シャドーイング練習: Mom is too noisy - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

When I was eight, my parents took me to Italy on a family holiday.

It was all fun until I saw something I could only imagine in my worst nightmare.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa!

I ran to the building and started pushing against a wall.

Mom!

Dad!

Please come and help me get this straight!

It's all wrong!

What's wrong with that girl?

Is she possessed?

That kid's a freak!

But Mom went mad hearing them.

She's a perfectionist, not a freak, dumbhead!

Dad dragged her away and took us both home before we could make a bigger scene.

Hey friends, my name is Bella and I'm from Manchester.

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Ever since I can remember, I've been a perfectionist, like my mom.

She owned a small bakery and everyone loved her cakes.

Growing up, my place always used to be squeaky clean.

And I hated visiting other kids just because their homes weren't as tidy as mine.

But it wasn't just that.

I couldn't sleep at night without the TV on.

I needed to color code my entire closet, and I had to count words on signboards while I traveled in a car.

When I was in the ninth grade, another bakery opened up right across from ours.

When mom saw the long lines outside, she was furious and wanted to check out what they had that we didn't.

But when I entered the shop and I saw the slightly tilted balloon arc, I felt my eye twitch.

I just had to fix it.

As I tried to, the entire thing fell on a table of cupcakes.

And then a girl standing nearby started to yell at me.

Are you crazy?

My parents worked so hard to set everything up and you ruined it.

But I swear, I just wanted to fix the ark.

I'm so sorry.

Wait a minute.

Aren't you from the bakery across the street?

You guys were jealous.

And you did this on purpose.

What?

Of course not.

Let me just tell you, the whole decoration looks ugly.

There's no color coordination, everything's off.

No way we'd be jealous of this place.

And before I knew it, the girl had pounced on me with her gross, sticky hands.

Oh, God.

Our parents pulled us apart, but our moms were glaring at each other.

Get out of our shop, now!

Yeah, yeah, we're leaving.

It's not like it's something special.

On our way home, I was so mad at that girl and I hoped I'd never see her again.

But the very next day in school, someone entered the classroom.

And it was her!

The teacher introduced her as Maya.

And just then, our eyes locked and she glared at me.

When she sat down, I noticed her odd-colored nails and cringed.

Like, who did that?

I tried avoiding Maya every day, but she was so loud and messy.

One day, the math teacher asked everyone to take out their homework assignments, and she just couldn't find hers.

I promise I did it.

I'd put it in here.

And then what happened?

Your dog ate it?

An elf came at night and stole it.

A kidnapper is holding it for ransom.

I make myself laugh.

Well, at least you make someone laugh.

And then Maya turned over her entire bag on her desk, and I was horrified at all the trash she had inside.

she found her filthy assignment and a half-eaten donut.

Want some?

I'm sure it's only two weeks old.

No, three.

Okay, a month tops.

The teacher looked as disgusted as I felt and made Maya stand at the back with her face to the wall.

She deserved it.

But the next day, I saw a bunch of kids gathered around Maya before math class, and they were all laughing.

The teacher walked in, and everyone ran to their seats.

A few moments later, I saw Maya take out a freaking mouse from her pocket and quietly slip it into the teacher's desk while her back was turned.

Seconds later, when the teacher turned around, she screamed and fell back in fright, while the mouse started running everywhere.

And I panicked.

Maya, catch your stupid mouse right now.

I can't stand it.

Mice are dirty.

Catch it now.

The whole class turned to me in shock, and the teacher was about to explode.

Maya got two months detention, and she and the entire class turned on me.

You're such a snitch, Bella.

Everyone knew it was me, but you had to announce it.

I didn't mean to.

Do you ever mean to do anything?

Save it, weirdo.

As if having her in school wasn't bad enough, I found out that she was also my neighbor.

Mom was even more annoyed than I was.

Oh, God, are they following us or something?

That hot mess now lives next to us.

I felt the same way about Maya.

But for some reason, all the kids and most of the teachers became her fans.

It was like Maya was the real perfectionist because she could have fun.

And she was an A student who was giving me tough competition.

One day during lunch, I was sitting at my usual spot when suddenly Maya came over and sat across me, grinning.

What are you doing here?

100

Oh, I just came to see if you'd like the surprise I planned for you.

