跟读练习: Everything is better than it used to be — or is it? | Agustín Fuentes - 通过视频学习英语口语
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26 句
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- Traditionally, when you measure success, evolutionarily speaking, it's about a species or a population's ability to sort of continue through time, to successfully adapt, and to grow.
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So under that definition, there are 8 billion humans living everywhere on the planet.
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We are super successful in the traditional sense.
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At the same time, there's 8 billion humans living on the planet, many of them suffering horribly.
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The planet is suffering horribly.
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The climate crisis; a variety of other really horrible things are going on.
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There's a massive extinction event where plants and animals are disappearing at an unbelievable rate because of human action.
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So one might ask, "Is this evolutionary success?" "Just based on sheer number of humans, is that the way to measure it?" In the recent past, and today, there are many people who argue that like, "Wait a minute! Wait a minute! Don't complain so much, humans are doing better than they ever have done.
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There's air conditioners, there's warm showers, there's restaurants, and food, and yeah, so there's some inequality- some people don't have as much as others, but overall, we are living longer and doing better than we ever have done." So I have three responses to that: Number one, who is "we"?
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Are we talking about the entire human species?
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Well, it turns out that different humans are living very, very different lives.
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So we need to clarify that.
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Before one says, "We are doing better," let us define who that we is.
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The second problem I have with that is that these arguments are coming from one broad culture- this sort of Euro-American cultures, these intellectual traditions of a particular way of being in the world, of a particular political and economic process saying, "Well, this is the way it should be, things are better." Well, there are other ways of being in the world.
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There's lots of societies, lots of languages, lots of cultures, lots of people; many of whom have suffered enormously from this particular way of being.
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So again, how do we rectify that?
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How do we understand that?
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And the third thing, my third response to people saying, "Hey, stop complaining, things are better, we're living longer," is "Look, what is the measure of success for humans?" It has to do with how are we doing the human thing?
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How are we being human?
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And how can we minimize, not get rid of, but minimize suffering and injustice?
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Humans are always gonna have inequity and injustice: there's a lot of us, and human history always have hierarchies, and some have more and some have less, there's these incredible dynamics.
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But when it comes down to it right now, we can see that the inequity, the discrepancy in political, economic, technological, health, and many other outcomes for humans is bigger than it ever has been in the entirety of human history.
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If that's the case, something is wrong, 'cause that direction is not good for humans; we already have data that suggests and shows that it's not good for the planet.
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So, to those who say, "Calm down, everything is better than it used to be." I say, "No, it's not." It's not just surviving longer, it's not just having more, it's not just having access to technology- to really understand success, evolutionarily speaking in humans, we need to also talk about the capacity for flourishing.
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Are human bodies and societies reaching at least these minimal levels of flourishing, of health, of security, of interaction, and of well-being.
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So, I would argue, in the modern context, to understand evolutionary success for humans, we need to understand the capacity for human flourishing, and how that is distributed across our species.
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本课的词汇与口语要点
这节口语课以视频“Everything is better than it used to be — or is it?”为素材。 视频中反复出现的词有：success, planet, flourishing, suffering, measure。 这段视频共有 26 个句子、619 个单词可供跟读。 讲话部分时长为 3:56。 说话人语速自然，每分钟约 157 个词，接近日常对话。 89% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，词汇容易理解。 全部 26 个句子中有 7 个是问句，适合练习疑问语调和简短回答。
视频中的重点词汇
视频中 15 个值得学习的单词，附发音和释义：
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| suffer 动词 | /ˈsʌfɚ/ | 受苦, 遭受 |
| flourish 动词 | /ˈflʊ̈ɹ.ɪʃ/ | 繁榮 /繁荣 |
| argue 动词 | /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ | 辯論 /辩论, 爭辯 /争辩 |
| complain 动词 | /kəmˈpleɪn/ | 抱怨, 發牢騷 /发牢骚 |
| injustice 名词 | /ɪnˈd͡ʒʌs.tɪs/ | 不平, 不公平 |
| minimize 动词 | /ˈmɪn.ɪˌmaɪz/ | 最小化 |
| horrible 形容词 | /ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/ | 可怕的, 可畏 |
| define 动词 | /dɪˈfaɪn/ | 界定 |
| intellectual 形容词 | /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/ | 智力的, 思想的 |
| interaction 名词 | /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/ | 相互作用 |
| disappear 动词 | /dɪsəˈpɪɹ/ | 消失 |
| dynamics 名词 | /dɑɪˈnæm.ɪks/ | 動力學 /动力学 |
| unbelievable 形容词 | /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/ | 不可思議 /不可思议 |
| technological 形容词 | /ˌtɛk.nəˈlɑ.dʒɪ.kəl/ | 技術性 /技术性 |
| sheer 形容词 | /ʃɪɚ/ | 透明 |
视频中出现的短语动词
| 单词 | 释义 |
|---|---|
| calm down 动词 | 冷靜下來 /冷静下来, 平靜下來 /平静下来 |
| turn out 动词 | 原來 /原来 |
值得反复跟读的句子
视频中简短而完整的句子，可以直接用在日常对话里：
- Are we talking about the entire human species?
- How do we understand that?
- How are we being human?
视频中的语法
说话人最常用的结构，并附上视频中的原话：
| 结构 | 视频中的用法 |
|---|---|
| 现在完成时 have/has + 过去分词 — 过去发生但与现在仍有关联的事 | have done · have suffered · has been |
| 定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物 | people who argue · those who say |
| 比较级 -er than / more … than — 比较两个事物 | better than · bigger than |
| 现在进行时 am/is/are + -ing — 此刻或近期正在发生的事 | is suffering · are going · are disappearing |
需要注意的发音
说话人用了 4 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 don't, gonna, we're。请按听到的简短形式来说。
- “sh” 和 “zh” 音: flourish /ˈflʊ̈ɹ.ɪʃ/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, sheer /ʃɪɚ/
- 长单词——注意重音位置: evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/, successfully /səkˈsɛs.fə.li/, intellectual /ˌɪntəˈlɛkt͡ʃʊəl/, interaction /ˌɪn.təˈɹæk.ʃən/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/
中文母语者容易读错的音：
- /v/ — 不要读成 /w/，上齿轻触下唇: evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/, unbelievable /ˌʌnbɪˈliːvəbl̩/
- 词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: flourish /ˈflʊ̈ɹ.ɪʃ/, injustice /ɪnˈd͡ʒʌs.tɪs/, minimize /ˈmɪn.ɪˌmaɪz/, dynamics /dɑɪˈnæm.ɪks/, adapt /əˈdæpt/
- /r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: flourish /ˈflʊ̈ɹ.ɪʃ/, evolutionary /ˌiː.vəˈluː.ʃən.ɛɹ.i/, horrible /ˈhɔɹ.ɪ.bəl/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, clarify /ˈklæɹ.ɪ.faɪ/
如何用这段视频练习
- 先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
- 先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
- 录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 suffer, flourish, argue 这类单词。
什么是跟读法？
跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。