Lesson 13 Britanian Rues the Waves

1. Lesson 13 Britanian Rues the Waves

2. Paragraph 1-3 • The threat British merchant navy faces • 1. From the Russians and the Eastern bloc countries. • 2. From the merchant fleets of the developing nations.

3. Paragraph 1 • Britain's  merchant navy …these days • Grab: to capture • The headlines: titles of important news items, generally printed in large, bold type. WAR BREAKS OUT IN EUROPE ATOMIC BOMB DROPPED ON HIROSHIMA PRESIDENT SHOT DEAD MAN WALKS ON MOON Hit/make/reach the headlines: become important news. Grab the headline: attract attention • Britain's merchant fleet is no longer an important item of news these days; There is very little about  the British merchant fleet in the papers recently.

4. Paragraph 1 • Yet shipping is the essential lifeline…economy • Lifeline: anything on which one’s life depends • essential • Yet the merchant fleet is vital to British economy

5. SYNONYMS • indispensable, essential, necessary, needful, requisite. These adjectives indicate a pressing need: • foods indispensable to good nutrition; • funds essential to completing the project; • necessary tools and materials; • provided them with all things needful; • lacking the requisite qualifications.

6. Paragraph 2 • Shipping is also a significant British success story. • success story: person's rise from poverty, etc . to fame. • big profits are made in shipping in Britain

7. SYNONYMS  • expressive, eloquent, meaningful, significant. These adjectives mean effectively conveying a feeling, idea, or mood: • an expressive gesture; • an eloquent speech; • a meaningful look; • a significant smile.

8. Paragraph 2 • In deficit: in shortage; in debt • But, today this vital British industry … in peril • In peril: in danger, dangerous

9. SYNONYMS  • living, alive, live, animate, animated, vital. These adjectives mean possessed of or exhibiting life. • Living, alive, and live refer principally to organisms that are not dead: living plants; the happiest person alive; a live canary. • Animate applies to living animal as distinct from living plant life: Something animate was moving inside the box. • Animated suggests renewed life, vigor, or spirit: The argument became very animated. • Vital refers to what is characteristic of or necessary to the continuation of life: You must eat to maintain vital energy.

10. Paragraph 2 • the British fleet…competition: • risk : expose to the chance of damage or lossstiff :strong ; great in degree ; difficult to deal with a stiff job ; stiff readingbeing elbowed out : a metaphor : being forced out • The British fleet faces the danger of being forced out of the trade as a result of intense foreign competition.

11. SYNONYMS • endanger, hazard, imperil, jeopardize, risk. These verbs mean to subject to danger, loss, or destruction • driving that endangers lives; • hazarded his health by smoking; • a forest imperiled by acid rain; • strikes that jeopardized company profits; • wouldn't risk her financial security.

12. SYNONYMS • stiff, rigid, inflexible, inelastic, tense. These adjectives describe what is very firm and does not easily bend or give way. • Stiff, the least specific, refers to what can be flexed only with difficulty (a brush with stiff bristles); with reference to persons it often suggests a lack of ease, cold formality, or fixity, as of purpose: “stiff in opinions” • Rigid and inflexible apply to what cannot be bent without damage or deformation (a table of rigid plastic; an inflexible knife blade); figuratively they describe what does not relent or yield: “under the dictates of a rigid disciplinarian”“In religion the law is written, and inflexible, never to do evil” . • Inelastic refers largely to what will not stretch and spring back without marked physical change: inelastic construction materials. • Tense means stretched tight and figuratively applies to what is marked by tautness or strain: “that tense moment of expectation”

13. Paragraph 3 • Eastern bloc countries: the countriese in Eastern Europe under Soviet influence • A massive expansion • Massive: large-scale

14. SYNONYMS  • heavy, weighty, hefty, massive, ponderous, cumbersome. These adjectives mean having a relatively great weight. • Heavy refers to what has great physical weight (a heavy boulder) and figuratively to what is burdensome or oppressive to the spirit (heavy responsibilities). • Weighty literally denotes having considerable weight (a weighty package); figuratively, it describes what is onerous, serious, or important (a weighty decision).

