He must try his best to catch the turtle. But what would happen if, at the height of the dinner, Jonsai brought forward a gift for Chief Vueti, something he had never 8 before, a present that would make him the 9 of every chief on the island? His heart beat fast, but steady now, as he paddled closer, moving 10 like a thief. He, Jonsai, would have to 7 with the women and children. Samu and Aesake would be at the dinner with the men. Tonight the men would return from the big hunt. Leaning forward, he stared without moving, disbelief giving way to a small fear. It stayed there on the surface, as 3 as foam (泡沫) or bone or sun–dried coral, shining like oyster (牡蛎) shell. ![]() ![]() It was not unusual to find turtles feeding near the edge of the coral (珊瑚). Jonsai rubbed his eyes, thinking that the sun had 2 them. We have forgotten the men who died yet the words are as fresh as a marigold.It moved without a ripple(浪花), a moon – white circle under the surface, and in a few seconds it was as far away as it had been when he had first seen it. Gandhi, for instance: 'My public life began in 1893 in South Africa in troubled weather.' Or Eugene Debs, a US anti-war protestor in 1918: 'I recognise the feebleness of my effort, but fortunately I am not alone.' At Gettysburg, in his great hymn to the fallen, Lincoln said: 'The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.' Parallel structure, anaphora. Lurking between loud chunks of political bluster are the quiet, steadfast voices. ![]() The oil can is mightier than the sword.Īnd they are both mightier than the pen, right? This book suggests the opposite. Never have so few owed so much to so many. Ask not what broadcasting can do for you ask what you can do for broadcasting. Of these, perhaps the most popular is the famous quotation with twist. His introductions highlight the use of parallel structure, metonymy, anaphora (the repetition of a phrase) and much else. Throughout, as befits a man who describes himself as being 'in the rhetorics dodge', Safire keeps one ear on the linguistic formalities. But he also finds room for several rambling, evasive monologues by Richard Nixon and then there's Barry Goldwater, George Bush, Jimmy Carter, Jack Kemp, Hubert Humphrey, Harry Truman, and so on. Presumably for comic reasons, Safire has included Dan Quayle's trapped-in- the-headlights performance in the televised vice-presidential debate. The item Lend me your ears : great speeches in history, selected and introduced by William Safire represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in Indiana State Library. It is a shame, though, that the book leans so hard on politics, a field of endeavour that generates the least interesting work. It was slower to dispense with the shapeliness of biblical language, quicker to accommodate the fleet-footedness of everyday speech, and seems more varied and supple than our own aloof version. Besides, American is a rich and versatile tongue. The best speeches are written and spoken - a fusion of the rhetorical arts, or what we now call 'language skills'. ![]() It is not a question of the spoken word being more dramatic, or simpler, than the written word. But while it is tempting to dwell on the intellectual weight of the 200 speeches squashed between its covers, they are for the most part models of lightness.īut these are inevitable quirks, and do not detract from the collection's seductive appeal. William Safire notes that it weighs 2.4lb, and commends Antiphlogiston - an ointment for the book-holding deltoid muscles - as the most effective remedy against any spasms or twinges that might follow an enthusiastic reading. Lend Me Your Ears is a substantial volume. Their views do not tip the scales, though once in a while they can be the last straw.Īs with people, so with books. Little guys, however brilliant or solemn, are rarely described as big guns. Only the heavy brigade - Healey, Lawson, Heath, Jenkins, Maxwell and so on - are said to 'weigh in' with an observation or a thought. IT IS a fact universally unacknowledged that the weight of an opinion stands in direct proportion to the size of the person to whom it belongs.
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