シャドーイング練習: 423 Years of American History in 13 Minutes - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ
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America is the richest and most powerful country in history.
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But America's rise to number one was actually quite unexpected.
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In fact, most of North America was ignored for more than a hundred years after it was discovered.
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Here's a map that was made right before Christopher Columbus discovered America.
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The Vikings said they had discovered an island somewhere over here, but no one realized that it was actually a continent.
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So Columbus believed that he could find a trade route to Asia by sailing west.
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But actually he found some islands in the Caribbean Sea.
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Columbus didn't find the spices he was expecting, but he still believed that he was close to India.
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So he called the natives Indians, got some goodies, and took them back to the King and Queen of Spain.
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Hey, your majesties, I just got back from Asia.
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Great!
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Where are the spices?
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Well, uh, we haven't found the spices yet, but they've got lots and lots of gold.
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Now you're talking Columbus.
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Go back, tell them all to be Christians, and bring back that gold!
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A few years before Columbus claimed the West Indies for Spain, the Portuguese had discovered that they could reach Asia by sailing around Africa.
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So Spain and Portugal drew a line right down the middle of the map, and they agreed that all the non-Christian lands on this side of the line would belong to Portugal,
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and everything on the other side would belong to Spain.
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So the Portuguese sailed to Asia and built a huge trading empire, and the Spanish got busy conquering their half of the world.
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All of the interesting parts of the Americas were down here where there was lots of gold, silver and people.
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So that's where the Spanish went.
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Actually the Spanish also sent an expedition into North America in 1539, but they didn't find gold and silver,
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so they mostly ignored all these useless lands up here in North America.
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The English actually sent an explorer to North America while the Spanish were still exploring the islands in the Caribbean.
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That was 16 years before the Spanish discovered Florida.
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But after that, the English waited almost 100 years before they tried to colonize America.
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England's first colony was established at Roanoke, North Carolina in 1585.
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But the same year England got busy fighting a war with Spain, and that colony mysteriously disappeared.
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So they tried again at Jamestown, and this time it worked.
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Next to the pilgrims arrived in Plymouth.
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The pilgrims were strict Christians who outlawed bad stuff like gambling and celebrating Christmas.
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Soon lots and lots of people were coming to America, and before long the east coast was covered with British colonies.
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Meanwhile the French were busy claiming all the land in the middle of North America.
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Now it's 1754 and it's time for a war to figure out who really owns what in America.
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New France has a population of about 60,000 people, so they team up with some Indian tribes to help them fight.
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That's why it's called the French and Indian War.
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The British colonies have a population of more than a million people, and they also team up with some Indian tribes.
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Who do you think won?
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That's right, the British beat the French.
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At the same time, there was also a big war back in Europe, and when it was over, it was time to redraw the map.
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France gave half of Louisiana to Spain before the war was over to make sure Britain didn't get it.
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Then, after the war, France had to give the other half of Louisiana to Britain.
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France also had to give Canada to Britain.
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Now Britain had lots of land in America, but Britain had also spent lots of money on the war.
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And now they needed money.
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Hey, colonies, you know that expensive war we helped you win?
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Yeah, thanks for the help.
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Sure, no problem.
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By the way, we're going to start collecting lots and lots of taxes to pay for all the help we give you.
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What?
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You never help us.
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We're the ones who are always helping you!
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And how can you tax us if we don't get to vote?
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The colonists weren't happy with the new taxes, and the disagreement turned into a fight, and from a fight, into a revolution.
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On the 4th of July, 1776, the Americans declared their independence from Great Britain.
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And that was the beginning of the United States of America, right?
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Not quite.
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It would be five more years before the Americans won their War of Independence.
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But after they had won their freedom, they had a new problem.
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The government they had created was a complete mess.
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The 13 colonies had essentially become 13 independent countries that were only united in name.
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The new nation was failing, and it was failing fast.
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So the Founding Fathers wrote a new constitution and created an entirely new federal government that actually worked.
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The new constitution became official when 9 states had ratified it.
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And in 1789, George Washington was elected the first president of the United States.
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But the USA was only this big, and all the land over here belonged to Spain.
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So how did America get more land?
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Well, over in France, a guy named Napoleon seized power and started conquering Europe.
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Napoleon also wanted to build an empire in America, so he made a deal with Spain that would give Louisiana back to France.
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But the Americans needed to use the Mississippi River to send goods to and from other places.
