Pratique du Shadowing: Why Are US Politics Today So Divisive?: Crash Course US Government #1 - Apprendre l'anglais à l'oral avec la vidéo

Choisissez un mode d'entraînement

Chaque mode ouvre une salle d'entraînement en plein écran.

136 phrases
Si les phrases sont trop courtes ou trop longues, cliquez sur Edit pour les ajuster.
1
Maybe you've noticed.
2
The echo chambers are loud.
3
The divisions wide.
4
Our Fox News dads and our MSNBC moms may as well be living in different dimensions.
5
And our majestic eagle friend is looking way less majestic than when we last saw him.
6
You okay there, Baldi?
7
Stop picking at your feathers.
8
You're only going to make it worse.
9
So how did we get here?
10
Screaming at each other across an ever -growing cavernous divide?
11
And what does that mean for the fate of this country?
12
Hi, I'm Kushan Avidar, this is Crash Course, and we're answering big questions on US government.
13
While it's true that the media we consume contributes greatly to our super -polarized political culture,
14
to understand the full scope of what's going on, we have to take an even wider view because this thing we've got going on goes back a long time.
15
For decades, there's been a widening divide between the two major political parties in terms of political ideology,
16
where people fall on the spectrum of beliefs about how society should work.
17
Very simply, from left to right, liberal to conservative.
18
And when we say liberal and conservative, we're not actually talking about Democrats and Republicans, at least not yet.
19
Liberal really just means falling on the left side of our political spectrum.
20
These folks tend to support more government involvement in people's lives.
21
Conservatives on the right side of the spectrum want the government to conserve the status quo, which usually means less intervention both socially and economically.
22
So for example, a liberal person would probably support government -funded healthcare, while a conservative person might think that's something better left to private companies.
23
In a centrist political culture, most voters hold moderate views, falling somewhere between liberal and conservatives.
24
Sure, you've got your fair share of leftists and right -wingers, but the largest cluster of voters are hanging out in the middle, and in an election, they could swing either way.
25
But in a culture of political polarization, like ours, voters are camped out farther away from each other in their views.
26
These days, we tend to think of the political spectrum as falling along party lines,
27
with liberal meaning the same thing as Democrat and conservative meaning the same thing as Republican, with a vast, seemingly uncrossable canyon between them.
28
But the left -right divide between the parties wasn't always this clear cut.
29
So what happened?
30
To help explain things, let's head over to my colleague, historian Buff.
31
Just Buff, that's his whole name.
32
Hi there, Kusha.
33
You are not what I was expecting.
34
What do you mean?
35
Don't worry about it, Buff.
36
Go ahead, friend.
37
You got it, Kusha.
38
Well, back in the day, political parties didn't really mean the same thing they do now.
39
There were liberals and conservatives sprinkled throughout both parties.
40
I'll give you an example.
41
In the wake of the Civil War, in the period known as Reconstruction, who do you think led the charge to expand voting and civil rights for Black Americans?
42
It was liberal Republicans from New England.
43
And who do you think instituted Jim Crow laws that made it harder for Black Americans to exercise those rights?
44
It was conservative Southern Democrats. In fact, the voting records of Southern Democrats in Congress skewed significantly more
45
conservative than their Northern Republican brethren until well into the 20th century.
46
And here's an interesting way that shows up.
47
In 1964, President Lyndon B.
48
Johnson, himself a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act into law.
49
The act made it illegal to discriminate and segregate by race in public spaces, and it generally enjoyed pretty bipartisan support in Congress.
50
But the folks who didn't support it, most weren't Republicans.
51
They were Dems from Johnson's own party.
52
When white, conservative Southern Democrats saw other Democratic presidents like LBJ and his predecessor JFK embracing civil rights legislation,
53
it sent a message.
54
Democrats became the party more associated with the civil rights movement.
55
So those conservative Democrats steadily left the party for the Republican Party, or died out.
56
Congress was pretty old, even back in the 60s.
57
Meanwhile, those liberal Republicans decided to fully align themselves with the Party of Civil Rights and made the swap over to the Dems.
58
Back to you, Kusha.
59
I'm sorry.
60
Thanks, Buff.
61
That is just one example of how party alignment shifted during the mid -20th century, giving us the system we know today,
62
with Democrats being pretty universally liberal or left -leaning and Republicans being pretty universally conservative or right -leaning with a,
63
you guessed it, ever -widening gap between them.
64
These days, when Congress does manage to get legislation passed, it's often not with the same bipartisan support of the days of yore.
65
Like 2025's One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed through the House with support from 218 out of 220 total House Republicans and,
66
count it, zero Democrats.
67
The 1960s set us off on a journey where conservative and liberal have become more and more synonymous with Republican and Democrat.
68
And things have started to turn into kind of a self -perpetuating spiral of polarized intensity.
69
As the parties become more associated with specific values, like liberal support for LGBTQ plus rights, or conservative support for the Second Amendment,
70
they attract people with those same values, which then enforce those conservative or liberal associations.
71
All of this makes it a lot easier for people to fit neatly into slots along the left -right continuum, a process known as ideological sorting.
