シャドーイング練習: Why Don’t We Eat Shark Meat? - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

What if I told you, the shark you're afraid to see in the ocean could actually end up on your dinner plate?

Yes.

Shark meat is edible.

People have eaten sharks for centuries.

So then why don't we see shark steaks, shark burgers, or shark fillets in every supermarket?

Because there's something very strange about a shark, and it starts inside its body.

When a shark is alive, its body contains a large amount of a chemical called urea.

For the shark, that's completely normal.

But when the shark dies, everything begins to change, bacteria start breaking down that urea, and one of the results can be ammonia.

And you already know what ammonia smells like.

A powerful, unpleasant smell.

So imagine cooking what looks like a perfectly normal piece of fish.

And suddenly your entire kitchen smells like chemicals.

But that's not even the biggest problem.

Some sharks can also accumulate high levels of mercury because they spend years eating other animals.

And there's one more thing that makes sharks completely different from ordinary fish.

They can take years to grow and years to reproduce.

So if humans catch too many of them, their populations can take a very long time to recover.

Which raises an even bigger question.

If sharks can be eaten, why do humans eat almost everything in the ocean, but rarely choose the animal at the very top?

The answer is much stranger than you think.

Shark meat isn't automatically poisonous.

In fact, people in different parts of the world have been eating certain shark species for a very long time.

But shark meat has a unique problem.

It needs to be handled and processed carefully.

If it isn't, the chemistry inside the meat can create that strong ammonia -like smell we talked about.

This is because sharks have evolved a very different way of controlling the balance of water and salt in their bodies.

Urea helps them maintain that balance.

While the shark is alive, everything works normally but after death, bacteria begin breaking down compounds in the tissues,

and that can produce ammonia.

That's why freshly caught shark meat can become unpleasant very quickly if it isn't processed properly.

Traditional preparation methods can help.

Depending on the species and culture, shark meat may be soaked,

salted, dried, fermented, smoked, or otherwise processed before it is eaten.

So the shark itself isn't necessarily poisonous.

The problem is what happens to the meat after the animal dies.

But then we reach another concern, mercury.

Sharks are predators, and many of them spend years eating other animals.

A small fish eats smaller organisms, a larger fish eats that fish, then a predator like a shark eats many of those larger fish.

Over time, certain contaminants can become concentrated higher up the food chain.

This is called bioaccumulation, and mercury is one of the biggest concerns.

Large, long -lived shark species can contain relatively high levels of mercury.

That means eating certain sharks frequently may not be a good idea.

So when someone says shark meat is dangerous, that's not the whole story.

The real question is, which species?

How much are you eating?

How often are you eating it?

And where did the shark come from?

Different sharks can have very different levels of risk.

But there's another reason sharks aren't an ideal everyday food.

And this one has nothing to do with taste.

It has to do with their biology.

Many shark species grow slowly.

Some take many years to reach sexual maturity.

And some produce relatively few young compared with many other fish.

Think about what happens when humans heavily fish two different species.

One species produces thousands of young and grows quickly.

The other grows slowly and produces only a small number of young.

Which population is going to recover faster?

Usually the first one.

That's the problem with many sharks.

They simply cannot replace their numbers quickly.

So when too many sharks are removed from the ocean, their populations can take years or even decades to recover.

And this is one of the biggest reasons shark fishing has become such a serious conservation issue.

But if shark meat has all these problems, why do people eat it at all?

The answer is simple.

Tradition.

In some parts of the world, shark has been eaten for generations.

Different species can taste very different, and different preparation methods can completely change the final result.

Shark meat can be dried, salted, smoked, fermented, or cooked fresh, so it would be completely wrong to say that nobody eats shark.

People absolutely do.

The more interesting question is why shark never became a normal, everyday seafood choice around the world.

And when you put all the pieces together, the answer starts to make sense.

For a seafood to become popular worldwide, it usually needs to be tasty, affordable, easy to prepare, reasonably safe, and available in large quantities.

has problems with several of these.

Its meat can develop a strong ammonia -like smell if it isn't processed correctly.

Some species can contain high levels of mercury.

Many sharks grow slowly and reproduce slowly, and heavy fishing can put enormous pressure on their populations.

Compared with fish like salmon, cod, sardines, or tuna, there are simply easier choices.

But there's one final reason sharks matter.

They aren't just another fish.

They are predators.

And in many marine ecosystems, they play an important role near the top of the food chain.

They help control populations of other animals.

They influence the behavior of prey.

And their presence can affect the balance of an entire ecosystem.

So removing too many sharks isn't just about losing one species.

It can change the way an entire marine ecosystem works, which brings us back to the original question.

Why don't we eat shark meat?

The answer isn't that sharks are universally poisonous.

