Step 35

The Basic Teacher

STEP 35 - WAR AND PEACE

NOUNS		ADJECTIVES
act	law	fertile
attack	lead	happy -- sad
bread	love	material.
burn	map	medical
connection	peace	military
destruction	poison	secret
development	religion
discovery	science
flight	system
gun	transport
hate	war
history	wound

WAR AND PEACE

From 'The Morning Record'
Is it possible to put an end to war, and if so, what is the best way of doing it? There have been a great number of letters about this question and we are certain that it is one in which all our readers are deeply interested, so we sent someone out from this office to see what the view of the public are. He put the question to a number of representatives persons, and we are printing here a selection of the answers they gave him.

Mrs. S., a mother : "War doesn't make anybody happy, and it is as unnecessary as it is cruel. Private persons like you and me do not make wars. Governments make wars and they have the power to give us peace. It make me sad. as it makes every mother sad, to see what war has done to our young men. You see them in the streets every day, young men whose faces have been so damaged by burns that girls take no interest in them, young men with one arm, with one leg, with eyes which do not see. The last war took one of my sons from me. My other son got a wound in his chest and still has a bit of lead in him. He's never without pain. I am certain that everyone who has seen the effects of war would give his support to a government which gave up the use of arms and kept the country at peace."

Mr. G., a business man : "There is only one way for a country to keep out of war, and that is by making itself so strong that it is safe from attack. Why are the laws of a country generally respected ? Because force is used against anyone who does not keep them. In the same way, force is primary for keeping peace. Agreements are of no use. They are so readily taken. We have to have more guns, more airplanes, more mines, and so on than the nations which might go to war with us. Yes, I'm conscious of the danger of a competition in making arms, but the most important producing countries have a desire for peace, and it is possible for them, by the development of their industries, and by forming themselves into a group, to make themselves strong enough to keep the rest in order."

Miss M., a writer : "The impulses by which men are moved in war are as old as living things. From the start of their history. long before man came into existence, there was war among the animals. They put one another to death for food, and male animals had fights with one another about he females. Though man is a reasoning being, his reason has never overcome the deeply-rooted impulse to make use of force, and there has never been a time in history when there has not been some country with a desire to make a change in the divisions of the map. I have little hope that we will ever become wiser.
The trouble is that new developments in science have put the destruction caused by war on quite a different scale. In the old days, wars were the business of small armies of trained men. When a nation was at war, most of its men and women went on living in the normal way. But now things are different. The range of guns has been increased so that they may be fired at a town from a great distance, attacks may be made on ships from under the water, and airplanes have given us the power of flight. A country at war has to become a great military machine, and everyone is forced t take part. But it is not possible to put the clock back, and I see no way of limiting the destruction."

Mr. F., a school teacher : "It is an error to give as much attention as we do to the material causes of war. Certainly there is a connection between war and such facts as the unequal distribution of goods, the desire for wider markets, and the need for expansion, but these material causes are less important than they seem. They are not the root of the trouble. We will be unable to make the necessary adjustments without a complete change of outlook. We will not put an end to war simply by making agreements for limiting arms and supporting nations which are attacked, or by forming a new controlling organization. First, there has to be a desire for peace, and the only way to get his is through education. War is produced by hate. If we had more love for one another and a greater knowledge of the ideas, feelings, and living-conditions of men of other nations -- which we would get more readily if we had some common language like Basic English -- we would be shocked by the very thought of war. I am certain that, with the help of religion, it will be possible to have peace on earth, though man is still a long way from that stage of his development."

