Revolution

by John Kuti

The other day I was watching a debate on TV on the subject 'Should it be

compulsory to learn English?' The speaker chosen to oppose the idea was Vladimir
Zhirinovskiy – a politician who many people in Europe think is a dangerous
extremist. He said that one of the causes of the problems in Russia’s sad history in
the 20th century was the use of imported words which people didn’t fully
understand. 'Revolution' (or the Russian word 'revolyutsia') was one of these. He
also mentioned 'communism' and 'privatisation'. If you use other words like 'revolt',
'rebellion' or 'coup d’état' the idea of changing the government by force seems a lot
less attractive. Calling some important change 'a revolution' can make people think
it is good, or maybe that it’s something that no one can stop, as the Marxists used
to say.

Going forwards

Since the 19th century there has been an idea that certain changes in society must
happen. Are you optimistic about the human race? I guess most people still are. I
think most people believe in Progress … you know: 'Scientists get closer to the
truth. Societies improve. We’ve never had it so good. A Pentium 4 is better than a
Pentium 3'.

I think it is dangerous when someone says that all our problems will be solved by
new technology, or by choosing a government with a more modern ideology.
Revolutions seem to depend on the hope of a beautiful future, maybe that’s why
they end in disappointment. Some people are so optimistic that they can forget
about reality altogether. They can make logic work backwards … I remember, back
in my days as a student political activist, having arguments about Chinese history
with the young members of The Socialist Workers’ Party – enthusiasts for
revolution. They used to say that there had been no revolution in China. This was
because the results had not been the happy ones that they expected.

What’s another word for it?

If you look on the website http://www.visualthesaurus.com/online/ you can find

words with similar meanings to the one you type in. Starting with 'revolution' the
visual thesaurus gives:

coup coup d’état insurgency

insurrection mutiny putsch

revolt takeover uprising

Which word to choose?

When you want to choose a word really carefully it’s a good idea to see how other
people use it. In my experiment I used the Times newspaper from March 1995, and
a 'concordancer', which lets you look at how words are used. You can choose
different materials instead of The Times, but I thought a newspaper would have
more about politics. It mentions one revolution the socialist workers might agree
really happened 'Cuba’s Marxist revolution' but also one change of style by a
Marxist government 'China’s cultural revolution,' and two changes of government
where the Marxists lost power: 'Czechoslovakia’s velvet revolution' and 'Estonia’s
singing revolution'.

However, more often than any of these, 'revolution' is just used to talk about a
general change in the way people live or work. The most common of these is the
'industrial revolution' which happened more than 200 years ago in Britain when
they started making steam engines and factories. The newspaper thinks these
other revolutions might be happening now …

Educational revolution, Sexual revolution, Information revolution, Telemarketing

revolution,Training revolution,

When something not so big or important happens you can still call it a 'minor
revolution'. The Times reports one minor revolution in Edinburgh – people starting
to live in some old buildings that had been used as offices for a long time.

Of the other words in my list 'coup' is used most often. This is a short way of saying
'coup d’état' and it usually refers to a revolution organised by people who are
already quite close to the top of the government. A revolution organised by people
a long way from power might be better called an 'uprising'.

In The Times, 'a revolt' or 'a mutiny' usually happens inside a British political party
when ordinary Members of Parliament disagree with the leaders of their party. But
the newspaper also mentions a revolt by shareholders who did not agree with the
managers of the company they had invested in.

'Takeover' belongs especially to the field of business. In March 1995 there was a
big story about the 'hostile takeover bid' by Glaxo for another pharmaceutical
company – Wellcome.

I think Zhirinovskiy was right – 'revolution' is a word that makes you want to
believe in it. It means 'this is better than what there was before'. Of course, The
Times is not a revolutionary newspaper, but in this case it chooses words just like
those 'socialist worker' students optimistically waiting for the revolution which will
automatically make everything better.

Read the following text carefully.

