Pratique du Shadowing: ALL THE CATS, EXPLAINED - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

Création de la leçon...
1
When we made our video about the canine family tree, and the accompanying doggone gorgeous poster, you all liked it a lot.
2
But one comment kept coming up over and over and over again.
3
When are we going to make a feline one?
4
Well, your wish is our command.
5
Because unlike cats, we actually respond to commands.
6
Hi, I'm David, and this is Feline Earth.
7
This is a feline.
8
And so is this.
9
And so is this.
10
And so are all of these kitties.
11
Wild felines come in all shapes and sizes and live all over the world.
12
Plus, there are more than half a billion domestic cats!
13
In this video, I'm going to take you on a tour of the amazing feline family, both wild and domestic, and show off the poster we made to celebrate them.
14
Okay, let's start off with a few of our favorite extinct kitties.
15
The largest cat to ever exist was likely Smilodon populator, a saber-toothed tiger who weighed roughly half a ton and had canine teeth up to 11 inches long.
16
Its massive teeth allowed it to take down big prey including bison and giant ground sloths, likely with just one bite to the throat.
17
One of my favorite extinct velines is the American cheetah, which used to live all over the US until it died out soon after humans arrived.
18
It wasn't closely related to the modern cheetah, and it was a lot bigger, but it was probably almost as fast, which helps explain why its favorite meal,
19
the pronghorn, is still the second fastest mammal in the world today.
20
Let's go back a little farther in time, 30 million years ago, to meet Proailorus.
21
It looked kind of like a mongoose and likely lived up in the trees, hunting birds and rodents across most of Eurasia.
22
it was the very first feline, which means that it was the grand catty of all modern kitties.
23
So let's get into the modern cats.
24
Let's start with the largest living cats over here on the Panthera branch.
25
A few lions still live in a small part of India, but most lions roam the savannas of Africa.
26
Lions live in social groups known as prides, where the bigger males patrol the territory and fight off rivals, while the smaller, sleeker females take care of the hunting and the cub care.
27
And as Kate wants me to point out, lions can be even bigger scavengers than hyenas.
28
In some places, they actually steal more food than they hunt.
29
Tigers, on the other hand, mostly live in the forests of Asia, and they're usually solitary.
30
They tend to be ambush hunters, using their stripey camouflage to blend into the grass before launching an attack on an unsuspecting ungulate.
31
And lions and tigers can get together.
32
Since felines tend to be much more genetically similar than other mammal families, that means that they can make hybrid babies together easier than other animals can.
33
Perhaps the most famous example is the liger, the offspring of a male lion and a female tiger, which pretty much only happens in captivity.
34
Ligers are huge, as big as the ancient Smilodons, likely because the genes that limit growth in lions tend to come from the females.
35
Tigons, which are the offspring of a female lion and a male tiger, look similar, but because of those genes, they're way smaller.
36
Alright, let's build out this panthera branch a little bit more.
37
Jaguars and leopards are confusingly similar.
38
Here's how to tell them apart.
39
Jaguars live in the Americas, while leopards live in Africa and Asia.
40
And while jaguars have fur patterns known as rosettes that are large and have a central spot, leopard rosettes are smaller and don't have a spot in the middle.
41
Also while any member of the panthera branch with a black coat could be called a black panther,
42
jaguars and leopards are the only species of big cats that regularly produce individuals with extra melanin.
43
Confusingly, snow leopards aren't actually that closely related to leopards.
44
They're more closely related to tigers.
45
These rare cats do live in the snow, though, up in the Himalayas, where their bushy coats and thick tail full of insulating fat help them survive the cold.
46
Oh, wait, there's also the clouded leopard, which split off from the rest of the Panthera branch a long time ago, so it's not that closely related to either the leopard or the snow leopard.
47
This slightly smaller kitty, which also lives in Asia, is the best tree climber of all the big cats.
48
Okay, let's head over to the branch that's more closely related to modern cats, the Fellini branch.
49
Let's start with the bay cat, one of the rarest cats in the world.
50
This small kitty only lives on the island of Borneo, and so few have been observed in the wild that we're not even sure what they eat.
51
The marbled cat lives in Asia and looks like a mini-clouded leopard, except that it has an extra-long tail that helps it balance as it climbs through the trees.
52
The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size, and it uses them to pounce on mice in the African savanna.
53
