跟讀練習: Is War Over? — A Paradox Explained - 通過影片學習英語口語

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65 句
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1
Violence and war.
2
The insane brutality of ISIS continues.
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The Russians are invading Ukraine, and the Palestinians and Israelis continue to slug it out.
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Does that make you feel gloomy?
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Well, don't.
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Because if you look at the numbers, war actually seems to be going out of fashion, while the global population is at an all-time high.
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It seems that we live in the most peaceful period in human history.
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How is this possible?
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As of September 2014, there were four conflicts going on in the world
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that had caused at least 10,000 people to die since January 2013.
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Nine conflicts that killed more than 1,000 people, and 13 that killed more than 100 since January 2013.
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Not really peaceful, but consider this.
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Of all the conflicts going on, none is an active war between countries.
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are either civil wars or local conflicts.
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Although civil wars are terrible and cause huge suffering, their impact is usually way smaller than a war between nations or empires.
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When two nations engage in war, they can mobilize much bigger forces, have access to all of the states' resources and logistics,
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and almost to all of the population.
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So why have we transitioned from wars between nation states to civil wars.
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A lot of it is to do with colonialism and the Cold War.
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When the Cold War ended, a major driver of armed conflict vanished too.
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But the breakup of the communist dictatorships revealed new or old tensions
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and brought new conflicts in the now freed states which often resulted in civil war.
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Much more importantly, in 1945, nearly all of Africa, much of Asia and parts of Latin America were under colonial rule.
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By 1990 all but a few islands were independent.
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But wait, couldn't you argue that what today's multinational corporations are doing in the third world is just as bad as colonialism?
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Let's look at Congo.
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It was established as a colony in 1885 by the Belgian king, an area 80 times the size of Belgium.
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Violence committed against the indigenous Congolese
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and the The ruthless system of economic exploitation had killed about half of the population by 1908.
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About 10 million Congolese were executed or starved to death.
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Millions were mutilated and traumatized.
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The economic exploitation of the Congo remained the top priority, and forced labor never really ceased completely until the end of Belgian rule in 1960,
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which is not really that long ago.
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So, no, colonialism was much worse than vulture capitalism is today, and it ended just two generations ago.
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Most of the conflicts that are going on right now are in areas that 60 years ago were under foreign control.
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But things are getting better.
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Until 1989, victory for one side in a civil war was common, while nowadays victories are much rarer.
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At the same time, negotiated endings have jumped from 10% to almost 40%.
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What about the rest of the world?
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Why have nation states stopped attacking each other?
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There are four major reasons.
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1. Democratization.
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The steady development from autocracy to democracy.
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Democracies hardly ever fight each other.
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Of all the state against state wars fought since 1900, only a minority were fought between democracies.
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2. Globalization.
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War is just not as effective at achieving economic goals as it used to be.
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Today it's almost always cheaper to buy resources on the global market than to seize them by force.
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People from other nations are more valuable to us alive than dead, which overall is a pretty new concept.
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3. War is so 20th century.
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Until World War I, warfare was seen as an inevitable part of the human experience
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and as a valuable tool which you could use to achieve goals when diplomacy hit a brick wall.
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Today we have rules that declare acts of aggression illegal
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and stipulate that armed force is only justified in self-defense or with the authority of the UN Security Council.
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These rules are still broken, but today it's harder to do so without sparking opposition and disapproval.
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Also, we have an international court for war crimes in The Hague, and that's a very recent innovation.
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4. Borders are mostly fixed now.
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In World War II, territorial wars generally stopped when most countries pledged to accept international borders and respect other nations' autonomy.
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But is all of this just an anomaly, or are we on the road to lasting peace?
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Truth is, we don't know yet.
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We need a big enough sample to rule out the historical average, which is about one or two big wars per century.
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We just haven't had enough time since World War II to rule out the possibility that war is not going away.
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If we don't have one major war in the next 75 years, we can be really confident that humanity is changing.
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So you see, war might be over.
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Yes, there are nasty conflicts going on in many places, but overall, things are getting better and we can make them even better by speaking up for peace and democracy.

