高级英语第一册Unit14 Speech on Hitler

Unit14 Speech on Hitler’s Invasion of the U.S.S.R

II. About the author

Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), eldest son of Lord Randolph, a Tory politician, and Jenny Jerome, daughter of a New York businessman.

1874: born on Nov. 30 at Blenheim Palace, the home given by Queen Anne to his ancestor, the Duke of Marlborough.

1888: went to Harrow and then to the Royal Military College at Sandhurst;

1895: visited the Spanish army fighting against Cuban rebels;

1897: was with the British army in India;

1898: took part in the battle of Omdurman in the Sudan as a war correspondent; 1899: set out fro the Boer War as correspondent to the London Morning Post.

1900: entered the House of Commons; critical of the Conservative Government; 1904: joined the Liberals; a member of Lord Asquith’s cabinet by 1908;

1911-1915: First Lord of the Admiralty in Oct. in the stated year;

1917: Minister of Munitions; then Minister of War;

1924-1929: back to the Conservative Party; Chancellor of the Exchequer under Stanley Baldwin

1940: became Prime Minister in May;

1945: defeated in the election in July;

1951: again became Prime Minister;

1953: created Knight of the Garter by the Queeen; awarded the Nobel Prize in literature; 1955: resigned office and ended his public career;

1965: died on Jan. 24; was given a state funeral.

Major works:

The World Crisis (6 vols, 1923-1931);

An Account of World War I;

The Second World War (6 vols, 1948-953);

History of the English Speaking Peoples (4 vols, 1956-1958)

III. Detailed Study of the Text

1. the news was brought to me of Hitler's invasion of Russia.

1) The "of" phrase modifies the noun "news". It is an adjective phrase.

2) News always has the plural form but takes a singular verb.

E.g. The news is bad.

2. This changed conviction into certainty:

1) In the past it was my belief that Hitler would soon attack the Soviet Union; but now it

was no longer a belief, it had become a fact.

2) conviction: a very firm and sincere belief

e.g.: 1. I speak in the full conviction that our cause is just.

2. From the way she spoke, you could tell she was speaking from conviction. Note: Conviction generally implies that a prior doubt existed and now has been removed because one has been convinced or assured of the truth.

3. I had not the slightest doubt where our duty and our policy lay:

lie: exist, be found, reside

e.g.: 1) In unity lay strength.

2) We know where our problems lie, and we have begun to solve some of them.