Table of Contents Title Author Genre Page 1 United States Oath of Citizenship The U.S. Government Speeches – Historical 6 2 The Modern Hippocratic Oath Louis Lasagna Speeches – Historical 9 3 Preamble to the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson Speeches – Historical 13 4 Farewell Speech Lou Gehrig Speeches – Historical 17 5 Inaugural Address John F. Kennedy Speeches – Historical 20 6 I Have a Dream Martin Luther King, Jr. Speeches – Historical 23 7 Faulkner Accepting the Noble Prize in Literature William Faulkner Speeches – Historical 27 8 Gettysburg Address Abraham Lincoln Speeches – Historical 31 9 Long Walk to Freedom Nelson Mandela Speeches – Historical 34 10 The Pleasure of Books William Lyon Phelps Speeches – Historical 38 11 Football Hall of Fame Induction Speech (Part 1) Shannon Sharpe Speeches – Historical 43 12 Football Hall of Fame Induction Speech (Part 2) Shannon Sharpe Speeches – Historical 48 13 Wild Geese Mary Oliver Poetry 53 14 October Robert Frost Poetry 56
31 My Fellow Worms Carl Sandburg Essay 116 32 Growth that Starts from Thinking Eleanor Roosevelt Essay 120 33 A Life Lesson from a Volunteer Firefighter Mark Bezos Speech (TED talk) 124 34 Everyday Leadership (Part 1) Drew Dudley Speech (TED Talk) 127 35 Everyday Leadership (Part 2) Drew Dudley Speech (TED Talk) 131 36 Everyday Leadership (Part 3) Drew Dudley Speech (TED Talk) 135 37 The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey Aesop Fables Fable 140 38 The Tortoise and the Eagle Aesop Fables Fable 144 39 The Wolf, the Nanny-Goat, and The Kid Aesop Fables Fable 147 40 Yogi Berra Quotes Yogi Berra Musings 150 United States Oath of Citizenship () By: The U.S. Government Vocabulary: renounce – to give up abjure – to reject or give up fidelity – support sovereignty – a country Notes:
8 the glow from that fire can truly light the world. 9 And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country 10 can do for you—ask what you can do for your country. 11 My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will 12 do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of 13 man. 14 Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of 15 the world, ask of us the same high standards of strength 16 and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience 17 our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our 18 deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His 19 blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth 20 God's work must truly be our own. An excerpt from Inaugural Address By: John F. Kennedy Checking for Understanding "I do not shrink from this responsibility— I welcome it," JFK says. What is the
oppression – being treated badly and unfairly for a long time oasis – something that is a relief or a pleasant change exalted – well thought of jangling – a clashing harsh sound discords – conflict; a combination of musical sounds that are harsh An excerpt from I Have a Dream 1 I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the 2 difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is 3 a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. 4 I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live 5 out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to 6 be self-evident: that all men are created equal." 7 I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the 8 sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners Notes: 9 will be able to sit down together at the table of 10 brotherhood. 11 I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a 12 state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with
13 the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of 14 freedom and justice. 15 I have a dream that my four little children will one day live 16 in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of 17 their skin but by the content of their character. 18 I have a dream today. 19 I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, 20 every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough 21 places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be 22 made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, 23 and all flesh shall see it together. 24 This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the 25 South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the 26 mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will 27 be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation Notes: 28 into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With 29 this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, 30 to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for 31 freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
1 I am worn out with dreams; 2 A weather-worn, marble triton 3 Among the streams; 4 And all day long I look 5 Upon this lady’s beauty 6 As though I had found in book 7 A pictured beauty, 8 Pleased to have filled the eyes 9 Or the discerning ears, 10 Delighted to be but wise, 11 For men improve with the years; Notes: 12 And yet and yet 13 Is this my dream, or the truth? 14 O would that we had met 15 When I had my burning youth; 16 But I grow old among dreams, 17 A weather-worn, marble triton 18 Among the streams. Men Improve With The Years By: William Butler Yeats Checking for Understanding
19 And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts 20 Into the lean and slippered pantaloon, 21 With spectacles on nose and pouch on side; 22 His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 23 For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice, 24 Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 25 And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, 26 That ends this strange eventful history, 27 Is second childishness and mere oblivion, 28 Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. All the World's A Stage By: William Shakespeare Checking for Understanding What is the speaker comparing life to in this poem? "And one man in his time plays many parts, / His acts being seven ages." Name the "seven ages" that men go through, using a few words for each. The last scene of life is "second childishness." What do you think this means?
