ARTICLES An interview with Mrs Thatcher This is an extract from an interview that Mrs Thatcher gave to the London Broadcasting Company (LBC). Mrs Thatcher had said that she was a great admirer of Victorian values. The interviewer asks her why this is so. T Well, there's no there's no great mystery about those. Erm, I was brought up by a Victorian grandmother. We were taught to work jolly hard: you were taught to improve yourself; you were taught self-reliance; you were taught to live within your income; you were taught that cleanliness was next to godliness; erm ... you were taught self-respect; you were taught always to give a hand to your neighbour; er, you were ... taught tremendous pride in your country; you were taught to be a good member of your community. All of these things are Victorian values. I The Victorian values also seemed to encompass T But they are also perennial values, as well. I But they encompassed as well workhouses and - and shocking conditions in industry, all sorts of deplorable things that are also part of the Victorian scene. T There's there's some values which are eternal, and in fact you found a tremendous improvement in conditions during Victorian times, because people were brought up with a sense of duty. I was brought up with a very strong sense of duty, and part of the sense of duty was that if you were getting on better, so you turned yourself to help others, that as you did better yourself, so you had a duty to your community to turn to help others. And so, as you got an increasing prosperity during Victorian times, and as you got an immense national pride during Victorian times, so as you got greater prosperity, so you had a duty, voluntarily, to help others. And many of the very good things, improvements, that were made, er were made voluntarily in those times er for example erm people built hospitals, voluntary hospitals erm many of the church schools were built during that time, many people say we simply must do better with the prisons, a better prison system, prison reform. But it came from this tremendous sense of reliance and duty. Erm ... you don't hear so much about those things these days. But they were good values, and they led to tremendous improvements in the standard of living. I So that's what you're trying to get back to, that's what you'd like to see happen, a society where we had those sorts of values, where perhaps the state steps back again then, and individuals get far more involved? T What I am saying is that I think there are some values which are eternal, and I think the ones that I've indicated are. I Yes, but what kind of society does that result in if people adopt those values, then we have T Well, if I might say so, a very good society. If people are self-reliant, self-respecting, if they always lend a hand to others, if they wish always to improve themselves and work very hard to do it, if they reckon they've got to be very good members of the community, not because anyone tells them to, but because that's the way we live, and if they live within their income, and save, and that saving there is therefore for investment, if they're prepared to take responsibility for their own actions and responsibility for their own families, er ... and to respect erm other people's rights, it seems to me that you have the basis of an excellent society. You asked me how I see life quite apart from those things. I am very keen that every person should have the opportunity to be what I would call a man or woman of property... I ... own their own house... T Therefore ... you start by owning your own house. We're nearly up to sixty per cent, it is tremendous, because people er, a man of property isn't someone else, it's oneself. And so therefore if you have a chance to own your own house then it gives you an interest in the future, it gives you respect for your own property, it gives you ability to improve your own standard of living and housing, and (unclear) to respect other people's property, and you'll have something to hand on to your children and grandchildren in years to come. This is the kind of independence, this is the kind of personal initiative and personal choice, which I believe is the kind of independence which used to belong to a few people, which I want to extend to the many. I Right. You'd like everybody to have the freedom of choice to buy their own property, probably to to choose the kind of education their children have, to choose the kind of medicine in which er their family partakes, whether private or National Health, but surely those kinds of advantages, to return to what we said earlier, are only offered to those with, offered to the haves , not to the have-nots , not to people without jobs. They're for people with money. T But with all due respect, we unfortunately have just over three million unemployed in this country, and we have betw- twenty-two to twenty-three million people who are working. Nearly sixty per cent of the houses in this country are now owner-occupied, er ... many, many more people are applying to buy their own homes. I'm trying to make certain