Great English Speeches in History

Final Exam

Name: 黃柏銘 Student ID: 10824311 Department: Computer Science

Huang Po. Ming &Information Engineering
(in English 2%):

I. Definition: Write the meaning of the designated word in English. (You can use only online English
dictionaries for reference.) 20%
Recommended online dictionaries:
[1] Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: https://www.ldoceonline.com/
[2] Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/
[3] Collins English Dictionary: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/
[4] Macmillan Dictionary: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/)

1. exile: to force someone to leave their country, especially for political reasons.

2. discrimination: the practice of treating one person or group differently from another in an unfair way.

3. default on: to fail to pay money that you owe at the right time.
(v.)
4. persecution: cruel or unfair treatment of someone over a period of time, especially because of their religious or
political beliefs.

5. emancipation: formal to give someone the political or legal rights that they did not have before.

6. legacy: something that happens or exists as a result of things that happened at an earlier time.

7. ultimate:the final result.

8. profound: having a strong influence or effect.

9. abstraction: a general idea about a type of situation, thing, or person rather than a specific example
from real life.

10. inextricably: somebody or something are inseparable.

II. Simple Essay Questions 80%

1. Dr. Martin Luther King says, “Five score years ago,  a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we
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 stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon
light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It
came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.”
(1) What does “score” mean here? (in English) 2%
(2) Who is this “great American” mentioned here? (Full name in English) 2%
(3) Analyze what figure of speech is used in the “underlined” sentences. (in English) 2%
And explain why you think so. (in English or Chinese) 4%
Ans (1) It’s mean 1964.
(2) John Fitzgerald Kennedy
(3) After the Declaration of the Liberation of Slaves, the Blacks ended their lives as slaves.

2. Dr. King says:

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the
Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One
hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of
material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of
American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we’ve come here today to
dramatize a shameful condition.
Q: Point out what figures of speech (more than one) are used in the passage. (in English) 3% And
explain why you think so. (in English or Chinese) 6%

Ans
(1) the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.
(2) the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.

3. Dr. King says:

In a sense we’ve come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic
wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were
signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all
men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the “unalienable rights of life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
(1) What does Dr. King mean by saying “to cash a check”? (Note: Avoid interpreting this phrase in a
literal sense) (in English or Chinese) 3%
(2) Who are these “architects of our republic” mentioned by Dr. King? (in English) 2%
(3) Needless to say, “unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is one of the
greatest phrases quoted by politicians. So, where does this quote originally come from? (in English)
2%
Ans (1) unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
(2) Lyndon Baines Johnson
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 (3) United States Declaration of Independence

4. Dr. King says:

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is
no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.
Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation
from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make
justice a reality for all of God’s children.
(1) What does “this hallowed spot” refer to? (in English) 2%
(2) Point out what figures of speech (more than one) are used in this passage. (in English) 2% And
explain why you think so. (in English or Chinese) 4%
(3) What does Dr. King mean by saying that “there is no time . . . to take the tranquilizing drug of
gradualism”? (Note: Do not interpret it in a literal sense) (in English or Chinese) 3%

Ans (1) Lincoln Memorial

(2) Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of
racial justice.
(3) Because after the liberation of slaves, it does not mean that blacks are equal to whites. Now it is
only slowly making races equal, but this is no longer allowed.

5. Dr. King states:

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads
into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of
wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of
bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and
discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and
again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

He goes on saying, “The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must
not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their
presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have
come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.”
(1) According to Dr. King’s statement, what is his idea about using violence to fight against racial
segregation? What way does he call for to protest? (in English or Chinese) 5%
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 (2) In the civil rights movement, how does Dr. King think African Americans should treat white
people? (in English or Chinese) 3%

Ans (1) He opposed violence, he pursued racial equality by non-violent methods

(2) Don't satisfy our desire for freedom by drinking a cup of bitterness and hatred.