72
Essentially, it's become a lot easier to guess which party somebody supports just by their stance on individual things like abortion, taxes, gun control, foreign policy,
73
the environment, or importantly, their go -to news network, and a lot harder for voters to hang out in the center.
74
But it's not just that Democrats and Republicans have grown apart in terms of how they think about issues.
75
They've also grown apart in terms of who they are as people.
76
Until recently, you couldn't reliably predict someone's political party based on their gender or race or anything like that.
77
But thanks to what's known as social sorting, for the past two decades or so, certain identities have become increasingly tied to one party over another.
78
Take gender for example.
79
Across the entire US population, men today are more likely to identify as Republicans and women more likely to identify as Democrats.
80
To be clear, that doesn't mean there aren't men or women who buck the trend.
81
There definitely are.
82
It's just that gender is becoming a stronger predictor.
83
And so is race.
84
White voters are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to identify as Republican, while Black voters are more likely than any other group to identify as Democrats.
85
So even though women in general more often vote Democrat, if we look at exit poll data on votes cast by white women in the 2024 election,
86
the Republican candidate Donald Trump comes out four percentage points higher than his opponent Kamala Harris.
87
On top of all these other factors, there's a growing geographic divide too.
88
People in rural areas increasingly identify as Republicans, while people in urban areas identify as Democrats.
89
So thanks to the combined effects of ideological sorting and social sorting, our politics aren't just something we believe, they're becoming who we are.
90
So it didn't take just one ingredient to cook up our current situation.
91
It was decades of shifting party ideology, calcifying identities, and increasing partisanship from both sides.
92
And as the gap between us widens, it's harder and harder to find common ground.
93
What do we have left?
94
Gardening?
95
The Bachelor?
96
The Bachelor in Paradise?
97
Of course, political polarization has way bigger consequences than, like, it's hard to know what to talk about at family dinner.
98
As political affiliation becomes more closely linked to other core parts of who people are,
99
it stops being just a political identity and becomes something new — a mega -identity, or one identity and set of values to rule all others.
100
The term mega -identity was coined by political scientist Liliana Mason in the 2010s.
101
It describes a pattern where someone's partisan identity, whether they define themselves as Republican or Democrat,
102
affects how they see and interact with people that identify the other way.
103
And as a result, we're more likely to think bad stuff about the other side or even view them as a threat.
104
Research has shown a rise in what's known as affective polarization, a kind of polarization that goes way beyond whether or not the two sides disagree on policy issues,
105
dipping into big emotions like distrust, animosity, and contempt.
106
In other words, the more polarized we get, the less we recognize each other as 3D human beings and the more we cast each other as 2D bad guys.
107
And that has direct consequences on Election Day.
108
Voters are increasingly motivated less by what they like about their own party's platform
109
and more by negative partisanship or their hatred for the other party.
110
This isn't new by any means.
111
Negative campaign ads were swaying your grandpappy's vote before you were born.
112
But as Republicans and Democrats have gotten more polarized, negative partisanship has become increasingly powerful.
113
More and more, we're out there voting against someone instead of for someone to the point where we might start to ignore candidates'
114
actual political platforms.
115
And I know we've been talking about national stuff, but the inability to divorce politics and partisanship can also affect voting habits at the more local level,
116
leading to nationalization.
117
Basically, as the parties have divided into these two big,
118
at -odds camps, voters increasingly cast ballots based on what they know about the national party they identify with or identify against.
119
Not necessarily what's happening in their own town.
120
And unfortunately for us, our country, and our little eagle friend Baldi,
121
all these effects of increasing partisanship feed back into the causes.
122
It is a vicious cycle, creating a feedback loop that's really shi - bad.
123
Because not only is it seeping into how we, the citizens, interact with each other, but how the people running our government work together to actually get stuff done.
124
Just because something's hard doesn't mean it's not possible.
125
Our government and our country as a whole has weathered plenty of challenges
126
and come out on the other side with a desire to be better.
127
And today there are plenty of people, both in the government and on the street, willing to reach across the aisle to work together for a better future.
128
Today's super -polarized politics have been brewing for decades, but it's not the end.
129
And there are plenty of people thinking there must be a better way.
130
So next time, that's exactly what we're asking.
131
Why does the US only have two major political parties?
132
This episode of Crash Course Big Questions on US Government was produced in partnership with USA Facts,
133
a non -partisan civic tech project that makes government data easier to understand.
134
For more resources that go along with these videos, go to usafacts .org slash crash course.
135
Thanks for watching this episode of Crash Course Big Questions on US Government, which was filmed in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was made with the help of all these nice people.
136
If you want to help keep Crash Course free for everyone forever, you can join our community on Patreon.