Mr. H., a science worker : "We are living in a time of very great danger. There's no doubt about that. our knowledge is increasing at such a rate that it has got out of control. All our ideas of war have been completely changed by new inventions and discoveries. In the past military operations were dependent on transport. Great armies and masses of material had to be got fro one place to another as quickly as possible, and a country with a good transport system was in a very strong position. Now, quite suddenly, the need for transporting these great armies has gone, because new forms of power have made it possible for instruments of destruction which are more feared even than armies to be sent through the sky and dropped wherever they will do the most serious damage.
For years, men of science have been working to make war more violent and cruel Guns, poison (for chemical war, fire, mines, and airplanes have all been used. Now, if the military experts ever make full use of this new power which science has given them, everything on this earth may go up in smoke.
What are we going to do about it ? There is a strong feeling among men of science that it would be right for th em to take some part in controlling this development for which they are responsible. It is their belief that they may be wiser than the political chiefs because they have a greater knowledge of the dangers. First, they say, it would be very foolish for any one nation to keep secret the processes by which the new power is produced and so make competition stronger. Second, they are certain that the only hope for the future is to put the control of such inventions in the hands of an organization representative of all nations.
If we do these tings, there is at least a chance of ending war for all time. But let us see that science is given as much support in peace as in war. In the last war there were important developments in a number of science. The land was made more fertile, medical men made the discovery of new ways of overcoming disease, new materials were produced by chemical processes, and so on. Public money and government help make all this work possible. It would be sad if it did not go forward on the same scale in peace time."

Mr. T., in the army : "Only those who have been under fire have a knowledge of hat war is. If governments were formed of men who had been at the front, I am certain there would be no more war. Though I have a great love for my country, I see that the existence of a number of completely separate nations is a great danger to peace. If every nation would give up some of its rights and put itself under the authority of a common organization which had control of strong armed forces, this danger would be overcome. Punishment would then come quickly to any nation which made clear by its acts that it was ready to go to war against others. But till such an organization is formed it is necessary for the peace-loving nations to be united and strongly armed. Arms are quite as important as bread or clothing, and we will have to go on producing them even if we are able to do so only by giving up other things."