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They were afraid of what Napoleon might do if he controlled the river, so America asked France to sell New Orleans to them.
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You know my plans for a great empire in North America.
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But now I must invade Britain.
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We can build our empire in America after we defeat the British.
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But if the Americans discover our plans for America, they will support Britain, which could be fatal.
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But if we sell Louisiana to the Americans, They will be our friends forever and Britain will be ours.
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It would be foolish to sell our largest territory and the Americans only want New Orleans.
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Enough!
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I've made up my mind.
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We will sell it all.
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The money will fund our war with Britain.
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And so America bought Louisiana for 15 million dollars.
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America had just doubled in size.
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And that was good because America's population was also almost doubling every 20 years.
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In those days, the average American family had seven children, and all those kids needed some place to live.
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So lots of Americans moved west, where there was lots and lots of unclaimed land.
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Does anyone own this land?
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Of course not.
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Great, because now it's mine!
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But these lands, my hunting grounds, that's not proper English.
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You're supposed to say these lands were my hunting grounds.
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In 1819, America bought Florida from Spain and agreed
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that this line right here would be the border between the United States and New Spain.
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Just two years later, Mexico won its independence from Spain and America had a new neighbor.
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The northern territories of Mexico were sparsely populated and difficult to control, so the Mexican government invited Americans to settle in Texas.
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These settlers quickly outnumbered the Mexicans, and before long the Texans broke free from Mexico and created their own independent republic.
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Yee-haw!
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We want to join the USA.
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Do you have slaves?
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Yes, we do, and we're proud of it.
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Sorry, we don't need any more slave states.
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Hey guys, I'm President Now, and this is ours.
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In 1845, the United States changed its mind and let the Republic of Texas join the Union.
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Disputes over the border of Texas led to a war with Mexico.
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At the end of the war, the United States paid Mexico $15 million and took the northern parts of Mexico that President Polk wanted.
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Just five years later, the United States also bought another piece of land from Mexico for $10 million.
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Meanwhile, the British agreed to let the Americans have all of the Oregon territory below this line, as long as the British could have everything above the line.
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And so, in just fifty years of great luck and one ugly war with Mexico, America now stretched from sea to sea.
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And now there was nowhere left to expand, unless...
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Hello, Uncle Sam.
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I found an island in the middle of the ocean.
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Can I claim it for the US?
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Hmm, we might need that for World War II.
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Does anyone live there?
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No, sir.
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Is it covered in bird droppings?
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Yes, sir.
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Congratulations, son.
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standing on US soil.
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Actually sir, I wouldn't call this soil.
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By the way, the Guano Island Act is still a law, so if you're tired of paying way too much for rent, go find yourself an island to occupy.
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Wow, everything is great.
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Right after the Americans got California, word spread that gold had been discovered, and lots and lots of people rushed to California to help dig up the gold.
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Up in the Oregon Territory, there was lots of free farmland.
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America was thriving and there was peace on all sides.
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But there was a big problem on the inside, and that was the problem of slavery.
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In northern states, slavery was illegal, and many considered it to be a great evil that must be stopped.
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In the south, slavery was an important part of the economy.
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The Americans had been arguing about slavery for decades, but everything came to a head when Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860.
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Many people in the south believed that Lincoln would abolish slavery.
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So most of the slave states separated from the United States and made their own country.
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That led to a big civil war, lots of people died, the North won, the slaves were freed, and the United States was united again.
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I'm sorry to hear about the assassination of President Lincoln.
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Yeah, another assassin tried to kill me on the same night, but I survived the stabbing.
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That's terrible.
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I mean, it's terrible that you were stabbed, but I'm glad that you survived.
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By the way, the Tsar wants America to have Alaska.
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How much can you pay for it?
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I think we can do five million, maybe 5.5 million, but not more.
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How about seven million?
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Sure.
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Great.
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I have approval for seven million.
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We can make the treaty tomorrow.
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Can we do it tonight?
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I should have asked for more money!
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Great.
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Now America has another huge chunk of land.
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Now it just needs a few tropical islands.
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Hey, look at that!
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Some American businessmen have taken control of the Hawaiian Islands, and they're asking the United States to annex them.
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But the President of the United States said no. He believed
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that America must be a just and law-abiding nation that never misuses its great power to take advantage of the weak.
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But others feared that if America didn't get involved in the affairs of Hawaii, another great power like Germany or Japan would come
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and take the islands and use them as a base to attack America in a future war.