Télécharger l'application

Tout pour parler couramment

Prononciation IAChaque phrase notée
Phonétique (IPA)Maîtrisez chaque son
VocabulaireEnrichissez votre lexique
Jeu de vocabulaireApprenez en jouant

Même chaîne

FOR YOU

Vidéo recommandée

Vocabulaire et conseils d’expression pour cette leçon

Cette leçon d’expression orale de niveau B2 s’appuie sur la vidéo « Why Are US Politics Today So Divisive?: Crash Course US Government ». Les mots qui reviennent le plus souvent : Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, identify. Cette vidéo contient 136 phrases et 1899 mots à répéter en shadowing. La partie parlée dure 12:07. Le locuteur parle à un rythme naturel d’environ 157 mots par minute, proche d’une conversation courante. 84 % des mots font partie des 3 000 mots les plus courants en anglais ; le reste mérite d’être vu avant de commencer.

Vocabulaire clé de cette vidéo

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

MotPrononciationSens
voter nom/ˈvoʊtɚ/votant, votante
partisanship nom/ˌpɑːtɪˈzænʃɪp/partisanisme, esprit de parti
divide verbe/dɪˈvaɪd/diviser, fendre
polarization nom/ˌpoʊlərɪˈzeɪʃən/polarisation
widen verbe/ˈwaɪdn̩/s’élargir
bipartisan adjectif/baɪˈpɑɹ.tə.sən/bipartisan
majestic adjectif/məˈd͡ʒɛstɪk/majestueux
universally adverbe/ˌjunɪˈvɝsəli/universellement
ideological adjectif/ˌaɪ.di.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/idéologique
partisan nom/ˈpɑː.tɪˌzæn/militant, militante
ideology nom/aɪ.diˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/idéologie
interact verbe/ɪn.təˈɹækt/interagir
consequence nom/ˈkɑn.sɪ.kwəns/conséquence
eagle nom/ˈiːɡəl/aigle
lean verbe/ˈliːn/pencher

Les verbes à particule que vous entendrez

MotPrononciationSens
come out verbe/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/sortir
die out verbes'éteindre
go ahead verbe/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/vas-y, allez-y
go back verberentrer, retourner
pass through verbetraverser
show up verbeapparaître, se montrer se pointer

Des phrases à répéter

Des phrases courtes et complètes de la vidéo, à réutiliser dans la conversation de tous les jours :

  • You're only going to make it worse.
  • What do you mean?
  • I'll give you an example.
  • What do we have left?

La grammaire de cette vidéo

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

StructureDans la vidéo
Present perfect continu have/has been + -ing — une action commencée avant et toujours en courswe've been talking · have been brewing
Present perfect have/has + participe passé — une action passée qui compte encore maintenantyou've noticed · there's been · have become
Voix passive be + participe passé — l’accent est mis sur ce qui arrive, pas sur qui le faitare camped · was coined · were born
Propositions relatives who / which + proposition — une précision sur une personne ou une chosewomen who buck · Government, which was

Prononciation à surveiller

Le locuteur utilise 27 contractions et formes réduites, comme we're, didn't, aren't. Prononcez-les sous leur forme courte, telles que vous les entendez.

  • Les sons « th »: brethren /ˈbɹɛðɹən/, feather /ˈfɛðə/
  • Les sons « sh » et « zh »: partisanship /ˌpɑːtɪˈzænʃɪp/, polarization /ˌpoʊlərɪˈzeɪʃən/, affiliation /əˌfɪliˈeɪʃən/, vicious /ˈvɪʃəs/, socially /ˈsoʊʃəli/
  • Mots longs — placez bien l’accent: partisanship /ˌpɑːtɪˈzænʃɪp/, polarization /ˌpoʊlərɪˈzeɪʃən/, bipartisan /baɪˈpɑɹ.tə.sən/, universally /ˌjunɪˈvɝsəli/, ideological /ˌaɪ.di.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/

Les sons difficiles pour les francophones :

  • /h/ — il se souffle, il n’est pas muet: historian /hɪˈstɔɹi.ən/, hatred /ˈheɪtɹɪd/
  • /tʃ/ et /dʒ/ — à ne pas adoucir en « ch » et « j »: majestic /məˈd͡ʒɛstɪk/, ideological /ˌaɪ.di.əˈlɑ.d͡ʒɪ.kəl/, ideology /aɪ.diˈɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, perpetuate /pɚˈpɛt͡ʃəˌweɪt/, geographic /d͡ʒiəˈɡɹæfɪk/
  • /r/ anglais — langue recourbée, sans frotter la gorge: polarize /ˈpəʊ.lə.ɹaɪz/, polarization /ˌpoʊlərɪˈzeɪʃən/, bipartisan /baɪˈpɑɹ.tə.sən/, interact /ɪn.təˈɹækt/, centrist /ˈsɛn.tɹɪst/

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 voter, partisanship, divide.

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 →