It’s a rainy Saturday. It’s raining a lot and Mary and her family are spending
the afternoon at home. Her uncles are visiting them. Mary and her father are in the
living room. Mary is making a draw and her father, Mr. Harris, is surfing the net.
They are also talking. Mary’s older brother, Peter, is in his bedroom playing computer
games. He is a computer fanatic and he spends much time playing on the computer.
His little brother, Jim is also in the living room. He is playing with his dinosaurs’
collection. Sometimes he teases Mary, he is a really naughty boy. Mary’s mother,
Mrs. Harris, is in the kitchen preparing a snack for all of them. She is making some
tea and talking to Mary’s uncles – Lucy and Tom. They are from the nearest town
and stopped by to say hello. Fluffy, the family cat, is sleeping on the kitchen’s sofa.
We can’t see him in the picture, but he is a true fluffy cat.

The present continuous is a common verb tense in English. It is for activities that
are happening right now. This lesson shows you how to use the present continuous
correctly. Let’s start with the structure.
Present Continuous Structure

Subject + BE + Verb + ING

Examples:
• I am singing
• She is dancing.
• We are talking.
Make sure you have the correct verb to be with the subject.
• I am playing.
• You are listening.
• She is dancing.
• He is talking.
• We are running.
• They are working.

Negatives
For negative statements, use “not”.
• I am not listening.
• She is not talking.

Questions
To form questions, change the order of the sentence.
• Are you listening?
• Is she talking?
Present Continuous Uses
Present continuous is for actions happening right now. This could mean at this
every moment:
• I am watching television.
Or, it could mean now in general.
• She is working at the gas station

I'm With You - Avril Lavigne

Right – Like – Try – Listen – Who – Now – Life – Maybe – Stand – Look – Wait
– Take – Search -
I'm ___________ on the bridge
I'm _________ in the dark
I thought that you'd be here by ______
There's nothing but the rain
No footsteps on the ground
I'm __________ but there's no sound
Isn't anyone tryin' to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home?
It's a damn cold night
_________ to figure out this _________
Won't you take me by the hand?
________ me somewhere new
I don't know ________ you are
But I, I'm with you
I'm with you
I'm _________ for a place
I'm _________ for a face
Is anybody here I know?
'Cause nothing's going _______
And everything's a mess
And no one ___________ to be alone
Isn't anyone ________ to find me?
Won't somebody come take me home?
It's a damn cold night
_________ to figure out this __________
Won't you take me by the hand?
________ me somewhere new
I don't know _________ you are
But I, I'm with you
I'm with you, yeah, yeah
Oh, why is everything so confusing?
___________ I'm just out of my mind
Yeah yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Yeah yeah
Yeah
Chorus
_________ me by the hand
_________ me somewhere new
I don't know ________ you are
But I, I'm with you
I'm with you

Pronounciation:
Theodore Gets Thumped

Theodore heard the threatening thunder.

He thought it sounded thrilling.
Until three, thick, thorny, lightning bolts
ended his thinking that Thursday.
Thereafter, Theodore wasn’t very thoughtful.
The End.

1) I think it is Thursday.
2) It is his thirteenth birthday today.
3) You can clean your teeth with a thin toothpick.
4) They should ask their father or their mother.
5) The other clothes are new.
6) There is another feather over there.
7) That thing is bigger than that other thing.
8) Those three boys will be three this Thursday, October ninth.
9) There is something in that dog's mouth.
10) My brother said the weather is warmer in the south than in the north

Thirty thousand thoughtless boys,

Thought they`d make a thundering noise;
So with thirty thousand thumbs,
They thumbed on thirty thousand drums.

bays – bathe
fin – thin tease – teethe
first – thirst close, clothes – clothe
fought – thought closing – clothing
free – three closed – clothed
Fred – thread she's – sheethe
furrow – thorough sues – soothe
deaf – death ties - tithe
roof – Ruth
reef – wreath
van – than
vat - that
veil - they'll

sank – thank
sick – thick
sigh – thigh
sin – thin
sink – think
sum, some – thumb
sought – thought
mouse – mouth
bass (fish) – bath
pass – path
breeze – breathe