"...I have been guided by the standard John Winthrop set before his shipmates on the flagship Arabella three hundred and thirty-one years ago, as they, too, faced the task of building a new government on a perilous frontier. «We must always consider», he said, «that we shall be as a city upon a hill — the eyes of all people are upon us». Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us — and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, must be as a city upon a hill — constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities.”
President Ronald Reagan used the image as well, in his 1984 acceptance of the Republican Party nomination and in his January 11, 1989, farewell speech to the nation:
«I've spoken of the shining city all my political life.. And how stands the city on this winter night? . After 200 years, two centuries, she still stands strong and true to the granite ridge, and her glow has held no matter what storm. And she's still a beacon, still a magnet for all who must have freedom, for all the pilgrims from all the lost places who are hurtling through the darkness, toward home.»
3. The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules for commercial and financial relations among the world's major industrial states in the mid-20th century. The Bretton Woods system was the first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to govern monetary relations among independent nation-states.
COMPREHENSION ASSIGNMENTS
A. In pairs, discuss how you understand the phrases/clauses below. If still in doubt, discuss them as a class.
1. ...President Obama landed in hot water ...
2. .patriotic chest-thumping
3. . those who make them are treading a well-worn path.
4. . they are simply the latest nation to sing a familiar old song.
5. The United States talks a good game on human rights and international law .
6. The US . has been all too willing to cozy up to dictators .
7. Given all the high-fives American leaders have given themselves .
8. .where progress in both areas trailed many other countries.
9. . the United States has a divinely ordained mission to lead the rest of the world.
10. But when a nation starts to think it enjoys the mandate of heaven., then reality is likely to deliver a swift rebuke.
11. International politics is a contact sport .
12. Nationalism . inevitably . sugarcoats its (the country's) less savory aspects.