NOTES

there have been a great number of letters : A noun such as number may be looked on as indicating either a local group or the several members of it, and is used with a singular or plural verb etc. according to the point of view. With number itself the plural is much the commoner.
deeply interested " Deeply is used here in the sense of 'profoundly'.
the public : Public has a use as a noun preceded by the meaning 'persons, society, generally'.
a number of : When number meaning 'group, collection' is used without qualification, it always give the idea of more than a few.
representative persons == typical persons. Note this adjectival use of representative.
you see them in the streets . . . young men . . . : Note this construction. You may be used, like one, in the sense of any person, when making a general statement. It is a more conversational form than one and is not used in formal writing.
give his support : In the root sense of the word, a support keeps a structure form collapsing. By expansion, the encouragement or assistance which keeps a movement or ideas, etc., from collapsing is called support.
arms == weapons (which, in their simpler forms, may be regarded as an extension of the human arm). In this sense, the word is almost always used in the plural.
at peace == in a condition of peace. Note this idiomatic use of at. The opposite of being at peace is being at war.
force is used : Force is here used in the special sense of 'violent force, coercion'.
who does not keep them : Keep is here used in the sense of 'observe'. A law or rule which one keeps may be looked on as one which one does not reject or put from one.
readily broken : Laws, agreements, etc., which are not kept are said to be broken.
airplanes == aeroplanes. A level surface (such as might be formed by a plane) or stretch of space is called a plane, and so, by a natural step, is the level structure forming the wings of an aeroplane, from which the whole structure takes the name airplane.
mines : by expansion, a mine is an apparatus with an explosive charge which is buried in the earth or dropped into the sea for a destructive purpose. It is so called because an excavation frequently has to be made before a mine is placed in position.
go to war == start a war. The preposition which follows may be either against or , as here, with.
conscious of == aware of. Note that, while to be conscious alone is to be aware in a general way, one is said to be conscious of some particular thing.
producing countries : That is, goods-producing countries.
in order : In order may have various meanings, such as 'in the right order,' 'properly arranged', 'functioning normally', 'under proper control'. It is used of persons only with keep. To keep a person in order is to prevent him from acting as he shouldn't.
a writer : By expansion, writing is used in the sense of 'literary composition', from which comes the use of writer, as here, for 'author'.
impulses by which men are moved : What causes a man to act puts him in motion, literally or figuratively, and so we say that he is moved (that is, 'actuated') by it (frequently to do something).
put one another to death : To put to death is an idiom meaning to 'kill, slay'.
the females : Female is used as a noun for a female person or animal. In the same way, male is used for a male person or animal.
a reasoning being : Reasoning and reasoned take their sense from the expansion of reason (see below). Reasoning means 'having or exercising the facility of reason', and reasoned is applied to statements, arguments, etc., that are worked out by reasoning. In addition to the use already familiarbe is used in the sense of 'exist', so that being means 'existing', and a being is used for an existing, in the narrower sense of a living thing, 'a creature.'
his reason : The power of seeing the connection between effects and the reasons for them,??? that is, the intellectual faculty, is also named reason.
deeply rooted =='having roots which go deep', and so, either literally or as here, are figuratively, 'firmly established, very difficult to uproot.
new developments in science : By expansion, a development is a fresh happening in a series of connected events. Each new stage reached in the development of science is itself called development.
in the old days == in the past
trained men : A trained person is one who has been given special instructions to fit him for some sort of work. A word of explanation is necessary to make clear how this sense of trained is connected with the root sense of train. A train is formed of a long line of carriages, and similarly a long line of things is called a train. The process of training, by which a person becomes trained, is made up of a train of events.
be fired at : By expansion, fire or gunfire is the discharge from a gun or guns. The act of letting off a gun is called firing it. In accordance with the usage already explained in connection with send, at (not to) is the preposition used with firing and fired.
attacks may be made on : To make an attack on a thing is an idiomatic phrase meaning to 'attack' it.
everyone is forced to take part : Forced here means 'compelled', from the sense of forcing derived from force meaning 'coercion' noted earlier. Note that forcing and forced are frequently followed by to and an operator. Forcing may also mean 'pushing', etc. with physical force (forcing him against the wall).
limiting == : putting limits to.
wider markets : Market is used to indicate a field of possible buyers of a commodity. A country get a wider market for its goods by selling them in a greater number of countries.
outlook : An outlook is the view or prospect one sees from any point, such as a window, from which one is looking out or forward, and a person's outlook is his 'mental view', his 'way of looking at things'.
love for : Love is one of the nouns of feeling hat are sometimes used with for and sometimes with of (see Step 16).
living-conditions == the general conditions in which anyone is living.
on earth : Though we may say on the earth, it is more colloquial to omit the the.
that stage in his development : By expansion, stage (thought of as a level reached in an upward or downward progress) is used in the sense of a 'point or phase in a process'.
a time of very great danger : Of may be used immediately after a noun, as here, in the sense of 'characterized by'.
masses if material : The noun material == that of which material things are or may be made, substance. But it has a wider use than substance, being used not only for the stuff or fabric of things, but for things themselves viewed as equipment for some purpose. War material is guns, mines, arms of all sorts.
a very strong position : Note that position may be used figuratively. A strong position is an advantageous one, particularly with regard to opponents.
new forms of power : by expansion, forms == sort. One of the important ways in which things of one sort are distinguished from things of another sort is by having a different form.
full use : Here, full == complete. Compare fully. Step 23.
have all been used : Note the position of all in this phrase.
go up in smoke : A metaphor meaning 'be consumed by fire, destroyed.'
the political chiefs : As a noun, chief is used for 'chief person in some organization.
first . . . second . . . : Numeral adjectives are used as adverbs without change of form.
a number of sciences : Any separate branch of science is called a science.
made the discovery of == discovered. Discovery is used both for the 'thing discovered' and for the 'act, fact, or process of discovery'. Note the use of make and of. Compare invention, selection.
peace time == a time when there is peace. In the same way, war time == a time when there is war.
under fire == exposed to gunfire.
the front : The fighting-line, where soldiers are in direct contact with the enemy, and which is naturally at the front of an army from the point of view of its base, is called the front.
armed forces :Armed == equipped with weapons. Arming takes its sense from the use of arms as 'weapons'. -- By expansion, force is used for a body of fighting-men.
united == formed into a unit, banded together. The 'i' in uniting and united is pronounced as in wine.

The sense of the compound word peace-loving is clear without note.

EXERCISES

1 . Describe in Basic what you see in the above picture, bringing in as many new words as you can.

2 . If the reporter had asked you for your views on the prevention of war, what answer would you have given him, using Basic ?

3 .Use the following in sentences.

4 . Fill in the blanks in the following sentences :

5 . Change the parts of the following sentences which are printed in black type without altering the sense :

6 . Use each of the following in two different senses:

7. Translate into Basic : Teacher Link

8 . Answer in Basic :

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