Question

Read this excerpt from another Churchill speech. It is the second time he uses the phrase “iron curtain.”

In front of the iron curtain which lies across Europe are other causes for anxiety. … in a great number of countries, far from the Russian frontiers and throughout the world, Communist fifth columns are established and work in complete unity and absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. Except in the British Commonwealth and in the United States where Communism is in its infancy, the Communist parties or fifth columns constitute a growing challenge and peril to Christian civilization

—Winston Churchill

Does Churchill use the phrase the same way as before, or in a different way?

the same as the first

different from the first

Answer 1

the same as the first

Both uses invoke the same metaphor: a barrier across Europe marking Soviet-dominated territory and the emerging Communist threat. In the first speech he said an “iron curtain has descended across the Continent”; here he again describes the curtain “which lies across Europe” and uses it to frame the danger from Communist parties and fifth columns.