101

What surprise?

102

Why don't you look up?

103

I looked up and saw a balloon coming right at me.

104

And suddenly, I was drenched in paint.

105

My hair, clothes, face, it was everywhere.

106

Oh, God, oh, my God.

107

No, no, no, no, what did you do?

108

Um, hey, Bella, I was just messing around.

109

Can you relax?

110

But it was like I couldn't hear her.

111

And suddenly, I attacked Maya as I screamed and cried.

112

I don't remember what happened next, but as the teachers were taking me away, everyone was looking at me like I was some kind of alien.

113

I was taken to the hospital, and I found out that I just had a panic attack and that I had OCD.

114

Turns out, even mom had it and never knew.

115

I had a breakdown and needed to take some time off school.

116

I returned after two weeks and could feel everyone giving me weird looks, like I'd go mental any second, and it was all Maya's fault.

117

But the moment I entered class, she stepped forward and smiled at me.

118

Hey, Bella, I'm so glad you're back.

119

I hope you're feeling better.

120

Whatever, Maya.

121

Don't pretend like you care.

122

Look, I'm just really sorry for that day.

123

I was only having fun, but I didn't know.

124

Oh, please, just get out of my way.

125

But after that day, Maya kept being nice to me, even though I kept trying to ignore her.

126

A few days later, we were having art class, and Maya took a place next to me.

127

Sometime later, she looked over my painting and said, That looks really good.

128

You're talented.

129

Can't say the same about you.

130

What did you even make?

131

A dog with a horse's body?

132

Maya just looked at me and then burst out laughing.

133

She laughed so hard she fell on the floor.

134

And I started laughing too.

135

Ha ha ha ha.

136

OMG, you are so mean.

137

That was my puppy that died a few years ago.

138

But jeez, it does look like he has a horse's body.

139

Maybe Maya wasn't so bad.

140

Soon we started hanging out together, and she kind of started to grow on me.

141

One time I was in the cafeteria eating my lunch when I realized Maya was staring at me.

142

What?

143

Why do you finish your fries first, then the burger, and cold drink in the end?

144

I...

145

I don't know.

146

I always eat it like that.

147

Everybody does, no?

148

Why don't you try this?

149

Maya ate a fry, then took a bite of the burger, and took a sip of her soda.

150

Though I hated the idea of trying all three together, I did it for Maya.

151

Holy moly, it tastes amazing!

152

Told ya.

153

Maya was the friend I needed.

154

She accepted me for who I was, but also made me try different things.

155

One day when I was home, I suddenly heard Mom screaming loudly.

156

She was arguing with Maya's mom, who was washing her car while playing loud music.

157

I asked you to keep the music down and stop making a mess.

158

You're wasting water, you dumbhead.

159

Who are you calling a dumbhead?

160

And then she turned the hose to mom, completely soaking her.

161

Mom was furious and tried to snatch the hose from her.

162

As they both fought, I saw Maya come out.

163

Jeez, Maya, tell your mom to stop.

164

Look at her.

165

She's messy and crazy.

166

She's crazy?

167

See?

168

Well, at least she's not a robot, like you and your mom.

169

And just like that, we both got into a fight.

170

I was so angry at Maya.

171

I totally ignored her at school the next day.

172

And she was doing the same.

173

In our science period, the teacher announced how there was going to be a science tournament and we needed to pick teams.

174

Even though Maya and I were the smartest kids in class, everyone wanted to be on her team.

175

You're going to make the project so fun, Maya.

176

I want to be with you.

177

Me too.

178

Pick me, Maya.

179

So I had to choose from three backbenchers.

180

And as we worked together, I realized my team really needed to learn the basics.

181

I could see Maya's project was almost done, and I was so far behind.

182

So just one day before the submission date, I became a dictator.

183

Listen to me loud and clear.

184

We will get this done today.

185

You got it?

186

Go, go, go!

187

I pushed those guys so hard, and by some miracle, we finished it.

188

Well, team, I'm proud of you.

189

I'm sure we'll win tomorrow.

190

But Maya's project looks so much better.

191

Ours is really good too.

192

Come on, we can win this.

193

I was feeling confident, but something totally unexpected was waiting for me at school the next day.

194

Maya was screaming while her project lay broken on the floor.

