跟讀練習: Why food is getting more expensive for everyone - 通過影片學習英語口語

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Have you noticed that the price of your groceries has gone up?

Bread, milk, cheese, eggs are all more expensive, and it's something we're seeing throughout most of the globe.

So what is behind the price increase?

The United Nations Food Price Index tracks the monthly change in the price of a basket of food items.

The five commodities making up this basket are cereals, vegetable oils, sugar, meats and dairy products.

In March of 2022, the index recorded the highest price levels in its three -decade history.

It has since come off that high slightly, but is still well above levels seen in previous years.

The UN body's chief economist warned prices won't be going back to normal anytime soon.

They will continue increasing because we will not have the regular planting season for these two countries

and that could have a significant effect in the world.

The two countries he's referring to here are, unsurprisingly, Russia and Ukraine.

Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and rising energy prices are the two main reasons why food is getting more costly.

But why is food price inflation so widespread?

Let's take a closer look.

Prices are really complicated.

They're shaped by all sorts of things.

We've had the Ukraine crisis, which has really thrown the world's food system into disarray in some respects.

Ukraine is one of the bread baskets of Europe.

It's where we produce lots of our crops.

Many of those crops have been unable to leave the country.

And farmers right now in Ukraine are meant to be planting the next season's crops, and they haven't been able to.

So we can expect these issues to continue as well.

Ukraine is known for its fertile soils.

It is a top exporter of sunflower oil, corn and grains.

Ukraine and Russia combined produce more than a quarter of the global wheat supply.

So you can understand how disruptions in these markets can cause massive shocks to our global food supply.

For sure it is becoming a global problem.

We are talking of around 50 countries

that have more than 30 % of their imports dependent from Russian Federation

and Ukraine and of those 20 countries have 50 % of their exports depending on Ukraine.

For instance, look at some of the countries that are highly dependent on Russia and Ukraine for wheat imports.

Eritrea, Armenia, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Somalia get more than 90 % of their wheat imports from the two countries alone.

Distressingly, there's a growing number of analysts, academics and policy makers saying that

Russia is intentionally weaponizing food supplies as a part of Vladimir Putin's war strategy.

The fear is that much of the developing world will starve as a result.

As if that weren't enough to contend with, energy prices were already high before the war.

The conflict has only made things worse.

And that has trickled down to your food bill.

We've seen rising gas prices, and that's increased the cost of fertilizers.

And many farmers are reliant on these fertilizers, these industrially produced fertilizers, which rely on natural gas for their manufacture.

So that's edged food prices up.

Natural gas, which is used as a raw material and fuel for making nitrogen fertilizers, accounts for about 80 % of the production cost.

With natural gas prices in Europe soaring almost 300 % over the last 12 months, the cost of fertilizers has naturally gone up too.

Major producers such as China and Russia have also put export bans in place to protect their domestic markets.

This is adding to the upheaval, affecting the type of crops being planted and the planting season.

Some crops like wheat, rice and corn, for example, are highly reliant on fertilizers.

In addition, the demand for alternatives to fossil fuels has led to the growth of biofuels, such as vegetable oils like palm and rapeseed oil.

As more farmers grow these cash crops, this drives up the prices for other crops competing for a limited amount of land.

And with inflation going through the roof, some governments have started to impose restrictions on the exports of their energy crops too.

Towards the end of April, Indonesia, the world's largest exporter of vegetable oil, imposed a three -week ban on the international sales of its palm oil.

Meanwhile, India also decided to ban exports of wheat, which, you may remember, is a fertilizer -intensive crop.

Europe's trade chief says these decisions only make the situation worse.

Countries are starting to take export restrictive measures and we think

that this is a tendency which can actually only aggravate the problem.

Financial services company Nomura warned that several major economies will fall into a recession next year.

You could see recessions in certain countries more likely than others.

For example, Europe.

Europe spends a lot more money on food and fuel relative to GDP than for example the US or the UK.