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Should America mind its own business or should it mind its own interests?
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America's policy of staying out of other nations conflicts was about to be tested
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because something was brewing in Cuba and it wasn't coffee.
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Cuba was in the middle of a war for independence.
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Almost all of Spain's other colonies had already won their independence from Spain after the American and French revolutions.
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But Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines were still colonies of Spain.
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The Cuban War for Independence was constantly in American newspapers, and most Americans sympathized with the revolutionaries.
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In 1898, after an American warship sank in a mysterious explosion, the US told Spain to leave Cuba or else.
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Spain responded by declaring war on the United States.
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Then the US quickly captured Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines, effectively bringing an end to what remained of the Spanish Empire that Christopher Columbus had begun.
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During the Spanish-American War, the US also annexed Hawaii, which was becoming an important naval base.
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After the war, the president was shot, and so the young and energetic Theodore Roosevelt unexpectedly became president.
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Hey Columbia, we want to build a canal right here.
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Sure, just pay us 10 million dollars.
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It's a deal.
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Actually, we changed our mind.
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You can't build a canal.
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What?
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But we made a deal.
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Sorry.
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Hey, Panama, welcome to the Club of Countries.
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We want to build a canal right here.
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Sure, go ahead.
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While Roosevelt was president, he built up the second largest navy in the world
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and used this powerful navy to influence global politics.
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The Americans finished building the Panama Canal in 1914, allowing the powerful US navy to quickly move between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
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America had become a world power, and World War I had just begun.
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If you want me to make more videos like this, please subscribe to let me know and be sure to watch the next video right here.
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If you want to learn more about American history, I'll leave notes and clarifications in the description.
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See you next time!
このビデオで話す練習をする理由
アメリカの歴史をたった13分で学ぶこのビデオは、歴史的な背景を知るだけでなく、英語を話す能力を向上させるための素晴らしい教材です。ビデオでは、クリストファー・コロンブスの探索から始まり、植民地時代の様子やフレンチ・インディアン戦争まで、さまざまなエピソードが詳しく描かれています。これにより、歴史的文脈を持った英会話の練習が可能になります。語彙や表現を実際のストーリーに織り交ぜて学ぶことで、IELTS スピーキング対策にも役立つでしょう。また、YouTubeで英語学習をする際には、リアルな会話シチュエーションを体験できることが大きな利点です。
文法と表現のコンテキスト
ビデオ内で話された重要な文法構造や表現を以下に示します。
- 過去形の使用: 例えば、「Columbus believed that he could find a trade route...」のように過去形を使うことで、過去の出来事を明確に伝えています。この構文は、歴史的な出来事の説明において非常に役立ちます。
- 条件文: 「If Columbus had found spices, the history of America might have been different.」という条件文は、異なる結果を考える場面で非常に効果的です。
- 比較級: 「Britain had lots of land in America, but they had also spent lots of money on the war.」これは比較のアイデアを表現することで、情報をクリアに伝える手法です。
発音の落とし穴
英語の発音は時に難解なことがあります。このビデオにおいて、特に注意が必要な単語やアクセントを以下に挙げます。
- "explorer"（探索者）: この単語の中で「e」と「x」の間で声が途切れないように注意してください。
- "discovered"（発見された）: 「dis」が強調されがちですが、全体をなめらかに発音することが重要です。
- "population"（人口）: アクセントの位置に気をつけて、正しく発音しましょう。特に「-tion」の部分が力の入るところです。
これらの表現や単語を繰り返し使って、英語シャドーイングを通じて話す練習をすることで、スピーキング能力が飛躍的に向上します。
シャドーイングとは？英語上達に効果的な理由
シャドーイング（Shadowing）は、もともとプロの通訳者養成プログラムで開発された言語学習法で、多言語習得者として知られるDr. Alexander Arguelles によって広く普及されました。方法はシンプルですが非常に効果的：ネイティブスピーカーの英語を聞きながら、1〜2秒の遅延で声に出してすぐに繰り返す——まるで「影（shadow）」のように話者を追いかけます。文法ドリルや受動的なリスニングと異なり、シャドーイングは脳と口の筋肉が同時にリアルタイムで英語を処理・再現することを強制します。研究により、発音精度、抑揚、リズム、連音、リスニング力、そして会話の流暢さが大幅に向上することが確認されています。IELTSスピーキング対策や自然な英語コミュニケーションを目指す方に特におすすめです。