The caracal, which lives across Africa and parts of Asia, is easily recognizable thanks through the long hairs on the top of its ears.
54
The tufts likely act as acoustic amplifiers, allowing the cat to hear small prey like birds nearby.
55
The Cod Cod is so small, it looks like a jaguar kitten.
56
It prowls around the forests of Chile looking for its favorite food, a little bird known as the Wet Wet.
57
The Oncilla is another itty bitty South American cat.
58
It uses its spots as camouflage while it hunts little prey like lizards.
59
About 20% of Oncillas though are totally black.
60
That's likely because Oncillas do most of their hunting at night, so the darker color also works well as camouflage.
61
The margay is a small cat that lives in Mexico and Central and South America.
62
When the margay is hunting its favorite food, the tiny monkey known as the tamarin, it sometimes mimics the monkey's call to draw its prey closer before it pounces.
63
There are a lot of ocelots down in the Amazon, and one of their go-to meals is mice.
64
Ecologists think that their rodent-heavy diet actually helps the forest grow, as many of their victims leave stashes of buried seeds behind that, instead of getting eaten, germinate into new plants.
65
The bobcats of North America are called bobcats because it looks like their tail was cut off, or bobbed, but no one really seems to know why that is.
66
It's possible that there's no real evolutionary reason.
67
Perhaps some mutation caused them to grow a short tail, and it didn't help or hurt, so it just sorta stuck around.
68
Lynx are closely related to bobcats and share the same tiny tails.
69
They also have cool facial roughs that look like horseshoe mustaches.
70
The larger Eurasian lynxes love to eat roe deer.
71
On average, each lynx takes down more than 60 deer every year.
72
Okay, let's take a look at another bough of this branch of the feline tree.
73
The cheetah, which lives across Africa and parts of Asia, can run faster than any other land animal because every part of a cheetah is optimized for speed.
74
They have a flexible spine that acts like a coiled spring, a small aerodynamic head, enlarged lungs, and a tail that acts like a rudder when they turn at high speed.
75
The puma is another record setter.
76
It can leap distances of almost 40 feet, making it the best jumper in the animal kingdom.
77
Pumas live all over the Americas, and different people in different places call them everything from cougars to mountain lions to catamounts to panthers.
78
The puma's closest relative is the jaguarundi of Central and South America, which is sometimes called an otter cat.
79
That's because the jaguarundi not only looks like an otter, it also tends to live close to rivers and will even jump in and catch fish.
80
Okay, let's check out the final part of the tree, the wild cats most closely related to our furry pets.
81
The leopard cat looks like, well, like a tiny leopard.
82
And while leopard cats are not the ancestors of modern domestic cats, there's evidence that long ago in China, some of them were kept as pets.
83
This is a Pallas' cat.
84
Its dense gray fur and low round ears make it look sort of like a grumpy smurf, but it's perfectly adapted to the cold plateaus of Mongolia and Tibet where it lives.
85
In fact, when there's lots of snow around, it often sits with its paws on its tail to to keep its little toesies warm.
86
The tiny sand cat has large ears relative to its size, allowing it to hear prey scurrying around in the North African desert from as far as half a kilometer away.
87
Then there are the cats that are just called wild cats.
88
The African and European species of wild cats are slightly larger than most modern domestic cats, but otherwise they look very similar.
89
And that's no coincidence, since domestic cats are directly descended from wild cats.
90
In fact, wild cats probably started habituating themselves to people around 10,000 years ago, around when humans first invented agriculture.
91
Once we started storing things like grain, rodents moved in, and the wild cats likely followed soon after.
92
Over the millennia, domestic cats started to differ from their wild cat ancestors.
93
While wild cats almost exclusively eat meat, domestic cats are able to better digest plant matter in order to feed off of our scraps, and they become a little less skittish.
94
One of the first places that we fell in love with our new feline companions was ancient Egypt.
95
Egyptians literally worshipped cats, and the modern breed, known as the Egyptian Mao, is likely descended from those cats.
96
Remember how I mentioned earlier that cat species can make hybrid babies more easily than other animals can?
97
Well, the bangle cat is the hybrid of a domestic cat, usually an Egyptian Mao, and a leopard cat.
98
It's the only pet cat that has rosette markings.
99
And even though most bangles are now the product of several generations of domestication, they're still illegal to own in some areas.
100
Speaking of hybrids, there's also the Savannah Cat, which is part serval and part domestic cat.
101
Okay, let's get into some of the other domestic cat breeds.
102