that people who save the value of their savings, is kept. Wouldn't life have been very much different for many of our old folk if the money they'd put aside out of very much lower wages in Victorian values, years ago, had in fact kept its value because we'd had governments which tried to keep inflation down? We'd have a very, very much better society, and we wouldn't have cheated those old people of the value of their savings. The things that matter Now that I've nearly done my days, And grown too stiff to sweep or sew, I sit and think, till I'm amaze, About what lots of things I know: Things as I've found out one by one- And when I'm fast down in the clay, My knowing things and how they're done Will all be lost and thrown away. There's things, I know, as won't be lost, Things as folks write and talk about: The way to keep your roots from frost, And how to get your ink spots out. What medicine's good for sores and sprains, What way to salt your butter down, What charms will cure your different pains, And what will bright your faded gown. But more important things than these, They can't be written in a book: How fast to boil your greens and peas, And how good bacon ought to look; The feel of real good wearing stuff, The kind of apple as will keep, The look of bread that's rose enough, And how to get a child asleep. Whether the jam is fit to pot, Whether the milk is going to turn, Whether a hen will lay or not, Is things as some folks never learn. I know the weather by the sky, I know what herbs grow in what lane; And if sick men are going to die, Or if they'll get about again. Young wives come in, a-smiling, grave, With secrets that they itch to tell: I know what sort of times they'll have, And if they'll have a boy or gell. And if a lad is ill to bind, Or some young maid is hard to lead, I know when you should speak 'em kind, And when it's scolding as they need. I used to know where birds ud set, And likely spots for trout or hare, And God may want me to forget The way to set a line or snare; But not the way to truss a chick, To fry a fish, or baste a roast, Nor how to tell, when folks are sick, What kind of herb will ease them most! Forgetting seems such silly waste! I know so many little things, And now the Angels will make haste To dust it all away with wings! O God, you made me like to know, You kept the things straight in my head, Please God, if you can make it so, Let me know something when I'm dead.
THE TENSE SYSTEM A variety of accents 1 The capital city of my country was specially designed and built with wide tree-lined streets, radiating out in all directions er... from the city centre. They join concentric ring roads, and are all pretty well identical. This is in federal territory, on the border of New South Wales and Victoria. The drawback is, that it's almost impossible to find your way around it, even after you've lived there for years! (Canberra) 2 Well, it's the capital city of the country. Now it's famous really for er... well, I think it's famous for two things. It's famous for the writers that have come from there. People like... George Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, James Joyce. And it's also famous for... er, for a drink. A drink called Guinness. A wonderful drink. It's known locally as Liffey water, after the river that flows through the centre of the town, the river Liffey. (Dublin) 3 This... er city is a very large city. It's the capital city of our country, and it's very busy with a lot of traffic. It has a big river running through it, which used to be used by quite big boats, although the docks aren't used very much now. A very good way to see the city is... er from a bus, because buses have... two decks, and they're bright red. (London) 4 My capital is unusual because, although it's in a state, it's considered a separate district, with its own laws and regulations. In the middle of it there's a big house, where our country's leader lives. It has a west wing and an east wing, and parts of it are open to the public. There's also a house where senators work, and where representatives work, and there's a five-sided building where everybody that's in power works. (Washington) 5 I come from an ancient city, sometimes referred to as the Athens of the North. The main picturesque shopping street in the city centre is called Princes Street, and is overlooked by the castle, built on a hill of volcanic rock. (Edinburgh) 6 Well, it lies on the south coast of the country, on the banks of the River Taff. It's the capital city of course, and about fifty years ago, it used to be a very important port indeed, really, but since the ... er, you know, the traditional industries of steel and coal have been in decline, well, the old docks have gone a bit downhill as well. But ... er ... it's got a lot of history, of course, it goes back to the days of Julius Caesar at least. It's got an old castle in the middle. And it's got a brand new concert hall, which is very appropriate for the Land of Song, I think. (Cardiff) Esperanto, a world language P = Presenter N= Professor Nesbit P Hello, and welcome to today's