Listening: David Cameron `s speech

This morning I want to talk about the future of Europe. But first, let us remember the
past.
Seventy years ago, Europe was being torn apart by its second catastrophic conflict in a
generation. A war which saw the streets of European cities strewn with rubble. The
skies of London lit by flames night after night. And millions dead across the world in
the battle for peace and liberty.
As we remember their sacrifice, so we should also remember how the shift in Europe
from war to sustained peace came about. It did not happen like a change in the weather.
It happened because of determined work over generations. A commitment to friendship
and a resolve never to re-visit that dark past – a commitment epitomised by the Elysee
Treaty signed 50 years ago this week. After the Berlin Wall came down I visited that
city and I will never forget it. The abandoned checkpoints. The sense of excitement
about the future. The knowledge that a great continent was coming together. Healing
those wounds of our history is the central story of the European Union.
What Churchill described as the twin marauders of war and tyranny have been almost
entirely banished from our continent. Today, hundreds of millions dwell in freedom,
from the Baltic to the Adriatic, from the Western Approaches to the Aegean.
And while we must never take this for granted, the first purpose of the European Union
– to secure peace – has been achieved and we should pay tribute to all those in the EU,
alongside NATO, who made that happen. But today the main, over-riding purpose of
the European Union is different: not to win peace, but to secure prosperity.
The challenges come not from within this continent but outside it. From the surging
economies in the East and South. Of course a growing world economy benefits us all,
but we should be in no doubt that a new global race of nations is underway today.
A race for the wealth and jobs of the future.
The map of global influence is changing before our eyes. And these changes are already
being felt by the entrepreneur in the Netherlands, the worker in Germany, the family in
Britain.
So I want to speak to you today with urgency and frankness about the European Union
and how it must change – both to deliver prosperity and to retain the support of its
peoples.
But first, I want to set out the spirit in which I approach these issues. I know that the
United Kingdom is sometimes seen as an argumentative and rather strong-minded
member of the family of European nations. And it’s true that our geography has shaped
our psychology.
We have the character of an island nation – independent, forthright, passionate in
defence of our sovereignty.
We can no more change this British sensibility than we can drain the English Channel.

And because of this sensibility, we come to the European Union with a frame of mind
that is more practical than emotional. For us, the European Union is a means to an end –
prosperity, stability, the anchor of freedom and democracy both within Europe and
beyond her shores – not an end in itself.
We insistently ask: How? Why? To what end? But all this doesn’t make us somehow
un-European.
The fact is that ours is not just an island story – it is also a continental story.
For all our connections to the rest of the world – of which we are rightly proud – we
have always been a European power – and we always will be. From Caesar’s legions to
the Napoleonic Wars. From the Reformation, the Enlightenment and the Industrial
Revolution to the defeat of Nazism. We have helped to write European history, and
Europe has helped write ours.
Over the years, Britain has made her own, unique contribution to Europe. We have
provided a haven to those fleeing tyranny and persecution. And in Europe’s darkest
hour, we helped keep the flame of liberty alight. Across the continent, in silent
cemeteries, lie the hundreds of thousands of British servicemen who gave their lives for
Europe’s freedom.
In more recent decades, we have played our part in tearing down the Iron Curtain and
championing the entry into the EU of those countries that lost so many years to
Communism. And contained in this history is the crucial point about Britain, our
national character, our attitude to Europe.
Britain is characterised not just by its independence but, above all, by its openness.
We have always been a country that reaches out. That turns its face to the world...
That leads the charge in the fight for global trade and against protectionism. This is
Britain today, as it’s always been: Independent, yes – but open, too. I never want us to
pull up the drawbridge and retreat from the world. I am not a British isolationist.
I don’t just want a better deal for Britain. I want a better deal for Europe too.
So I speak as British Prime Minister with a positive vision for the future of the
European Union. A future in which Britain wants, and should want, to play a committed
and active part.
Some might then ask: why raise fundamental questions about the future of Europe when
Europe is already in the midst of a deep crisis? Why raise questions about Britain’s role
when support in Britain is already so thin.
There are always voices saying “don’t ask the difficult questions.” But it’s essential for
Europe – and for Britain – that we do because there are three major challenges
confronting us today.


First, the problems in the Eurozone are driving fundamental change in Europe. Second,
there is a crisis of European competitiveness, as other nations across the world soar
ahead. And third, there is a gap between the EU and its citizens which has grown
dramatically in recent years. And which represents a lack of democratic accountability
and consent that is – yes – felt particularly acutely in Britain.
If we don’t address these challenges, the danger is that Europe will fail and the British
people will drift towards the exit.
I do not want that to happen. I want the European Union to be a success. And I want a
relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it.
That is why I am here today: To acknowledge the nature of the challenges we face. To
set out how I believe the European Union should respond to them. And to explain what
I want to achieve for Britain and its place within the European Union.
Let me start with the nature of the challenges we face. First, the Eurozone.
The future shape of Europe is being forged. There are some serious questions that will
define the future of the European Union – and the future of every country within it.
The Union is changing to help fix the currency – and that has profound implications for
all of us, whether we are in the single currency or not. Britain is not in the single
currency, and we’re not going to be. But we all need the Eurozone to have the right
governance and structures to secure a successful currency for the long term.
And those of us outside the Eurozone also need certain safeguards to ensure, for
example, that our access to the Single Market is not in any way compromised. And it’s
right we begin to address these issues now.
Second, while there are some countries within the EU which are doing pretty well.
Taken as a whole, Europe’s share of world output is projected to fall by almost a third
in the next two decades. This is the competitiveness challenge – and much of our
weakness in meeting it is self-inflicted.
Complex rules restricting our labour markets are not some naturally occurring
phenomenon. Just as excessive regulation is not some external plague that’s been visited
on our businesses.
These problems have been around too long. And the progress in dealing with them, far
too slow.
As Chancellor Merkel has said – if Europe today accounts for just over 7 per cent of the
world’s population, produces around 25 per cent of global GDP and has to finance 50
per cent of global social spending, then it’s obvious that it will have to work very hard
to maintain its prosperity and way of life.
Third, there is a growing frustration that the EU is seen as something that is done to
people rather than acting on their behalf. And this is being intensified by the very
solutions required to resolve the economic problems.