Ragdoll cats are known for their large size, long hair, blue eyes, and tendency to go limp when they get picked up.
103
Ragdolls are sometimes called puppy cats since they are super affectionate and quickly pick up tricks like retrieving.
104
Maine Coons are the most popular cat breed, and the longest one.
105
The longest domestic cat ever measured was a Maine Coon named Stewie, who stretched out to more than four feet from nose to tail.
106
In addition to their size, Maine Coons also often exhibit polydactylism, that is, extra toes, since the gene associated with it is common among their breed.
107
Scottish Folds are instantly recognizable thanks to the very cute way their ears bend down over their heads.
108
Two of Taylor Swift's cats are Scottish Folds.
109
Unfortunately, that fold is due to a genetic condition that causes cartilage to grow abnormally, and that means that pretty much all Scottish Folds also develop arthritis.
110
The American Shorthair is the descendant of working cats that came over to the US from Europe on ships, including the Mayflower, and were tasked with protecting the cargo from mice and rats.
111
The British Shorthair is the most popular cat breed in England, and it's a relatively chonky boy.
112
It's got a thick build and a wide face that makes it look super content.
113
No wonder it was the inspiration for the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.
114
Siamese cats have a triangular face, long ears, and an elongated slender body.
115
Their distinct color pattern is due to the fact that all Siamese cats are sort of temperature-controlled albinos.
116
The warmer parts of the cat end up as white, while the cooler parts are pigmented.
117
Persian cats are easy to identify due to their long hair, short legs, and extremely flat faces.
118
In the movie Austin Powers, Dr. Evil's cat, Mr. Bigglesworth, was originally played by a Persian cat.
119
But when Mr. Bigglesworth comes back from being cryogenically frozen, he's bald.
120
They didn't shave the Persian though.
121
Instead, they swapped it out for a Sphinx cat, which is naturally hairless due to a genetic mutation.
122
Turkish Angoras look very similar to Persian cats, except that their faces are not nearly as flat.
123
Angoras are more likely than other cats to be heterochromatic, meaning that they have different colored eyes.
124
The Devon Rex is a small kitty with a short curly coat and wide set ears, which to me makes it look like a mischievous kitty from a fairy tale.
125
It kind of looks like the sort of cat a pixie would have.
126
The long and lean Abyssinians look pretty regal with their beautiful coats, But they're known as the jokesters of the cat world due to their playfulness and actual interest in human company.
127
Norwegian forest cats have long fur and dense water-resistant undercoats that keep them warm as they play in the snow.
128
Despite their bulk, these cats are great climbers.
129
But the vast majority of cats out there aren't purebred.
130
They're the feline equivalent of mutts.
131
You might have heard these cats referred to as domestic shorthairs or longhairs, unless you're British.
132
If so, you probably call them moggies.
133
And since there's no real selection in these cats for specific appearance genes, These kitties come in all sorts of colors and patterns.
134
Let's go through a few of them.
135
A tabby is any mixed breed with a striped pattern on its coat.
136
Approximately 80% of domestic cats are tabbies.
137
It turns out that the stripy genes cats inherited from their feline ancestors are pretty strong.
138
That said, there are lots of other color patterns too, including solid color cats, which are usually black.
139
Black cats are often associated with bad luck and witchcraft, mostly thanks to religious texts from the Middle Ages that associated them with the devil.
140
All calico cats are female because that orange, white, and black pattern is linked to the X chromosome.
141
The name comes from the Indian city of Calicut, which is famous for its colorful printed fabrics.
142
Tortoise shell cats are also female, again because the genes that control the orange and black pattern are on the X chromosome.
143
But unlike calicos, they are way less white and the colors tend to be more blended, like those on a tortoise's shell.
144
Bi-colored cats have just two colors, often black and white.
145
Occasionally this pattern forms so that the kitty looks like it's wearing socks or a dress shirt.
146
In fact, the tuxedo version of the bicolored cat is the basis for Mr. Misopheles, the magical cat in the musical Cats.
147
The feline family makes for an amazing catalog of cats.
148
We love our cats here at MinuteEarth and we loved making this video.
149
And if this video was the perfect catnip for you or someone you like, you'll be psyched to learn that you can buy this awesome poster from our DFTBA shop.
150
It will look great on your wall or your classroom
151
and it's also the perfect gift for any cat lover in your life.
152
Just go to dftba.com slash MinuteEarth right meow.
153
And if you buy both our canine and feline poster together, you'll get 15% off.
154
Thank you and thanks for supporting MinuteEarth.

