The Declaration of Independence
by Thomas Jefferson
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
Notes and exercises:
1. Learn the spelling of the following words and pronounce them correctly:
Ü brae amoeba sew pied-à-terre manoeuvre
Ü rowlock Thames gaol clerk entrepreneur
Ü czar Pall Mall gaoler sergeant hors d’oeuvre
Ü czarina ate entracte Derby sewing machine
Ü czarevitch Gael encore Berkeley invalid (n.)
Ü czardas Gaelic bivouac feoff invalid (v.)
Ü Czech maelstrom ensemble leopard oecumenical
Ü phaeton gendarme jeopardy foetid onomatopoeia
Ü genre Geoffrey phoenix courier rendez-vous
Ü roulette moustache Leonard
2. Explain the meaning of the following verbs:
þ suspend, depend, impend, perpend
þ concur, occur, recur, incur
þ extort, retort, distort, contort
3. Combine the adjectives from A with the nouns from B:
A.
pitiful pitiable piteous
B.
state sight amount words look manner
A.
intolerable intolerant
B.
person opinions views attitude behaviour conditions
A.
presumptuous presumptive presumable
B.
statement failure death evidence person success result proof remark behaviour
4. Word study:
bands fetters
entitle to give a right to: His age entitles him to respect.
impel to drive, to force, to urge: He said he had been impelled to crime by poverty.
endow to possess naturally, to be born with (qualities): He is endowed by nature with great talents.
transient lasting for a short time only, brief
5. Translate the following expressions and use them in sentences of your own:
I have nothing to change into, to change trains, I have to change at Chicago O’Hare Airport, to change colour, to change countenance (to be confused), to change hands, to change the air of a room, the change the guard (to relieve the guard), to change one’s condition, to change foot/step, to change for the better/worse, to change a cheque, to change a postal order, to change down (to slow down), to change from . . . to, a change of abode, a change of life, change of voice, the last great change
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