Episode 0129

Hello English learners, welcome back to English Pod.

My name is Marco.

And I'm Erica.

And today we're bringing you part two of the presidential farewell speech of President Eisenhower.

That's right. So we saw in a previous lesson the beginning of this speech. Now we're going to look towards the end of the speech. Now, we must tell you as well that we did change the speech a little bit, right?

We changed it a little bit to make it a little bit more comprehensible and also we did shorten it. The speech isn't this short. We did take out a lot of stuff.

All right. So, um again, Marco, why are we looking at this speech? What are we learning from it?

Well, in this last part of the presidential farewell speech, there are a lot of great words that are more difficult and very poetic, so you can use them in different formal circumstances or just to sound a little bit more well-spoken.

Yep. And we also again are going to look at some really quite difficult and challenging structures that we hope you can use, um maybe when you're when you're giving a formal talk, um or, yeah, or or even in your writing if you want to sound quite professional.

Okay, very good.

So why don't we listen to the dialogue for the first time? Let's listen how President Eisenhower says goodbye and then we'll come back and look at the words.

We now stand 10 years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations.

Three of these involved our own country.

Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America is today the strongest, the most influential, and the most productive nation in the world.

We are understandably proud of this preeminence.

Yet we realize that America's leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

Throughout America's adventure in free government, such basic purposes have been to keep the peace, to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity among peoples and among nations.

We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations may have their great human needs satisfied, that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full.

That all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings.

That those who have freedom will understand also its heavy responsibilities.

That all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity.

That the scourges of poverty, disease, and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth.

And that in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.

Now, on Friday noon, I am to become a private citizen. I am proud to do so. I look forward to it. Thank you and good night.

Well, that certainly was a very moving speech, hey?

Very moving and to a certain point a little bit religious, huh?

Yeah, I think we'll we'll talk a little bit about that a little bit later, but let's concentrate on the language now. So we'll go to language takeaway.

All right, on Language Takeaway today, we'll start with our first word and it's preeminence.

All right, we are understandably proud of this preeminence.

A preeminence.

So preeminence, what is this?

Basically, it's the state of being the leader of something.

Okay, so in this case, America was the preeminent nation.

Right. So, they were coming up, they were very prosperous, so they had a preeminence in the world. All right, so I think we can see here, you can use this, um, as an adjective, a preeminent nation or or as a noun, an uncountable noun, the preeminence of our state.

Very good.

Since we can use this word as a noun and an adjective, why don't we listen to some more examples? So, we can get a better understanding of it.

Now please welcome Dr. Frank Hicks, the world's most preeminent expert on nuclear biology.

He's been a leader in his field for 25 years, and his preeminence has never been questioned.

Kyle Dixon is one of the most preeminent experts in green technology.

All right, well, Eisenhower was talking about all of the things that the American people had done since they became a free nation and one of these things was to foster progress in human achievement.

Foster progress in human achievement.

So, if I say to foster progress or to foster something, what am I saying?

Um, to help something grow and develop.

To take care of it, to nurse it.

Yeah. We very commonly hear this this word associated with children, right?

A foster child.

Yeah, so what's that?

If you have a foster child, you are basically taking care of a child because the parents can't look after him. It's not like adopting because you don't actually, it's not actually legal.

It's just that you're helping somebody out by raising this child.

Right. So we can see the connection there, a foster child, to foster something.

But, you know, this is really a great word, and I think it would help to, uh, to give a couple of examples of how we could use it.

So for example, I can say, "Our company is looking to foster better creativity in the workplace."

Or we could say, um, here at Praxis Language, we foster the development of your English.

Very good.

So, the word foster.

Now, moving on, in his speech, he was talking about nations and faiths and uh different types of groups, and he said, "All who yearn for freedom."

All right, this this is a great phrase. All who yearn for freedom.

To yearn.

So to yearn for something.

Now, if I yearn for freedom or I yearn for something, it's basically that I really want it in my heart.

Yeah, you really wish for it, um, in a way that's almost almost painful, you know, you you want it so badly.

Now, you wouldn't say like, "I'm yearning for ice cream," would you?

Exactly. So that's usually related to something that's very difficult to get or something like freedom or yearning for that's really important. Exactly, something very important.

And now for our last word, President Eisenhower was talking about charity, he was talking about freedom, and he mentioned the scourges of poverty.

Okay, so scourges. The scourges of poverty.

Scourges is a really, um, difficult but interesting word. So why don't we hear a few more examples to help us understand it.

Malaria is a disease that continues to be a scourge to the developing world.

One day we hope to eliminate the scourge of cancer.

NATO promises to wipe out the scourge of terrorism.

So as we can see, the scourges of something, basically, is the cause of pain or suffering.

Mhm. So now relating it back to the text, we see scourges of poverty.

Yes, scourges of poverty, scourges of disease, and scourges of ignorance.