1 The flowers sent here by mistake, 2 signed with a name that no one knew, 3 are turning bad. What shall we do? 4 Our neighbor says they're not for her, 5 and no one has a birthday near. 6 We should thank someone for the blunder. 7 Is one of us having an affair? 8 At first we laugh, and then we wonder. 9 The iris was the first to die, 10 enshrouded in its sickly-sweet 11 and lingering perfume. The roses Notes: 12 fell one petal at a time, 13 and now the ferns are turning dry. 14 The room smells like a funeral, 15 but there they sit, too much at home, 16 accusing us of some small crime, 17 like love forgotten, and we can't 18 throw out a gift we've never owned. Thanks For Remembering Us By: Dana Gioia
2 on the back of the wind 3 and floats downstream 4 till the current ends 5 and dips his wing 6 in the orange sun rays 7 and dares to claim the sky. 8 But a bird that stalks 9 down his narrow cage 10 can seldom see through Notes: 11 his bars of rage 12 his wings are clipped and 13 his feet are tied 14 so he opens his throat to sing. 15 The caged bird sings 16 with a fearful trill 17 of things unknown 18 but longed for still 19 and his tune is heard 20 on the distant hill 21 for the caged bird 22 sings of freedom. 23 The free bird thinks of another breeze
for want of – because of a lack of The Poetry of Bad Weather 1 Someone had propped a skateboard 2 by the door of the classroom, 3 to make quick his escape, come the bell. 4 For it was February in Florida, 5 the air of instruction thick with tanning butter. 6 Why, my students wondered, 7 did the great dead poets all live north of us? 8 Was there nothing to do all winter there 9 but pine for better weather? 10 Had we a window, the class could keep an eye 11 on the clock and yet watch the wild plum Notes: 12 nod with the absent grace of the young. 13 We could study the showy scatter of petals. 14 We could, for want of a better word, call it “snowy.” 15 The room filled with stillness, flake by flake.
3 It might have been 4 otherwise. I ate 5 cereal, sweet 6 milk, ripe, flawless 7 peach. It might 8 have been otherwise 9 I took the dog uphill 10 to the birch wood. 11 All morning I did 12 the work I love. 13 At noon I lay down 14 with my mate. It might Notes: 15 have been otherwise. 16 We ate dinner together 17 at a table with silver 18 candlesticks. It might 19 have been otherwise. 20 I slept in a bed 21 in a room with paintings 22 on the walls, and 23 planned another day 24 just like this day. 25 But one day, I know, 26 it will be otherwise.
41 that it is childish to allow these imperfections to destroy all 42 his hope and all his desire to live. Nature is older than man, 43 and she is still far from perfect. Her summers do not always 44 start promptly on June 21. Her bugs and beetles and other 45 insects often go beyond her obvious intentions, devouring 46 the leaves and buds with which she has adorned her 47 countryside. After the land has remained too dry for too 48 long, she sends relieving rains. But frequently they come in 49 torrents so violent that they do more harm than good. Over 50 the years, however, nature keeps going on in her imperfect 51 way, and the result—in spite of her many mistakes—is a 52 continuing miracle. 53 It would be folly for an individual to seek to do better—to Notes: 54 do better than to go on in his own imperfect way, making 55 his mistakes, riding out the rough and bewildering, 56 exciting and beautiful, storm of life until the day he dies. Happy Talk By: Oscar Hammerstein Checking for Understanding Oscar Hammerstein argues that to say he is unhappy would be “as false as if I were to
5 present tribulations and turmoils. I believe in getting up Notes: 6 in the morning with a serene mind and a heart holding 7 many hopes. And, so large a number of my fellow worms in 8 the dust believe the same, that there is no use putting 9 stress on it. 10 I can remember many years ago, a beautiful woman in 11 Santa Fe saying, “I don’t know how anybody can study 12 astronomy and have ambition enough to get up in the 13 morning.” She was putting a comic twist on what an 14 insignificant speck of animate star dust each of us is amid 15 cotillions of billion-year constellations. 16 I believe in humility, though my confession and exposition 17 of the humility I believe in would run into an old fashioned 18 two- or three-hour sermon. Also I believe in pride, knowing 19 well that the deadliest of the seven deadly sins is named as 20 pride. I believe in a pride that prays ever for an awareness 21 of that borderline where, unless watchful of yourself, you 22 cross over into arrogance, into vanity, into mirror gazing, 23 into misuse and violation of the sacred portions of your 24 personality. 25 No single brief utterance of Lincoln is more portentous 26 than the line he wrote to a federal authority in Louisiana. “I
3 She fastened the latch tight, 4 Warned her Kid saying: 5 “Do not, upon your life, 6 Open the door unless you are shown 7 This sign and told this password: 8 ‘Plague on the wolf and his breed!’” 9 As she was saying these words 10 The Wolf by chance prowling around, 11 Overheard the spoken words 12 and kept them in his memory. Notes: 13 Nanny-Goat, as one can well believe, 14 Had not yet seen the glutton beast. 15 As soon as she departs, he changes his voice 16 And in a counterfeit tone 17 He asks to be let in, saying: “Plague on the Wolf,” 18 Believing he’d go right in. 19 The canny Kid looks through the crack, 20 “Show me your white paw, else I’ll not open.” 21 He shouted at once. (White paw is a thing 22 Seldom seen in wolfdom, as everyone knows.) 23 This Wolf, aghast upon hearing these words, 24 Went slinking home the same way he had come. 25 Where would the Kid be now, had he believed 26 The password, which by chance