So it could be that that has a more direct and larger impact on people's ability to spend.

Expand a little bit on that point.

Let's step back and explain why this increase in food prices is a problem.

So it's a problem because it limits the amount of disposable income that people have to spend on other items.

And if you think about the people who are affected the most,

it tends to be the poor because they have a much greater spend on those items relative to their total spending.

So it could be really constraining for those households in particular, but for the economy as a whole.

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本課的詞彙與口語要點

這節口語課以影片“Why food is getting more expensive for everyone”為素材。影片中反覆出現的詞有：price, Ukraine, crop, countries, fertilizer。這段影片共有 49 個句子、922 個單詞可供跟讀。講話部分時長為 5:52。說話人語速自然，每分鐘約 157 個詞，接近日常對話。只有 80% 的單詞屬於英語最常用的 3,000 詞，詞彙難度較高。

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
crop 名詞	/kɹɑp/	作物
export 名詞	/ˈɛks.pɔɹt/	出口, 輸出 /輸出
wheat 名詞	/ˈwiːt/	麥 /麥, 小麥 /小麥
farmer 名詞	/ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/	農夫 /農夫, 農民 /農民
import 名詞	/ˈɪm.pɔɹt/	進口貨 /進口貨, 舶來品 /舶來品
basket 名詞	/ˈbæskɪt/	籃子 /籃子
vegetable 名詞	/ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/	蔬菜, 青菜
relative 名詞	/ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/	親戚 /親戚
dependent 形容詞	/dɪˈpɛndənt/	依靠, 倚賴 /倚賴
palm 名詞	/pɑm/	手掌
inflation 名詞	/ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/	通貨膨脹 /通貨膨脹, 通脹 /通脹
warn 動詞	/woɹn/	警告, 提醒
recession 名詞	/ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/	衰退, 退去
meanwhile 副詞	/ˈmiːnwaɪl/	同時 /同時
complicated 形容詞	/ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/	複雜 /複雜

影片中出現的短語動詞

單詞	發音	釋義
go up 動詞		上昇 /上升, 上去
make up 動詞	/ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/	組成 /組成

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
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 you noticed · We've had · have been
被動語態 be + 過去分詞 — 強調發生了什麼，而不是誰做的	are meant · is known · being planted
定語從句 who / which + 從句 — 補充說明人或事物	crisis, which has · gas, which is · tendency which can

需要注意的發音

說話人用了 7 次縮略和弱讀形式，例如 we've, haven't, they're。請按聽到的簡短形式來說。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: inflation /ɪnˈfleɪ.ʃən/, recession /ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/, shock /ʃɔk/, invasion /ɪnˈveɪʒən/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/
長單詞——注意重音位置: naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, complicated /ˈkɑm.plɪˌkeɪ.tɪd/, economist /iˈkɑ.nə.mɪst/, commodity /kəˈmɑdəti/, intentionally /ɪnˈtɛn(t)ʃənəli/

中文母語者容易讀錯的音：

/v/ — 不要讀成 /w/，上齒輕觸下唇: vegetable /ˈvɛd͡ʒ.tə.bəl/, relative /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/, invasion /ɪnˈveɪʒən/, intensive /ɪnˈtɛnsɪv/, restrictive /ɹɪˈstɹɪktɪv/
詞尾子音 — 要讀清楚，後面不要加母音: crop /kɹɑp/, export /ˈɛks.pɔɹt/, wheat /ˈwiːt/, import /ˈɪm.pɔɹt/, basket /ˈbæskɪt/
/r/ 和 /l/ 的區別: relative /ˈɹɛl.ə.tɪv/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, rely /ɹɪˈlaɪ/, cereal /ˈsɪə.ɹɪ.əl/, industrially /ɪnˈdʌs.tɹɪ.ə.li/

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。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟讀，熟練之後再回到正常速度。
錄下自己的聲音並與原聲對比，特別注意 crop, export, wheat 這類單詞。

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: Why food is getting more expensive for everyone - 通過影片學習英語口語

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