All right, so we can see that poverty, ignorance, and disease cause a lot of really terrible things, right?

Exactly, so that's why we say they are scourges.

Okay, so scourges. Now.

So that brings us to the end of our words for takeaway today, but, you know, as we talked about earlier, we've got some really difficult and interesting structures to look at now in Fluency Builder.

Okay, so in Fluency Builder, we'll start off with the very first sentence of the paragraph. When he said, "We now stand 10 years past the midpoint of a century."

Now, it's interesting because he is making reference to the future in the present.

Um, and he's using a great phrase to do that. We now stand.

Mhm. Now, we can change it a little bit and use the first part, "We now stand," in different circumstances.

So, why don't we listen to a couple of examples.

We now stand before you to declare our love and be united in marriage.

I stand before this court and declare my innocence.

Together, we now stand before this great challenge, and we will fight arm in arm to defeat poverty.

All right, so you can see that this is a wonderful phrase to use maybe in a formal speech, right?

Right, or a wedding again, or a formal ceremony.

Yeah. So, um, and and it gives you this idea, this sort of very poetic image of people sort of almost standing at the cliff, standing before the, you know, some big change that's about to take place.

Exactly.

So, 10 years past the midpoint of a century, the United States has witnessed four major wars, right?

Okay.

And well he said, "Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America is today the strongest, the most influential, and most productive nation in the world."

Okay, so a great, great, great structure here. Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America today is the strongest, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Right. Now, let's look at that first word, despite the carnage of these conflicts.

Okay, so, um, carnage, what's that?

Carnage is like a massacre, right, where many people got hurt or killed.

Okay, so a a pretty violent situation when a lot of people die.

Mhm. And now why does he use this word despite?

Okay, so he's basically saying, even though we had all of the this death and, um, violence in this century, we're still the greatest nation, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Exactly, that's exactly it.

I can say for example, "Despite the economic crisis the world is going through, our company has an enormous opportunity to grow and be more profitable."

Very good.

And now, if we take a look at the last paragraph, it's very interesting because it's one sentence.

It's a really long sentence.

It's a very long sentence.

So even though it's not a phrase, let's take a look at the punctuation of this paragraph.

Okay.

So Eisenhower starts out by saying, "We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations may have their great human needs satisfied."

And then we have a semicolon there, right?

Right.

So why do we have a semicolon?

Well, here's what he's doing.

He's saying we pray for something.

Mhm.

And then he's listing the many different things that he's praying for.

Okay.

So it's basically a list.

Yeah. Okay, so we know that when you're writing a list, we commonly use commas between all the things that are in this list.

Mhm.

But here, because they are long and complex ideas, a comma is not enough. You need a semicolon.

Okay, so we can see here from the text that the semicolon is a great way to separate ideas, big ideas, complex ideas in a list.

Exactly. So, you can use it and not necessarily have to end your sentence or that each idea become one sentence. You can all just make it in one big sentence.

All right, so this is good advice that you can take and throw in a couple of semicolons, a little bit of commas here and there and we'll, it'll look like you really know how to write.

Yep.

Okay, so, with that in mind, um, why don't we listen to what Eisenhower wrote one last time?

We now stand 10 years past the midpoint of a century that has witnessed four major wars among great nations.

Three of these involved our own country.

Despite the carnage of these conflicts, America is today the strongest, the most influential, and the most productive nation in the world.

We are understandably proud of this preeminence.

Yet we realize that America's leadership and prestige depend not merely upon our unmatched material progress, riches, and military strength, but on how we use our power in the interests of world peace and human betterment.

Throughout America's adventure in free government, such basic purposes have been to keep the peace, to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity among peoples and among nations.

We pray that peoples of all faiths, all races, all nations may have their great human needs satisfied, that those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full.

That all who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings.

That those who have freedom will understand also its heavy responsibilities.

That all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity.

That the scourges of poverty, disease, and ignorance will be made to disappear from the earth.

And that in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and love.

Now, on Friday noon, I am to become a private citizen. I am proud to do so. I look forward to it. Thank you and good night.

All right, we're back and we're here again with Pete, our voice actor for the second part of the dialogue. And uh Pete, we have a couple more questions for you today.

Cool.

So I hear in Eisenhower's speech that he keeps referencing God. Like he keeps saying, "I pray, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." He said, "Godspeed, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." So what's up with that? Why is he talking about God?

Well, this is a very interesting question.

Traditionally, America has had a really clear boundary between church and state, and you'll hear a lot of rhetoric these days that says, you know, we're a Christian nation and we were founded as a Christian nation. Well, that's baloney.

Baloney. So it's not true.

At the time when the country was founded, 200 years ago, it was overwhelmingly Christian. If the founding fathers, as we call them, the like George Washington, them, if they had wanted a Christian nation, they could have had it.