Listening_Steve Jobs: How to live before die?

    The pundits of Silicon Valley have a term for Steve Jobs' charisma: the reality distortion field.
 

 
   But the truth is, most of us like living in Jobs' reality, where exquisite design and sheer utility
 make for some addictively usable tools.
  Jobs' famous persuasive power was equalled by his creativity and business brilliance -- apparent in legendary hardware and software achievements across three decades of work. The Macintosh computer (which brought the mouse-driven, graphical user interface to prominence), Pixar Animation
Studios (which produced Toy Story, the first fully-3D-animated feature film), the iPod, the iPhone,
 the iPad all owe credit to Jobs' leadership and invention.
  Jobs battled a rare form of pancreatic cancer -- adding to an epic life story that mirrors the story of
Apple itself: ever the underdog, ever the spectacular success. In August 2011 he stepped down as
Apple's CEO, remaining as Chairman of the Board. He died on October 5, 2011.

"The past decade in business belongs to Jobs." Fortune Magazine

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html

Reading comprehension - Do you recognize the old English?

It was the first Saturday afternoon in August; it had been broiling hot all day, with a
cloudless sky, and the sun had been beating down on the houses, so that the top rooms
were like ovens; but now with the approach of evening it was cooler, and everyone in
Vere Street was out of doors.
Vere street, Lambeth, is a short, straight street leading out of the Westminster Bridge
Road; it has forty houses on one side and forty houses on the other, and these eighty
houses are very much more like one another than ever peas are like peas, or young
ladies like young ladies. They are newish, three-storied buildings of dingy grey brick
with slate roofs, and they are perfectly flat, without a bow-window or even a projecting
cornice or window-sill to break the straightness of the line from one end of the street to
the other.
This Saturday afternoon the street was full of life; no traffic came down Vere Street, and
the cemented space between the pavements was given up to children. Several games of
cricket were being played by wildly excited boys, using coats for wickets, an old tennisball
or a bundle of rags tied together for a ball, and, generally, an old broomstick for bat.
The wicket was so large and the bat so small that the man in was always getting bowled,
when heated quarrels would arise, the batter absolutely refusing to go out and the
bowler absolutely insisting on going in. The girls were more peaceable; they were
chiefly employed in skipping, and only abused one another mildly when the rope was
not properly turned or the skipper did not jump sufficiently high. Worst off of all were
the very young children, for there had been no rain for weeks, and the street was as dry
and clean as a covered court, and, in the lack of mud to wallow in, they sat [6] about the
road, disconsolate as poets. The number of babies was prodigious; they sprawled about
everywhere, on the pavement, round the doors, and about their mothers' skirts. The
grown-ups were gathered round the open doors; there were usually two women
squatting on the doorstep, and two or three more seated on either side on chairs; they
were invariably nursing babies, and most of them showed clear signs that the present
object of the maternal care would be soon ousted by a new arrival. Men were less
numerous but such as there were leant against the walls, smoking, or sat on the sills of
the ground-floor windows. It was the dead season in Vere Street as much as in
Belgravia, and really if it had not been for babies just come or just about to come, and
an opportune murder in a neighbouring doss-house, there would have been nothing
whatever to talk about. As it was, the little groups talked quietly, discussing the atrocity
or the merits of the local midwives, comparing the circumstances of their various
confinements.
'You'll be 'avin' your little trouble soon, eh, Polly?' asked one good lady of another.
'Oh, I reckon I've got another two months ter go yet,' answered Polly.
'Well,' said a third. 'I wouldn't 'ave thought you'd go so long by the look of yer!'
'I 'ope you'll have it easier this time, my dear,' said a very stout old person, a woman of
great importance.
'She said she wasn't goin' to 'ave no more, when the last one come.' This remark came
from Polly's husband.
'Ah,' said the stout old lady, who was in the business, and boasted vast experience.
'That's wot they all says; but, Lor' bless yer, they don't mean it.'

Improve your pronunciation

THE SOUNDS OF ENGLISH

1. Schwa: is the name for the most common sound in English. It is a weak, unstressed sound and it occurs in many words. It is often the sound in grammar words such as articles and prepositions.
   
   Getting the schwa sound correct is a good way of making your pronunciation more accurate and natural.
   
   The phonemic symbol for this sound is .  

          Any vowel letter can be pronounced as schwa and the pronunciation of a vowel letter 
          can change depending on whether the syllable in which it occurs is stressed or not. 

          In the word 'man' the letter 'a' has its full sound - represented by the symbol /æ/.

          In 'postman' the syllable 'man' is not stressed and the letter 'a' is pronounced as schwa,
          represented  by the symbol . 

         See more information at: www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/pron.