195

It was fine when we left it yesterday.

196

How could this happen?

197

We worked so hard.

198

What do we do now?

199

Who did this?

200

Do you think it could be Bella?

201

Oh, shut up.

202

She would never do this.

203

I felt my heart swell hearing her words.

204

She wasn't talking to me, but she still defended me.

205

Just then, I spotted my team member snickering on the side.

206

Ours is the best project now.

207

What do you mean now?

208

What did you do?

209

Bella, we just wanted to win.

210

What did you do?

211

Spit it out.

212

We kind of broke it yesterday before leaving school.

213

Oh my God.

214

I couldn't believe they'd do such a thing.

215

I was beyond furious.

216

I didn't want to win this way, so I walked over to Maya's stall and told her everything.

217

You can tell the teachers, I'm really sorry.

218

Well, that was a nasty thing your team did.

219

But I appreciate you being honest.

220

Help us fix this and we can forget about it, okay?

221

I helped Maya and her team fix the project right before the exhibition started.

222

And after the teachers judged everyone's project, they got first prize.

223

And I was so happy for her.

224

Just as I was walking away, Maya suddenly pulled me into an empty classroom.

225

And she kissed me!

226

Whoa, what just happened?

227

happened.

228

I just wanted to do that.

229

Did you like it?

230

Um, Maya, it's not a really good idea.

231

Our moms hate each other and wouldn't even want us to be friends.

232

Why don't you loosen up for once and stop caring, Bella?

233

Did you like it or not?

234

I looked at her and smiled.

235

I think I did.

236

I'll have to try it again to be sure.

237

And then I kissed her.

238

The next few weeks with Maya were amazing.

239

We kept it completely secret from our moms, and we were always sneaking around them.

240

One time, she asked me to come over at night, and I nearly passed out when I saw her room.

241

There were clothes everywhere.

242

Oh my god.

243

Listen, I'm helping you clean this.

244

Otherwise, I'm gonna have to break up with you.

245

She laughed, and we spent the whole night sorting out the mess.

246

Best date ever.

247

Sometime later, Maya and I were selected to be part of a quiz competition that was gonna be broadcast live on a local TV channel.

248

I was nervous, but so relieved to be doing this with Maya.

249

It was going great till there came a moment when I pressed the buzzer to answer a question.

250

But suddenly, my mind went blank.

251

I started to sweat and felt breathless as I sensed all eyes on me.

252

Oh, God, not another panic attack.

253

Do you know the answer?

254

I do, but I just need to count to 50 first.

255

What?

256

We don't have time for that.

257

If you don't know the answer, just pass.

258

Suddenly, Maya leapt up from her seat.

259

She does know the answer.

260

She just needs to count to 50, okay?

261

Can you give her some space and let her do that?

262

The host gave her an impatient nod, and I closed my eyes as Maya took my hand.

263

Once I'd counted, I gave the answer, and it was correct.

264

We won!

265

I stepped forward as team captain to receive the trophy, when suddenly, Maya's mom jumped onto the stage and tried to snatch it from me.

266

Why do you get to receive it?

267

My daughter should.

268

You wouldn't even have one without her.

269

Loser.

270

And then my mom was on the stage too.

271

Who are you calling a loser?

272

She's the team captain because she's better than your daughter.

273

Oh my God.

274

Shut up.

275

Both of you.

276

We dragged our mothers backstage and I turned to them furiously.

277

Thanks a lot for embarrassing us.

278

You know what?

279

You want to fight and compete and rip each other's hair out?

280

Go ahead.

281

But Maya and I are friends.

282

In fact, we're more than friends.

283

And with that, I took her hand.

284

What?

285

What do you mean?

286

Let me make it clearer.

287

And with that, Maya kissed me.

288

And our mom's faces were priceless.

289

No way.

290

Not happening.

291

Bella, have you lost your mind?

292

Yeah, maybe I have.

293

Deal with it.

294

I put my arm through Maya's and we walked off to celebrate our victory with ice cream.

295

We'll get three scoops each.

296

Vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate.

297

exactly in that order.

298

Don't mess it up, okay?

299

I love you, Maya.

300

Yeah, you're okay, too.

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。

シャドーイング練習: Mom is too noisy - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

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シャドーイングとは？英語上達に効果的な理由