую.
Такою мученической дугою,
Что не подступишься, не зная, как.
И сердце – в пол. И в комнате – сквозняк.
А было как: учебники стопами,
Един цветок в зелёненьком стакане,
Какой – не помню. Сложенный пиджак.
Диван, пустой и плоский, как лежак.
А на полу, как тряпки для просушки,
Лежат мои простынки и подушки,
Давнишние пелёнки-ползунки.
И сам по руслу бельевой реки.
Лежит, как нищий посреди дороги.
Закинув руки. Разбазарив ноги.
Как бы убитый или на убой.
И глаз его – невинно голубой.
А был, а был – как радостная веха.
Не нашей крови? Ли – другого века?
Забот естественное разрешенье.
В скорбях единственное утешенье.
Точь-в-точь какой придумала, просила,
В полночь какого на руках носила,
Какого и з а к а з ы в а л а – сына.
Вернее воздуха и чище парусины.
Не нашего, не вашего десятка.
Не вашего неважного полка.
... Какой и выдался, такой и вырос.
Ответственный, наставленный, как парус.
Уроки. Лыжи. Стрельбища. Коньки.
Последние и первые звонки.
Ни разу не болел! Вина боялся!
Со мною над подругами смеялся! –
Был дома в девять! Мусор выносил!
Про кто отец, ни разу не спросил!
(Откуда сам? Зашла в у н и в е р с а м.
Не будешь слушаться – обратно сдам.)
Как колокол набатный на долину,
Туда-сюда гляжу-гляжу на сына.
На кухне гости скатерти вокруг.
В ногах цветы, упадшие из рук.
А посреди, квартиры в сердце самом,
Зияя ребрами, сияя срамом,
Нагой, как день, постлав постель на сплетне,
Мой сын красивый, двадцатидвухлетний,
Лежит в горе разбросанных вещей,
Как малый гвоздь, что выпал из клещей.
... И гости порассыпались, как кости.
И больше их не будет в этом месте.
Не помню, как – нашаривала кнопку.
Не помню, где – нашла его коробку,
Квитанцию, техпаспорт, телефон,
Не помню, как звонила в магазин.
Как складывала руки на груди.
Как пробовала восстановить завод.
Как требовала устранить поломку.
Как предлагали новую модель.
Не помню, как пришли его забрать.
Не помню, что могла наговорить.
А чубчик здесь на фото, светло-русый,
А был на самом деле – т ё м н о-русый!
– Таких, как он, – давно-о не производят!
Похоже, списанный достался образец!