Unit 8: Vocabulary from Readings 1

Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans—born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace, proud of our ancient heritage—and unwilling to witness or permit the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed, and to which we are committed today at home and around the world.

United, there is little we cannot do in a host of cooperative ventures.

Divided, there is little we can do—for we dare not meet a powerful challenge at odds and split asunder.

Let all our neighbors know that we shall join with them to oppose aggression or subversion anywhere in the Americas.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support—to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective—to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak—and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

To that world assembly of sovereign states, the United Nations, our last best hope in an age where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, we renew our pledge of support—to prevent it from becoming merely a forum for invective—to strengthen its shield of the new and the weak—and to enlarge the area in which its writ may run.

So let us begin anew—remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors.

Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce.

Shortly after midnight we moved into the ambush site outside My Khe.

The whole platoon was there, spread out in the dense brush along the trail, and for five hours nothing at all happened.

The brush was thick and I had to lob it high, not aiming, and I remember the grenade seeming to freeze above me for an instant, as if a camera had clicked, and I remember ducking down and holding my breath and seeing little wisps of fog rise from the earth.

It was not a matter of live or die. There was no real peril.

Small animals took refuge
against our bodies

A river shines in the jungle’s
wet leaves. The rain’s finally
let up but whenever wind shakes
the foliage it starts to fall.