YungHua ENS

Hi, I’m YungHua! I am from china(availabe 1pm-3pm GMT) and I am very interested in improving my English as part of a growing community of English Language Learners from around the world. We are all dedicated to the lifelong process of mastering the English language. #englishneverstops Skype:[email protected]

[yunghuama]

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After Truman and Roosevelt donated their papers and established presidential libraries, the Congress of the United States, our elected representatives, decided in 1955 to pass, or approve, the “Presidential Libraries Act.” The word “act” is just another word for “law.” This law said that the government would take care of these libraries, although the money for the libraries had to come from someone other than the government. The government wasn’t going to give any money to build the actual library, but the government would run the library after it was built.

[yunghuama]

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President Harry Truman was Roosevelt’s vice president, and the president who succeeded, or came after, Roosevelt. Franklin D. Roosevelt, or “FDR” as we more commonly call him, died in his fourth term of office, during World War II, and the vice president (in the United States) becomes president if the president dies. The vice president for Roosevelt was Harry Truman. Truman also believed that the presidential papers should be saved for the American people, and like Roosevelt, he donated his papers and also raised money to build a library to keep these papers in.

[yunghuama]

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Not only did he decide to donate his papers and materials, he also raised money, or collected money, to build a building to keep the papers in. He even included some of his own money. Roosevelt gave the government a part of his estate, or the money, land, and other possessions you own when you die that are typically given to your family or whomever you choose. Roosevelt gave part of his estate to the government so that there could be a presidential library for him. Part of the money was also raised, or collected, by the friends of Roosevelt.

[yunghuama]

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So, during Roosevelt’s third term in office, from 1937 to 1941, he began collecting his papers and materials. He decided to donate the papers to the U.S. government. “To donate” (donate) means to give something to someone without having them pay for it – “for free,” that is. Roosevelt said that he wanted to donate his papers and materials of his presidency so that they could be preserved, or kept safe and in good condition for a long time, to benefit the American people and future historians.

[yunghuama]

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President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed that this was not a good thing to do. He was our president in 1939. He believed that the papers and materials that were created during a president’s term, or time in office, were important to American historians, to the history of the United States – to preserving the history of the United States. Since they were important, Roosevelt believed that they should be saved and kept somewhere so that the American people could see them.

[yunghuama]

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The story of U.S. Presidential Libraries is somewhat interesting, and fairly recent. Before 1939, when presidents left office, or stopped being president, they typically sold, gave away, or even destroyed the papers and materials from their time as president. This included photographs and recordings and, perhaps, anything they didn’t want other people to find out about that they did when they were present.

[yunghuama]

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We begin this Café talking about presidential libraries. When I say “presidential,” I’m referring to the presidents of the United States. Normally, when we think about a library, we think about a place where you can go and look at books or, nowadays, I guess look at computers. Presidential libraries are a little different, although they are similar to a regular library in the sense that they have documents there that you can go and look at.

[yunghuama]

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Martha says, “Teaching you to dance? I'm sure you're selling yourself short.” Martha doesn't think teaching Arthur to dance is an impossible task. She says, “I'm sure” – I'm confident – you are “selling yourself short.” “To sell yourself short” is a phrasal verb meaning to underestimate your abilities, to believe that you can't do something that you really can.

[yunghuama]

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Our dialogue begins with Arthur saying, “You know that you’ve taken on an impossible task, right?” “To take on” something is a phrasal verb meaning to agree to do something that is perhaps going to be very difficult – to accept a challenge to do something that will be hard. “I've taken on an impossible task” means I'm trying to do something that will be very difficult, and perhaps even not, or “impossible,” altogether. Arthur makes this into a question by adding the word “right” at the end and using what is called a “rising intonation,” where the voice goes up. “You're going, right?” You are indicating that this is a question, not just a statement.

[yunghuama]

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One of our most recent hires comes from a developing country. It’s very tempting when talking about the latest technological developments to dismiss or at least ignore her perspective. However, as the head of the department, it was clear to me that this new employee brought a fresh perspective on why we needed to consider different options when deciding on the type of technology to adopt. Through hard work and determination, I was able to get the rest of the department to make important changes that moved us in the same direction as the project.

[yunghuama]

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One of my biggest strengths is my communication skills. In my current job, I work with people from all over the world and many different backgrounds. I’m able to understand that everyone has different perspectives about projects and work tasks.

[yunghuama]

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She said when they "started working on the project," they "had four team members" - four people working - "By the end," the project had 16 people. "That means," she says, that she "needed to go from working one-on-one with each team member" - individually - one-on-one - "to having to delegate responsibility as the project grew." To delegate, "delegate," means to give responsibility to someone else - to give someone else something to do. Because the team got so big, she had to, as the leader, "delegate responsibility." That "was possible," she says, "was possible because of the trust I had built up within the team." The trust that she built up means the trust that she developed - that she encouraged among the people on her team.

[yunghuama]

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The reason she mentions this is because she's going to now talk about another one of her strength; this time she's going to talk about a personal trait. She says, "Another one of my strengths is that I’m flexible and I’m able to handle change in the company or in my job responsibilities." To be flexible, you know, means to be able to adapt - to change yourself to a new situation. She's saying that she's flexible, and because of that - that personal trait - she's "able to handle," or take care of, "change in the company." It doesn't bother her. It doesn't create a problem for her; she's able to handle the change.

[yunghuama]

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The interviewee - the person being interviewed - continues by saying that "Because this was a new initiative," because what she is working on was something new for the company, "the nature of the job changed as the project

developed." The nature of the job is what the job required - what you were supposed to do for the job.

[yunghuama]

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"This resulted," she says, "in producing excellent work, while forming one of the most sought-after partnerships in the company." When we say something is sought-after, "sought-after," we mean that it is very desirable - many people want it; it's something that other people want to have. The word sought is from the words seek, "seek," which means to look for or to search for something. Sought is the past participle of that verb, as well as the past tense of the verb.

[yunghuama]

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She gave a specific example of how she used this skill in her job. She says she it's to keep her team - the group of people she was working with - "on task and on time." To be on task, "task," means to be doing what you are supposed to be doing. So, you'd be doing your job, not to listening to podcasts, but to do what the company pays you to do. So, remember that! On time means you are doing it before the deadline, during the time or by the time that you are supposed to have it completed.

[yunghuama]

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Then she goes on talk about some of her transferable skills, general skills that a good employee could use in a number of different jobs - in many different jobs. She says, "To head this team," or to lead this team, "effectively, I used my planning skills to make sure that the team was on task and on time, at all times." Planning skills are the ability to plan - to organize something. This is a transferable skill; you can say, "I have good planning skills" - I'm able to plan something.