15. SYNONYMS  • Hefty refers principally to physical heaviness or brawniness: a hefty book; a tall, hefty wrestler. • Massive describes what is bulky, heavy, solid, and strong: massive marble columns. • Ponderous refers to what has great mass and weight and usually implies unwieldiness: ponderous prehistoric beasts. Figuratively it describes what is complicated, involved, or lacking in grace: a book with a ponderous plot. • Something cumbersome is difficult to move, handle, or deal with because it is heavy, bulky, or clumsy: cumbersome luggage

16. Paragraph 3 • Carving their way…by undercutting western shipping companies • Carve their way: making their way…by cutting undercut: sell goods more cheaply or work for smaller wages than(sb．doing the same)；sell at lower prices or work at lower wages • Cutting their way into the international trade by charging much less than the western shipping companies

17. Paragraph 3 • Who are bent on taking over the lion’s share of the trade • Bent on: strongly inclined or determined the lion’s share: the whole thing, the biggest and the best portion • Who are determined to control most of the trade

18. Paragraph 3 • In which Britain has a big stake • Stake: a share or interset at stake: at issue, in question, risked His office is at stake in the March election • Britain has important interests in these trade routes.

19. Britanian Rues the Waves

20. Britanian Rues the Waves • Britannia: now poetic , Great Britain or the British Islands. • rue: repent of : regret having entered into ; wish nonexistent. • the waves :( poet. or rhet. ) the sea.

21. Britanian Rues the Waves • This is a parody of Britain's proud boast, "Britania Rules the Waves" ."Rule, Britania" is a famous naval song  much sung and played in the British Navy from the date its first performance in 1740 to the present day, and generally recognized today  as the official march of the Royal Navy. It was written by James Thomson and set to music by Dr. Thomas Arne (1740) . The song runs like this:When Britain first, at Heaven's command,Arose from out the azure main,This was the charter of her land,And guardian angels sang the strain:Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rules the waves!Britons never shall be slaves.

22. Britanian Rues the Waves • Britanian Rues the Waves: Britain is sorry  that she has lost her dominance on the high seas; Britain regrets that she no longer enjoys a naval supremacy. • Britanian Rules the Waves: Britain is proud of being the lord of the sea. • What the implied meaning of the title?

23. Learning Foci • British national traits: • gentleman (Roman) • pirate (Nordic)

24. Additional Background Knowledge • 1. North Sea Oil • 2. Container ship • 3. Iron Curtain

25. Rhetorical Devices • 1. antithesis :opposition, or contrast of ideas or words in a balanced or parallel construction. Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice, moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue Not that I loved Caesar less, but that I loved Rome more Man proposes, God disposes • 2. oxymoron • 3. simile • 4. ridicule

26. Special Difficulties • 1. understanding some proper names • 2. paraphrasing some sentences • 3. identifying figures of speech • 4. making effective use of specific adjectives

27. Questions • 1. According to the author Britain is handicapped in her attempts to counter the challenges of the developing world and the Soviet Union at an international level. What are these handicaps or problems? Does this tell us anything about the capitalist world? • 2. How are the British shipping companies trying to meet the challenge? Are they confident that they can counter the challenge successfully? • 3. Comment on the title of the article. What is the implied meaning?

28. British national traits • Gentleman (Roman/Latin influence) • a. Legacy of Roman culture: AD 43 Roman Conquest of Britain begun by Emperor Claudius. Civil Laws; Procedural Justice. Mechanisms of contracts and negotiations. • b. Unique features of British feudalism: No serfs, but yeomen. No strict social classes as in other feudal societies of Europe. System of patronization. Long Presence of Parliament (since 1265) • C. Reformation, not revolution: (only two exceptions: Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 and the Civil War in the 1640s): Glorious Revolution in 1688, passage of the Reform Bill in 1832. Marx’s prophecy not fulfilled

29. British national traits • D. Liberty over democracy (check and balance, sharing of power) • E. Conservatism over radicalism (e.g. not until 1971 did Britain adopt the metric system) • F. Pragmatism over idealism: reflected in its philosophy (empiricism and utilitarianism) and foreign policy (another version of check and balance

30. British national traits • 2. Pirate (Nordic or Anglo-Saxon influence) • a. Francis Drake and the pirate tradition: acquiring fortunes from Spanish plunder, encouraged by the Crown • b. Slave trade (1564-1834) • c. Opium War (1840)

31. North Sea

32. North Sea Oil • oil produced from the British sector of the Continental Shelf under the North Sea. Oil was first discovered under the bed of the North Sea in 1970 and production began in 1975

33. Container ship • container ship: a cargo vessel specially designed and built for the carriage of cargo prepacked in containers. With a standardized size of container, holding 18 tons of cargo, holds and deck spaces can be designed exactly to accommodate containers, leading to greater ease and efficiency in stowage and the eradication of much of the danger of the cargo shifting during heavy weather at sea.

