We face many exciting challenges. Failure is not an option. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an “Iron Curtain” has descended across the continent. (Winston Churchill, 1946) What do I want to tell you? Well, […] . […] the digital divide […] . The ballot is stronger than the bullet. (Abraham Lincoln, 1856) No excuses. I don’t mind how much my ministers talk, as long as they do what I say. (Margaret Thatcher, 1980). I am pretty certain that I am also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who still fights with her younger brothers. I want there to be peace everywhere, but my brothers and I are still working on that. (Malala Yousafzai, 2014) We will work energetically on our problems. […] silver surfers […] . I say this to you. Reading: A short guide to a happy life by Anna Quindlen In the year 2000 Pulitzer Prize winning author Anna Quindlen was asked to give a commencement address at the University of Villanova, Pennsylvania. This speech was never delivered because students who opposed Quindlen’s liberal political views threatened to stage a protest. The speech was later published on the internet and finally made it into a book. a) Read the following extract from a speech by Anna Quindlen. Highlight examples of the rhetorical strategies you recognise from task 1 and write them down in your learning journal. 2 j Don’t ever forget what a friend once wrote Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator decided not to run for reelection because he’d been diagnosed with cancer: “No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time in the office.” Don’t ever forget the words my father sent me on a postcard last year: “If you win the rat race, you’re still a rat.” Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” You walk out of here this afternoon with only one thing that no one else has. There will be hundreds of people out there with your same degree; there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living. But you will be the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on a bus, or in a car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your minds, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul. So here is what I wanted to tell you today: Get a life. A real life, not a hectic chase after the next promotion, the bigger paycheck, the larger house. Get a life in which you are not alone. Find people you love, and who love you. And remember that love is not leisure, it is work. Each time you look at your diploma, remember that you are still a student, still learning how to best treasure your connection to others. Pick up the phone. Send an e-mail. Write a letter. Kiss your Mom. Hug your Dad. Get a life in which you are generous. Look around at the flowers in the suburban neighborhood where you grew up; look at a full moon hanging silver in a black, black sky on a cold night. And realise that life is the best thing ever, and that you have no business taking it for granted. Care so deeply about its goodness that you want to spread it around. Once in a while take money and give it to charity. Work in a soup kitchen. Be a big brother or sister. (Anna Quindlen, www.cs.oswego.edu, 23 Juni 2000; adapted and abridged) 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 b) In pairs, compare and discuss your lists of examples. 103 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv
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