2. Suez — the Suez crisis — an invasion of Egypt in late 1956 by Israel followed by Britain and France. The aims were to regain Western control of the Suez Canal and to remove Egyptian President Nasser from power.
3. ‘Britain's frontiers are on the Himalayas' — Harold Wilson's statement (1965) meant to support India against China. Harold Wilson is a British Labour Party politician, Prime Minister from 1964-1970, 1974-76.
WRITING A SUMMARY: COMPRESSING AND PARAPHRASING
TASK 1
Look through the text again and separate important (underline) from unimportant (cross out) information. Start with crossing out the information in brackets and that introduced by ‘for example', etc. phrases. Put the parts you do not understand within [ ] and find out what they mean.
The beginning of the text is done for you.
Historians have usually been kind to the British decision to wind down their empire without protracted resistance and often contrasted it with the 'dirty' wars waged by the French in Indochina and Algeria. A pervasive historical myth (enthusiastically endorsed in political memoirs) suggests that the British excelled in the practice of 'managed decline': the pragmatic adjustment of imperial ambition to shrinking resources. It was certainly true that they were extremely reluctant to resist mass political movements, whether in India after 1945 or in Africa after 1959. But they were much less unwilling to use military force where [the odds were more promising?] and the incentives were greater: as in Malaya, Cyprus and Kenya.
[the odds were more promising?] — there were better chances of success
TASK 2
Write down the main ideas of the text; make sure there is no repetition. Compare the list with that of you partner.
TASK 3
Paraphrase using different techniques:
a) suggest synonyms for the following
| fall shrinking to excel: reluctant incentive to reveal | defeat, loss of power, dramatic decline | hazardous enfeeblement to severe to alter decisive tug | |
b) change the word class
Unit I. UK: from Empire to Democracy
| Noun to Verb | Verb to Noun |
| adjustment comprehension misjudgement comprehension expectation | | to suggest to reveal to predict to explain to corrode | |
c) paraphrase the sentences and phrases
1. His (Harold Macmillan's) grandiose scheme for preserving British world power betrayed a flawed understanding of European politics and almost no comprehension of the complex realities of African politics.
2. Predicting historical change is a hazardous business: there are too many factors at play and far too much noise to decode the correct signals.
