Wednesday, November 29th 2017.

Oral comprehension – Winston Churchill’s speech

This document is a radio broadcast of a speech by Winston Churchill , when he was British Prime Minister, in 1940. Here he was speaking / talking to / addressing the British population / citizens because he wanted to tell them not to give up facing the war and its terrors. First he explains that he has nothing else to offer but “blood, tears, toil and sweat” because he wants to say that the period to come is going to be terrible. He offers to wage war on three levels: in the air (with planes dropping bombs), on land (with men, soldiers, troops and tanks) and at sea (to access the French coasts). He doesn’t name his opponent who is in fact Hitler’s Nazism, but he refers to it with the metaphor of “monstruous tyranny” to state how inhuman his enemy is, and why they had to fight.

His will to win over Nazism is perceptible in his repetition of the word “victory” five times. The impression that we have from listening to him is one of optimism in spite of the fact that he talks about war.