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這段影片共有 65 個句子、819 個單詞可供跟讀。 講話部分時長為 5:26。 說話人語速自然，每分鐘約 151 個詞，接近日常對話。 86% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，其餘的詞建議在練習前先學一下。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中 15 個不太常見的單詞，附發音和釋義：

  • resource /ɹɪˈzɔːs/ (名詞) — 資源 /資源. Something that one uses to achieve an objective, e.g. raw materials or personnel.
  • exploitation /ˌɛksplɔɪˈteɪʃn̩/ (名詞) — 剝削 /剝削, 開發 /開發. The act of utilizing something; industry.
  • argue /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ (動詞) — 辯論 /辯論, 爭辯 /爭辯. To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply.
  • establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/ (動詞) — 確定 /確定. To make stable or firm; to confirm.
  • transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/ (名詞) — 過渡 /過渡, 轉變 /轉變. The process of change from one form, state, style or place to another.
  • suffer /ˈsʌfɚ/ (動詞) — 受苦, 遭受. To undergo hardship.
  • reveal /ɹɪˈviːl/ (動詞) — 透露, 顯示 /顯示. To uncover; to show and display that which was hidden.
  • minority /maɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/ (名詞) — 少數 /少數. The state or condition of being smaller, inferior, or subordinate to something or someone else; lesserness.
  • priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/ (名詞) — 優先權 /優先權, 更重要的事. An item's relative importance.
  • insane /ɪnˈseɪn/ (形容詞) — 精神失常, 精神錯亂 /精神錯亂. Exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind; not sane; utterly mad.
  • communist /ˈkɑ.mjə.nɪst/ (名詞) — 共產主義者 /共產主義者. An advocate of a society based on the common ownership of property; a proponent of communism.
  • humanity /hjuˈmænɪti/ (名詞) — 人類 /人類. Humankind; human beings as a group.
  • innovation /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/ (名詞) — 革新, 創新 /創新. The act of innovating; the introduction of something new, in customs, rites, etc.
  • steady /ˈstɪdi/ (形容詞) — 穩定 /穩定. Firm in standing or position; not tottering or shaking; fixed; firm.
  • brick /ˈbɹɪk/ (名詞) — 磚仔 /磚仔, 磚 /磚. A hardened rectangular block of mud, clay etc., used for building.

影片中出現的短語動詞

  • look at (動詞) — 觀察 /觀察, 看. To observe or watch.
  • rule out (動詞) — 排除. To cross an item out by drawing a straight line through it, as with a ruler.
  • do in (動詞) — 幹掉 /幹掉, 弄死. To kill or end; to defeat.
  • go away (動詞) — 離開 /離開, 走. To depart or leave a place.

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 5 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 don't, couldn't, haven't。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

  • “sh” 和 “zh” 音: exploitation /ˌɛksplɔɪˈteɪʃn̩/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, innovation /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/, tension /ˈtɛnʃən/
  • 長單詞——注意重音位置: minority /maɪˈnɒɹ.ɪ.ti/, priority /pɹaɪˈɒɹɪti/, humanity /hjuˈmænɪti/, innovation /ˌɪn.əˈveɪ.ʃən/, indigenous /ɪnˈdɪd͡ʒənəs/

如何用這段影片練習

  1. 先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
  2. 先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀，熟練之後再回到正常速度。
  3. 錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 resource, exploitation, argue 這類單詞。

影片中的語法

說話人最常用的結構，並附上影片中的原話：

結構影片中的用法
被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼，而不是誰做的was established · were executed · were mutilated
現在完成時 have/has + 過去分詞 — 過去發生但與現在仍有關聯的事have we transitioned · have jumped · haven't had

什麼是跟讀法？

跟讀法 (Shadowing) 是一種有科學依據的語言學習技巧，最初開發用於專業口譯員的培訓，並由多語言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。這個方法簡單而強大：您在聽英語母語原聲的同時立即大聲重複——就像是一個延遲1-2秒緊跟說話者的影子。與被動聽力或語法練習不同，跟讀法強迫您的大腦和口腔肌肉同時處理並模模擬實的講話模式。研究表明它能顯著提高發音準確性，語調，節奏，連讀，聽力理解和口語流利度——使其成為雅思口語備考和真實英語交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟讀法: 閱讀完整分步指南 →