6. Elie Wiesel says:

We are on the threshold of a new century, a new millennium. What will the legacy of this vanishing
century be? How will it be remembered in the new millennium? Surely it will be judged, and judged
severely, in both moral and metaphysical terms. These failures have cast a dark shadow over
humanity: two World Wars, countless civil wars, the senseless chain of assassinations (Gandhi, the
Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Sadat, Rabin), bloodbaths in Cambodia and Algeria, India and
Pakistan, Ireland and Rwanda, Eritrea and Ethiopia, Sarajevo and Kosovo; the inhumanity in the
gulag and the tragedy of Hiroshima. And, on a different level, of course, Auschwitz and Treblinka. So
much violence; so much indifference.
(1) What event is Wiesel likely to refer to when he mentions Rwanda? (in English or Chinese) 2%
(2) What tragic event is Wiesel likely to refer to when he mentions the “gulag”? (in English or
Chinese) 2%
(3) How does Wiesel reflect on (思考) the “legacy” of those events after World War II? (in English or
Chinese) 4%

Ans (1) Luanda Genocide

(2) Labor camps in the former Soviet Union
(3) Ethical reflection

7. Wiesel says:
Rooted in our tradition, some of us felt that to be abandoned by humanity then was not the
ultimate. We felt that to be abandoned by God was worse than to be punished by Him. Better an
unjust God than an indifferent one. For us to be ignored by God was a harsher punishment than to
be a victim of His anger. Man can live far from God—not outside God. God is wherever we are.
Even in suffering? Even in suffering.
Q: How do you interpret (解讀) this passage? (in English or Chinese) 8%

Ans
After being abandoned by God, it is more serious than any punishment. If God is far away from you, then
the Satan of the region will spend the rest of his life with you.

8. In his thought-provoking speech “The Perils of Indifference,” Wiesel warns that:

Of course, indifference can be tempting—more than that, seductive. It is so much easier to look
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 away from victims. It is so much easier to avoid such rude interruptions to our work, our dreams,
our hopes. It is, after all, awkward, troublesome, to be involved in another person’s pain and
despair. Yet, for the person who is indifferent, his or her neighbor are of no consequence. And,
therefore, their lives are meaningless. Their hidden or even visible anguish is of no interest.
Indifference reduces the Other to an abstraction.
Also the German priest, Martin Niemöller, writes a poem (1946)—quite widely quoted—to confess his
guilt:
THEY CAME FIRST for the Communists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.
THEN THEY CAME for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
THEN THEY CAME for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant.
THEN THEY CAME for me,
and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Q: Compare Wiesel’s statement and Niemöller’s poem, and analyze their shared idea about
indifference. (in English or Chinese) 10%

Ans
People who care about indifferent, if something happens later, the indifferent person may not pay
attention to me.

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9. Wiesel says:
And now we knew, we learned, we discovered that the Pentagon knew, the State Department knew.
And the illustrious occupant of the White House then, who was a great leader—and I say it with
some anguish and pain, because, today is exactly 54 years marking his death—Franklin Delano
Roosevelt died on April the 12th, 1945. So he is very much present to me and to us. No doubt, he was
a great leader. He mobilized the American people and the world, going into battle, bringing
hundreds and thousands of valiant and brave soldiers in America to fight fascism, to fight
dictatorship, to fight Hitler. And so many of the young people fell in battle. And, nevertheless, his
image in Jewish history—I must say it—his image in Jewish history is flawed.
(1) What figure of speech is used for the “Pentagon”? (in English) 2%
(2) From the viewpoint of Jews, how does Wiesel evaluate Roosevelt’s historical status? (in English or
Chinese) 7%
Ans (1) Metonymy

(2) He is a great leader. He mobilized the American people and the entire world, and fought against
fascism, dictatorship and Hitler by thousands of brave and fearless American soldiers. But, his image in
Jewish history—I must say it—his image in Jewish history is flawed.