跟讀練習: Overpopulation – The Human Explosion Explained - 通過影片學習英語口語

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Never before in history have there been so many people on Earth as right now.

Our numbers have skyrocketed from 1 billion in 1800 to 2.3 billion in 1940,

3.7 billion in 1970 and 7.4 billion in 2016.

The world population increased fourfold in the last century, so what can we expect for the next century?

And what does population growth mean for our future?

Will there be mass migration, overcrowded slums in megacities covering continents, diseases and pollution, chaos and violence over energy,

water and food, and a human species focused only on sustaining itself?

Will population growth destroy our way of life, or is this prophecy just ungrounded panic?

In the 1960s, population growth reached an unprecedented rate, which led to apocalyptic prophecies.

The poor would procreate endlessly and overrun the developed world.

The legend of overpopulation was born.

But it turns out high birth rates and the population explosion are not permanent features of some cultures or countries,

but rather part of a four-step process the whole world is going through.

The demographic transition.

Most developed countries have already made the transition, while other countries are doing it right now.

Let's go back to the 18th century, when the entire world, including Europe, was in the first stage of the demographic transition.

By today's standards, Europe was worse off than a developing region, suffering from poor sanitation, poor diets and poor medicine.

A lot of people were born, but lots of them died just as fast, so the population hardly grew.

Women had between four and six children, but only two of them would reach adulthood.

Then the Industrial Revolution happened in the UK and brought the greatest change in human living conditions since the Agricultural Revolution.

People went from being peasants to workers.

Manufactured goods were mass-produced and became widely available.

The sciences flourished and advanced transportation, communication and medicine.

The role of women in society shifted and created the conditions for their emancipation.

Slowly, this economic progress not only formed a middle class, but also raised standards of living and healthcare for the poor working population.

The second transition stage started.

Better food supplies, hygiene and medicine meant people stopped dying all the time, especially so at a very young age.

The result was a population explosion, doubling the UK's population between 1750 and 1850.

The main reason families used to have lots of children was that only a few of them were likely to survive.

Now that had changed, so the third stage of the transition was set in motion, fewer babies were conceived and population growth slowed down.

Eventually, a balance emerged.

Fewer people were dying and fewer children were born, so the death rate and birth rate became stable.

Britain had reached the fourth stage of the demographic transition.

This didn't only happen in the UK.

More and more countries went through the four stages.

First, many births and many deaths due to bad living conditions.

Second, better living conditions leading to fewer deaths and a population explosion.

Third, fewer deaths resulting in fewer births, and population growth came to an end.

But if birth rates have dropped so much, why is the population still growing so fast?

Well, the children born in the population explosion of the 70s and 80s are having kids themselves now, leading to a noticeable spike in overall population.

But they are having far fewer children on average than their parents.

The average today is 2.5.

It was 5 40 years ago.

So as this generation gets older and fertility declines further, the rate of population growth will keep on slowing.

This is true for every country.

In the West, we tend to overlook progress in other regions of the world.

But actually, most of the world's countries have made it to the fourth stage.

Just look at Bangladesh.

In 1971, the average woman had seven kids, but 25% of them would die before the age of five.

In 2015, the mortality rate was down to 3.8% and women had only 2.2 kids on average.

This is the rule, not an exception.

We're not special, we just had a head start.

It took developed countries about 80 years to reduce fertility from more than 6 children to less than 3.

Others are catching up fast.

Malaysia and South Africa did it in only 34 years.

Bangladesh took just 20.

Iran managed it in 10 years.

All these countries that are catching up didn't have to start from scratch, and the more support they get, the faster they catch up.

This is why programs that help lower child mortality or help poor nations develop are so important.

No matter what your motivation is, whether you dream of a world where more people live in freedom and wealth, or you just want fewer refugees coming to your country,

the simple truth is that it's beneficial to you personally

if people on the other side of the globe can live a good life.

And we are getting there.

The percentage of people living in extreme poverty has never been as low as today.

So the future of global population growth is actually not an apocalyptic prophecy at all.

It's a promise.

Population growth will come to an end.

The UN forecasts that the 12th billionth human will never be born at all.

And, as the development level of the world rises, the number of people with a higher education will increase tenfold.

Countries who used to be in need will help advance development instead.

More people is going to mean more people able to advance our species.

This video was a collaboration with Max Rosa and Our World in Data, where he explores the progress of humanity through research and data visualization.

Make sure to check it out.

In 2016 we were able to make more and better content than ever before because of your support on Patreon.com.

Thank you so much, and we'll be back in the year 12,017.

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這段影片共有 75 個句子、977 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 6:36。說話人語速平穩，每分鐘約 148 個詞，很適合跟讀。 87% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，詞彙容易理解。

影片中的重點詞彙

影片中 15 個值得學習的單詞，附發音和釋義：

單詞	發音	釋義
fewer	/ˈfjuː.ɚ/	較少 /較少, 更少
transition 名詞	/tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/	過渡 /過渡, 轉變 /轉變
explosion 名詞	/ɛkˈsploʊ.ʒən/	爆炸, 爆發 /爆發
prophecy 名詞	/ˈpɹɑfɪsi/	預言 /預言
mortality 名詞	/mɔɹˈtælɪti/	必死
fertility 名詞	/fɝˈtɪləti/	肥沃, 繁殖力
percentage 名詞	/pə(ɹ)ˈsɛntɪd͡ʒ/	百分率, 百分比
stable 名詞	/ˈsteɪ.bəl/	馬廄, 馬棚 /馬棚
poverty 名詞	/ˈpɑːvɚti/	貧窮 /貧窮, 貧困 /貧困
suffer 動詞	/ˈsʌfɚ/	受苦, 遭受
legend 名詞	/ˈlɛd͡ʒ.ənd/	傳說 /傳說
worker 名詞	/ˈwɝ.kɚ/	工人, 工作者
decline 動詞	/dɪˈklaɪn/	惡化 /惡化
exception 名詞	/əkˈsɛpʃən/	排除
humanity 名詞	/hjuˈmænɪti/	人類 /人類

影片中出現的短語動詞

單詞	釋義
go through 動詞	通過 /通過
slow down 動詞	減速 /減速, 放慢
turn out 動詞	原來 /原來

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 4 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 didn't, we'll, we're。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: transition /tɹænˈzɪʃ.ən/, explosion /ɛkˈsploʊ.ʒən/, exception /əkˈsɛpʃən/, collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈɹeɪʃən/, motivation /ˈmoʊ.tə.veɪ.ʃən/
長單詞——注意重音位置: demographic /ˌdɛm.əˈɡɹæf.ɪk/, mortality /mɔɹˈtælɪti/, fertility /fɝˈtɪləti/, humanity /hjuˈmænɪti/, collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈɹeɪʃən/

如何用這段影片練習

先完整聽一遍影片，不要開口，記下不認識的單詞。
用正常速度逐句跟讀，每句重複到你的節奏與說話人一致為止。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 fewer, transition, explosion 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
“used to” used to + 動詞 — 過去的習慣或狀態，現在已不再如此	used to have · used to be
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 skyrocketed · have already made · have dropped
被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼，而不是誰做的	was born · were born · was set

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 →

跟讀練習: Overpopulation – The Human Explosion Explained - 通過影片學習英語口語

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