Worldly Wise, the programme that examines world issues and the way they affect each and every one of us. Today we turn our attention to languages, or more specifically, to language. What would the world be like if everyone spoke the same language? Would we understand each other better and be more sympathetic to each other's causes? I'm not talking about everyone sharing the same first language, but sharing the same second language, and I'm not talking about English, but Esperanto. What are the facts about this artificial language? Well, it was invented in 1887 by a Polish doctor, Ludwig Lazarus Zamenhof. The vocabulary comes mainly from Western European languages, and the grammar is similar to Slavic languages. It sounds like Italian. From the learner's point of view, it has the advantage that there are no exceptions to rules. It is spoken all over the world by approximately eight million people, and there are many who would like Esperanto to be the official second language of the world. I spoke to Professor Desmond Nesbit of the University of Edinburgh for more information and asked him, hasn't the world got enough natural languages, so why make an artificial one? N I prefer the term planned to artificial. Esperanto means 'hopeful', and it was Zamenhof's hope that a common language would promote a friendship and an understanding amongst all people of the world. His .... inspiration is summed up by the Esperanto term interna ideo which means central idea, and it is an idea of human peace and justice. P What are the advantages that you see of Esperanto as a world language? N I see many. The advantages of the world being able to talk freely to each other about business, politics, culture, sport, hobbies, well are obvious. The costs of translation at any international conference are staggering. Did you know that 55 per cent of the EEC's budget in Strasbourg is taken up by translation costs? P My goodness! N The main advantage, as I see it, is that Esperanto is a neutral language. It doesn't have the national, political, and cultural bias that all others of course have. If everybody has to learn a second language, then everybody is equal. P But isn't it making a difficult situation even more difficult? I mean, there are already so many people who speak English throughout the world, why should they have to learn another language? Why not English as the world language? N I think I've partly answered that question already. Why should people have to learn English? For many it's a waste of time, energy, and money. The other thing that must be said is that English is by no means an easy language to learn. There is the problem of spelling, of the large number of exceptions to any rule, it is very idiomatic and the prepositions are terrible! English is one of those languages which for many seems easy in the beginning, but then the bridge between basic knowledge and mastery takes a long time to cross, and many people give up. P On the subject of ease of learning, how does Esperanto compare? N Esperanto is a very easy language to learn. The tense system has none of the complications of English, and the grammar is based on just sixteen rules which have no exceptions. There are five vowel sounds, and... P How many vowel sounds does English have? N Twenty. The most remarkable thing is that after a very short time learners find that they can express quite sophisticated ideas, the same sort of things that they would want to say in their own language. P That's remarkable. But Professor, do you really see Esperanto becoming the World language? There's quite a difference between the four hundred million speakers of English and the eight million speakers of Esperanto. N I think it will happen, yes. I think it's happening now. Esperanto is taught in many schools in Yugoslavia and Hungary. China is very interested. It has such internal logic that it could become the international computer language, and that would really establish it. P Professor Nesbit, thank you very much. N Thank you. A number dictation Hello, and good evening. It is feared that 182 people may have died in a plane crash this morning. The accident happened at 20 past 7. It was Bel Air flight 409, going from Singapore to New York. The plane had covered 3/4 of the 12,000 mile trip, and had stopped to refuel. Eye witnesses said that the plane had reached its take-off speed of 150 mph when a fire broke out in the rear engine. 106 people managed to escape the blaze. 672 car workers walked out on strike today in Coventry. They had asked for a pay rise of 8.7%, but management said they could only offer 5 %. This would mean an extra 27.50 per week. A union spokesman said It's not enough . A man armed with a shotgun held up cashiers at the National Bank today and stole 5,500. Police have appealed for witnesses. The number to ring is 0106 744391. Unemployment figures were released today. Last month there were 3,649,712 registered unemployed. That's 14.5% of the work force. Over the past year this number has increased by over 260,000. And that's the end of tonight's news. Good night.
Lesson 12: Articles