They aren't.

It isn't that shark meat is impossible to cook.

It isn't.

And it certainly isn't because humans have never eaten sharks.

They have.

The real answer is a combination of chemistry, taste, health concerns, biology, and sustainability.

Shark meat can be eaten, but some species can contain high levels of mercury.

The meat can develop a strong ammonia -like smell if it's handled incorrectly.

And many shark populations cannot recover quickly from heavy fishing.

100

So the next time you see a shark swimming through the ocean, remember this strange fact.

101

That terrifying predator could technically become dinner.

102

But perhaps there's a better question to ask.

103

Not, can we eat sharks?

104

But, do we really need to?

105

Because in an ocean full of fish, maybe we don't need to turn one of its most important predators into food.

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128 文

このレッスンの語彙とスピーキングのポイント

このB2レベルのスピーキングレッスンは、動画「Why Don’t We Eat Shark Meat?」を教材にしています。繰り返し出てくる語は次のとおりです：shark, meat, species, fish, eat。この動画には、シャドーイング用の文が105文、単語が1118語あります。音声の長さは6:45です。話す速さは1分あたり約166語で、日常会話に近い自然なペースです。英語の頻出3,000語に含まれる単語は80%だけなので、語彙は難しめです。

この動画の重要語彙

動画の中で特に難しい単語15語を、発音と意味つきで紹介します。

単語	発音	意味
ammonia 名詞	/əˈmoʊn.jə/	アンモニア
mercury 名詞	/ˈmɜɹkjəɹi/	水銀
predator 名詞	/ˈpɹɛd.ə.tɚ/	天敵
urea 名詞	/jʊˈɹiːə/	尿素
ecosystem 名詞	/ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/	生態系
bacterium 名詞	/bækˈtɪəɹ.ɪəm/	細菌, バクテリア
ferment 動詞	/fɚˈmɛnt/	発酵する
seafood 名詞	/ˈsiːfuːd/	シーフード, 海鮮
accumulate 動詞	/əˈkjuːmjʊˌleɪt/	積む
bioaccumulation 名詞		生物濃縮
sardine 名詞	/sɑɹˈdin/	鰯, イワシ
organism 名詞	/ˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.əm/	生物, 有機体
soak 動詞	/soʊk/	濡れる, 浸る染みる
edible 形容詞	/ˈɛdəbəl/	食用の, 食べられる
tuna 名詞	/ˈtjuː.nə/	鮪, ツナ

繰り返し練習したい文

動画に出てくる短く完結した文です。日常会話でそのまま使えます。

How much are you eating?
How often are you eating it?
Why don't we eat shark meat?
Not, can we eat sharks?

この動画の文法

話し手がよく使っている文型を、動画の実際の表現とともに紹介します。

文型	動画での表現
受動態 be + 過去分詞 — 誰がするかより、何が起きるかに焦点を当てる	can be eaten · be handled · isn't processed
現在完了形 have/has + 過去分詞 — 過去の出来事が今も関係している	have eaten · have evolved · has become

注意したい発音

話し手はisn't, aren't, don'tなど、短縮形や弱形を17回使っています。聞こえたとおりの短い形で発音しましょう。

長い単語（アクセントの位置に注意）: ecosystem /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/, accumulate /əˈkjuːmjʊˌleɪt/, contaminant /kənˈtamɪnənt/, incorrectly /ˌɪnkəˈɹɛk(t).li/, organism /ˈɔɹ.ɡəˌnɪz.əm/

日本語話者が苦手な音：

/r/ と /l/ の区別 — /l/ は舌先を歯茎につけ、/r/ はどこにもつけない: incorrectly /ˌɪnkəˈɹɛk(t).li/, freshly /ˈfɹɛʃli/, reasonably /ˈɹiː.zən.ə.bli/
/v/ — /b/ にならないように、上の歯を下唇に当てる: universally /ˌjunɪˈvɝsəli/, evolve /ɪˈvɑlv/
/f/ — 「フ」ではなく、上の歯と下唇で出す: ferment /fɚˈmɛnt/, seafood /ˈsiːfuːd/, fillet /fɪˈleɪ/, terrify /ˈtɛɹɪfaɪ/, freshly /ˈfɹɛʃli/

この動画での練習方法

まず声を出さずに動画を最後まで聞き、知らない単語をメモします。
まず0.75倍速で一文ずつシャドーイングし、慣れてきたら通常の速度に戻します。
自分の声を録音して元の音声と比べます。ammonia, mercury, predatorなどの単語に特に注意しましょう。

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。

シャドーイングのやり方: ステップ別の完全ガイドを読む →

シャドーイング練習: Why Don’t We Eat Shark Meat? - 動画で英語スピーキングを学ぶ

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