【英语听和读】语言与政治

 Doug: Hello, and welcome to People and Places. I want to talk about politicians and the

words they use. This year we have heard from politicians who want to be the

President of the United States. For one of the political parties – the Democrats¹ –

there have been two main candidates³ – Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

There have been lots of speeches and lots of interviews from both of them - both

of them want to be the most popular candidate². Now a candidate wants to say

‘vote for me’, ‘vote for me’, but you’ve got say more than that.

Listen to this bit of an interview from Hillary. She’ll say that she has a proven

track record. This means that people can already see what she can do. And

listen – how many times does she say the word change.

Hillary

I have a proven track record of creating change for people and I think that that’s what the

country needs. It’s not a choice between experience or change. I have the experience we need

to make the changes we want. 

People and Places © BBC Learning⁴ English 2007

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Doug: Hillary Clinton – and how many times did she say the word change – three times!

But it’s a powerful word – change – it’s a very attractive word – a word that is

very popular with politicians.

In fact Barack Obama has probably used this word the most – it has even been in

his slogan. Every politician has slogans. It’s a sentence or just a few words that

are very, very powerful. One of Obama’s slogans is “Change We Can Believe in”

- “ Change we can believe in”.

But no politician can own a word. Hillary uses the word change as well but she

also uses another popular word for politicians. Listen again to her interview. She

uses the word change but what other word?

Hillary

I have a proven track record of creating change for people and I think that’s what the country

needs. It’s not a choice between experience or change. I have the experience we need to make

the changes we want.

Doug: So in that short bit of the interview we heard the word change 3 times followed by

the word experience – yes experience. She says – I have the experience we need to

make the changes we want. (Hey, that sounds pretty good – perhaps I should be a

politician.) 

People and Places © BBC Learning English 2007

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bbclearningenglish.com

Well let’s hear another slogan from Obama. He doesn’t use the word change this

time. He was speaking to his supporters in February. Can you hear the slogan in

this speech? And how will you know when you have heard the slogan – you will

always hear cheering – Yeah!

Obama

There is one thing on this February night that we do not need the final result to know – our

time has come CHEERING.

Doug: Yes, there was the slogan – our time has come. You heard the cheering after it.

What does that mean? Well, it’s an expression that means…we will now get what

we have waited for. Our time has come!

Obama

Our time has come! CHEERING.

Doug: Politicians – they love to use powerful words – moving words. Words like hope or

challenge or change. The next time you hear a politician, listen for those moving

words. 

People and Places © BBC Learning English 2007

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bbclearningenglish.com

Hillary

I have a proven track record of creating change for people and I think that’s what the country

needs. It’s not a choice between experience or change. I have the experience we need to make

the changes we want.

Obama

Our time has come! CHEERING.

Doug: You can download today’s script⁵ and find out more about today’s vocabulary

at the People and Places website on BBC Learning English.com. Goodbye.

1 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 candidate   

n.候选人；候补者；投考者，申请求职者

参考例句：

• Voters like a candidate who has the common touch. 投票者喜欢那些平易近人的候选人。
• The local newspapers dressed up the candidate as a boxer.当地报纸把那个候选人描绘成一个拳击手。

3 candidates   

n.报考者( candidate的名词复数 )；申请求职者；攻读学位者；最后命运或结局如何已显然可见者

参考例句：

• Employers must consider all candidates impartially and without bias. 雇主必须公平而毫无成见地考虑所有求职者。
• one of the leading candidates for the presidency 总统职位的主要候选人之一

4 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

5 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。