Vocabulaire et conseils d’expression pour cette leçon

Cette leçon d’expression orale de niveau B2 s’appuie sur la vidéo « ALL THE CATS, EXPLAINED ». Les mots qui reviennent le plus souvent : cat, leopard, feline, domestic, wild. Cette vidéo contient 154 phrases et 2642 mots à répéter en shadowing. La partie parlée dure 12:30. Le locuteur parle vite, environ 211 mots par minute : attendez-vous à des liaisons et à des sons réduits. Seuls 76 % des mots font partie des 3 000 mots les plus courants en anglais, le vocabulaire est donc exigeant.

Vocabulaire clé de cette vidéo

Les 15 mots les plus avancés de la vidéo, avec leur prononciation et leur sens :

MotPrononciationSens
leopard nom/ˈlɛp.ɚd/léopard
feline adjectif/ˈfiːlaɪn/félin
kitty nom/ˈkɪti/chaton, minet
breed verbe/ˈbɹiːd/se reproduire, engendrer
jaguar nom/ˈd͡ʒæɡ.wɑɹ/jaguar
prey nom/pɹeɪ/proie
cheetah nom/ˈt͡ʃiːtə/guépard
poster nom/ˈpoʊstɚ/poster, affiche
ancestor nom/ˈæn.sɛs.tɚ/ancêtre
bobcat nom/ˈbɔb.kæt/lynx roux, chat sauvage
camouflage nom/ˈkæ.məˌflɑːʒ/déguisement
canine adjectif/ˈkeɪˌnaɪn/canin
hybrid nom/ˈhaɪ.bɹɪd/hybride
calico nom/ˈkæ.lɪ.koʊ/calicot
chromosome nom/ˈkɹoʊməˌsoʊm/chromosome

Les verbes à particule que vous entendrez

MotPrononciationSens
pick up verbesoulever
take down verbedécrocher
check out verbemater, regarder
cut off verbe/ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf]tailler, couper
die out verbes'éteindre
end up verbese terminer, se finir
get off verbedescendre, faire descendre
go back verberentrer, retourner

La grammaire de cette vidéo

Les structures que le locuteur utilise le plus, avec les mots exacts de la vidéo :

StructureDans la vidéo
Voix passive be + participe passé — l’accent est mis sur ce qui arrive, pas sur qui le faitcould be called · have been observed · are called
Propositions relatives who / which + proposition — une précision sur une personne ou une chosefeline, which means · Tigons, which are · America, which is

Prononciation à surveiller

Le locuteur utilise 19 contractions et formes réduites, comme they're, aren't, didn't. Prononcez-les sous leur forme courte, telles que vous les entendez.

  • Les sons « th »: panther /ˈpænθəɹ/, arthritis /ɑːˈθɹ(a)ɪtɪs/
  • Les sons « sh » et « zh »: camouflage /ˈkæ.məˌflɑːʒ/, mutation /mjuˈteɪʃən/, affectionate /əˈfɛkʃənət/, ambush /ˈæm.bʊʃ/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/
  • Mots longs — placez bien l’accent: abnormally /æbˈnɔɹ.mə.li/, aerodynamic /ˌɛəɹəʊdaɪˈnæmɪk/, affectionate /əˈfɛkʃənət/, amplifier /ˈæm.plə.faɪ.ə/, captivity /kæpˈtɪvɪti/

Les sons difficiles pour les francophones :

  • /h/ — il se souffle, il n’est pas muet: hybrid /ˈhaɪ.bɹɪd/, inherit /ɪnˈhɛɹɪt/
  • /tʃ/ et /dʒ/ — à ne pas adoucir en « ch » et « j »: jaguar /ˈd͡ʒæɡ.wɑɹ/, cheetah /ˈt͡ʃiːtə/, cartilage /ˈkɑɹ.təl.ɪd͡ʒ/, enlarge /ɪnˈlɑɹd͡ʒ/, genetically /d͡ʒəˈneɾɪkli/
  • /r/ anglais — langue recourbée, sans frotter la gorge: breed /ˈbɹiːd/, jaguar /ˈd͡ʒæɡ.wɑɹ/, prey /pɹeɪ/, hybrid /ˈhaɪ.bɹɪd/, chromosome /ˈkɹoʊməˌsoʊm/

Comment s’entraîner avec cette vidéo

  1. Écoutez la vidéo en entier une fois sans parler et notez les mots que vous ne connaissez pas.
  2. Commencez à la vitesse 0,75×, répétez phrase par phrase, puis revenez à la vitesse normale quand cela devient facile.
  3. Enregistrez-vous et comparez avec l’original, en faisant attention à des mots comme leopard, feline, kitty.

Qu'est-ce que la technique du Shadowing ?

Le Shadowing est une technique d'apprentissage des langues fondée sur la science, développée à l'origine pour la formation des interprètes professionnels. Le principe est simple mais puissant : vous écoutez de l'anglais natif et le répétez immédiatement à voix haute — comme une ombre suivant le locuteur avec un décalage de 1 à 2 secondes. Les recherches montrent une amélioration significative de la précision de la prononciation, de l'intonation, du rythme, des liaisons, de la compréhension orale et de la fluidité.

Technique du shadowing : lire le guide complet étape par étape →