They explicitly did not. And a lot of people since then have gotten that confused.

And now when we have a very large Muslim population, we have Buddhists, we have, you know, uh, people in all various different kinds of, you know, Mormonism and everything, it's even less possible now.

So I'm kind of baffled when I hear people say that America is a Christian nation.

But you even have it now in the coins, like or on the money, right? It says, "In God we trust."

Right, that that started in the early 20th century. I think that was Teddy Roosevelt era. He opposed that. Roosevelt was really opposed to that, but.

And then what happened? They they approved it?

Yeah. And, you know, people said later, like Eisenhower talking about this stuff, you know, in America, we have something called the Pledge of Allegiance, which I don't think you guys probably have. Not in Canadia.

Obviously, you wouldn't do it to America, but to your own.

It's it's kind of, um. Like a salute to the flag, right?

Yeah, it's a little bit nationalist. I I did it growing up. You put your hand over your heart and you face the flag and you say, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Uh, that part about one nation under God, that was added in the 50s as a kind of a way of showing that America is not, quote unquote, a godless communist country.

Wow. Yeah, because communism teaches, you know, no religion, and so they, we were like, make sure we're not communist, you know.

Okay, but we don't think that, right?

Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm all about tolerance, so I think that's kind of absurd.

Okay, so what I think is really interesting though, is that every political speech, every time a political leader has to say something publicly, he'll always quote God, right?

Right. Uh, and they'll often end a speech with, you know, "Thank you and God bless America" or something.

Yeah, exactly. Which, you know what, for me as a Canadian is really strange. Like if if a a Canadian president said, "God bless Canada," everyone would, no one would know what to do. Like I don't I don't know. Anyway.

I had an ex-girlfriend who was British and she like, Tony Blair started with that a couple times. He said, you know, and "God bless us all" or something and she was just put off by it and she was like, "The Brits will never take this" and they didn't.

Right. No one was impressed.

All right, well, an interesting feature of American history, politics, and society.

So, thanks for that insight, Pete.

Cool, my pleasure.

Yeah, and if you guys have any comments, uh, or any suggestions about this lesson or any upcoming lessons, just let us know.

Or American politics in general.

Cool, then I'll try to stop in on the forum and see if I can answer a question or two.

So visit us at Englishpod.com and Marco and myself and Pete are around to answer your questions.

All right, we'll see you guys there.

Thanks for listening and goodbye.

The English pod audio review.

Listen to the meaning, then say the vocabulary word.

To help something grow or develop.

Foster

Badly affected by disease, pain, grief, etc.

Stricken

To feel a strong desire or wish for something.

Yearn

In US politics, a member or supporter of the Democratic Party, the more liberal of the two main political parties in the US.

Democrat

More important, skillful or successful than other.

Preeminence

Belonging to the Republican Party, the more conservative of the two main political parties in the US.

Republican

Someone or something that causes a great amount of trouble.

Scourge

In the US, the wife of the president-elect.

First Lady

To be in a particular place or position.

We now stand

An operation or series of operations energetically pursued to accomplish a purpose.

Campaign

Let's try that faster.

In the US, the wife of the president-elect.

First Lady

To be in a particular place or position.

We now stand

Belonging to the Republican Party, the more conservative of the two main political parties in the US.

Republican

Badly affected by disease, pain, grief, etc.

Stricken

To help something grow or develop.

Foster

To feel a strong desire or wish for something.

Yearn

An operation or series of operations energetically pursued to accomplish a purpose.

Campaign

More important, skillful or successful than other.

Preeminence

Someone or something that causes a great amount of trouble.

Scourge

In US politics, a member or supporter of the Democratic Party, the more liberal of the two main political parties in the US.

Democrat

Now say the word and hear it in a sentence.

We now stand

We now stand before you to declare our love and be united in marriage.

We now stand

I stand before this court and declare my innocence.

We now stand

Together, we now stand before this great challenge and we will fight it arm in arm to defeat poverty.

Yearn

We must fight for those who yearn for their freedoms.

Yearn

In the past of all great men, you will find a yearning to learn and to succeed.

Yearn

I'm yearning to find someone who will love me for me.

Preeminence

Now, please welcome Dr. Frank Hicks, the world's most preeminent expert on nuclear biology.

Preeminence

He's been a leader in his field for 25 years and his preeminence has never been questioned.

Preeminence

Carol Dixon is one of the most preeminent experts in green technology.

Foster

It is our creed to foster and maintain a spirit of fraternity.

Foster

To restore our country to the glory of its past, we must foster an attitude of determination and social service.

Foster

Unsanitary conditions help foster the spread of disease.

Scourge

One day we hope to eliminate the scourge of cancer.

Scourge

Malaria is a disease that continues to be a scourge to the developing world.

Scourge

NATO promises to wipe out the scourge of terrorism.