34. Iron Curtain

35. Iron Curtain • The Soviet Union and the eastern European countries in the capitalist press, first used by Churchill in his speech at Fulton, Missouri, 5 March 1946 “ From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent

36. Content • PartI(Paragraphs1-3): the threat British merchant navy faces • PartII(Paragraphs4-8): the success story despite difficulties • PartIII(Paragraphs 9-26): the plight 1. Paragraphs (9-14): general problems in the shipping industry 2. Paragraphs (15-18): threat from the Third World 3. Paragraphs (19-26): threat from the Iron Curtain countries ◆ Part IV( Paragraphs 27-29): problems with domestic policies

37. Paragraphs 4-8the success story despite difficulties

38. Paragraphs 4-8 • Why does the author think shipping is a major success story? What are the reasons for the success? • What stiff foreign competition threatens the British fleet? • What is a conference? What role does it play?

39. Paragraphs 4 • In terms of tonnage…to expand ton+age: -age (=state, cost, measurement, act v-n): tonnage, postage, wreckage, usage in terms of: with regard to; concerning We are better off in terms of capability • Expand

40. synonym • increase, expand, enlarge, extend, augment, multiply. These verbs mean to make or become greater or larger. • Increase sometimes suggests steady growth: The mayor's political influence rapidly increased. “No machines will increase the possibilities of life. They only increase the possibilities of idleness” • To expand is to increase in size, area, volume, bulk, or range: He inhaled deeply, expanding his chest. “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”

41. synonym • Enlarge refers to expansion in size, extent, capacity, or scope: The landowner enlarged her property by repeated purchases. My knowledge of literature has enlarged considerably since I joined a reading group. • To extendis to lengthen in space or time or to broaden in range: The transit authority extended the subway line to the next town. The baseball season extends into October.

42. synonym • Augment usually applies to what is already developed or well under way: She augmented her collection of books each month. His depression augments with each visit to the hospital. • To multiply is to increase in number, especially by propagation or procreation: “As for my cats, they multiplied” “May thy days be multiplied!”

43. Paragraphs 4 • Almost alone among our traditional industries • Almost the only one in our traditional industries • Ship building coal mining textiles

44. Paragraphs 5 • Invested big: put a great deal of money • Talk big • Think big

45. Paragraphs 5 • In the early 1960s, …cashed in on government grants and tax concessions • cashed in on: take advantage of or profit from the shop is cashing in on temporary shortages by raising prices • Grants or loans • tax concessions: a right or privilege granted by the government to be tax exempt • The shipping companies took advantage of government grants and tax concession

46. Paragraphs 5 • A new british ship was being launched every week. launch: set afloat • Stayed ahead of the competition by …sophisticated ships. ahead of : in advance of; better than stayed ahead of: have remained in a leading position sophisticated or modern

47. Paragraphs 6 • institution:–stitut- (=stand), • institutionalize, • institute, • constitute, • constituency, • prostitute, • restitution, • destitute, • substitute

48. Paragraphs 7 • Cut-throat: intense, merciless • Price-cuttingruined many long-established companies In order to beat the opponents in the competition, the companies lowered the price so that they could do more business. Many companies which has a long history couldn’t stand the economic strain and went bankrupt • to establish a more settled system : to set up a more stable, a more fixed system. Cartel or conference

49. Paragraphs 8 • Shipping conferences…moving goods by sea dodgy: risky and possibly dangerous, flakey Shipping conferences have made sea transportation which in itself involves great danger, less risky • To make a big killing Killing: great success to reap big profit, to make a large amount of money

50. Paragraphs 8 • To weather the bad times weather: come through successfully; pass safely through (storm, difficulty) ⑴ Weather the storm.⑵ The little tree has weathered many bitter winters. to be able to pull through whrn thewre is a depression • There is no mad, competitive scramble for the available trade: scramble: rough struggle, a disorderly struggle oor rush There will not be any rush and struggle to monopolize the dwindling trade to the exclusion of others