Why are blue eyes so fascinating? asks the actor Gerard Butler.

                           

                                  

I have blue eyes. They are like the sea. People regularly get lost in them. Apparently they are also cold, the eyes of a killer, and the wolfish representation of something cruel and Aryan. OK, so people don't talk about my eyes that much, but when they do, the themes they return to are often the tropes associated with the blue-eyed character. Now we have news that a hunter-gatherer who lived in Europe 7,000 years ago had dark skin, dark hair and blue eyes. This discovery was made following genetic tests carried out on a skeleton found in north-west Spain and it has surprised the scientific community, who had assumed that ancient Europeans had fair skin to go with their blue eyes.

Although I may be biased, our culture does seem to have a fascination with blue eyes that does not extend to other optical hues, whatever Van Morrison or Shane MacGowan say. At the heart of this fascination is a duality. On the one hand, blue eyes are seen as an ideal of beauty, a myth that has been exported round the world. On the other, they are seen as chilling and, in many cultures, are thought to bring a curse. In the Aegean, amulets that ward off the "evil eye" are blue. 

Blue eyes also have a relation to danger. When Peter O'Toole died recently, a string of pieces talked about the beauty, wildness and danger present in blue eyes, including my own. O'Toole's blue eyes are at the centre of Lawrence of Arabia; in them we see Lawrence's madness, coldness and vision. They are terrifying but beautiful, like a wolf's eyes. So too, Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs, his clear blue eyes a haunting shorthand for "this guy is a dangerous psycho". In Homer's Odyssey, the goddess Athena's blue eyes are "flashing" - she is beautiful, but she is dangerous.

These negative associations will not stop the celebration of blue eyes. When I was eleven, the car I was in with an Indian family broke down in Uttar Pradesh. A group of Kashmiris pulled up, one leaning down to look straight at me through the window, his dark skin set off by eyes as blue as mine. I've never forgotten the startling beauty of the contrast.  This combination, of dark skin and blue eyes, seems to be one shared by ancient Europeans. It is a combination that unites us, rather than dividing us.

Finally, there is also sadness in blue eyes. "Oh where have you been / my blue-eyed son", sang Bob Dylan, conjuring up the image of someone lost alone in the world. In the Velvet Underground's song Pale Blue Eyes, the girl with the eyes mostly drives Lou mad. Her eyes are pure and strange and they are beyond him now. Now, we can add a new image to this tableau, one of a dark-skinned man trekking across the wilds of ancient Europe, in the mountains of northern Spain, his spear ready, his blue eyes flashing.

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether the following statements are true or false and write down which part of the text justifies your answer.

a. Scientists found a human body with blue eyes in north west Spain

b. According to the writer our society is equally interested in eyes of any colour.

c. Peter o' Toole's eyes are compared with the eyes of a wolf.

d. Ancient Europeans had dark hair and blue eyes.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

a. What do we learn about the hunter gatherer from the text?

b. What happened to the writer when he was eleven?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. implement (para.1)              d. surprising (para.4)

b. cold (para. 2)                       e.walking (para. 5)

c. series of (para. 3)

Question 4 (1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. Scientists have found the skeleton of a hunter-gather in north west Spain.

The skeleton......

b. Athena is beautiful, but she is dangerous.

In spite of....

c. 'Where have you been, son?' asked the boy's father.

The boy's father asked....

Question 5 (3 points) Write a short essay (120-150 words) on the following topic:

'Beauty is only skin deep' What is your opinion of this famous saying?