跟读练习: Japan bans baby names like Pikachu and Kitty: BBC Learning English from the News - 通过YouTube学习英语口语
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From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News,
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From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News,
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our podcast about the news headlines.
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In this programme, Japan changes law to stop baby names like Pikachu and Kitty.
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Hello, I'm Neil.
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And I'm Beth.
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In this programme, we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.
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You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.
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So let's hear more about this story.
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So, Japan has changed the law to stop people naming their babies things like Pikachu and Kitty.
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New rules have come in on the pronunciation of kanji.
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Those are the Chinese characters used as one of the three forms of Japanese writing.
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The change is designed to prevent unofficial pronunciations of the kanji characters.
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In recent times, these unusual interpretations of the characters have allowed people to call their kids' names seen as strange
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or silly by the authorities.
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And our first headline is about this.
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It's from The Guardian in the UK.
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Japan introduces rules to put outlandish baby names to bed.
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And that headline again from The Guardian,
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Japan introduces rules to put outlandish baby names to bed.
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First of all, the word outlandish.
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Now that describes something strange or unusual,
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such as calling your child Pikachu.
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But we're interested in this expression, put something to bed.
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Because we're talking about babies,
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Beth, I can sense that this is some kind of joke.
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OK, but hang on before we get to the joke.
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So, let's start with the meaning.
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If you say that you have put something to bed,
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you mean you've dealt with a difficult situation successfully.
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So, for example,
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I had a bit of a disagreement with one of my neighbours about where they leave their rubbish bins for collection.
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But we got together and discussed it and we put it to bed.
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Ah, OK.
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So you successfully dealt with the issue and now it's not a problem.
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Well, that's good, Neil, because you don't want to be fighting with your neighbours.
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Exactly.
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So, Beth, can you work out why in this headline and with this story,
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the expression put something to bed is a bit of a joke?
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Yes, it's a joke because we're talking about a dispute here between the Japanese authorities
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and people who give their kids outlandish names.
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And the dispute has been put to bed, resolved through new laws.
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And the story is about babies.
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Yes, and babies sleep a lot and need,
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literally, to be put to bed.
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Exactly.
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OK, Neil, let's put this section to bed and get a recap of the vocabulary.
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We've had put something to bed – deal with a problem successfully.
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For example, the company put to bed threats of strikes by offering workers a big pay rise.
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This is Learning English from the News,
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our podcast about the news headlines.
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Today we're talking about a new law in Japan designed to stop people giving their babies unusual names, like Pikachu.
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In recent times, parents in Japan have been choosing names for their babies,
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which have been seen as more individual and creative than traditional names.
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The new law aims to prevent that.
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The names are described in Japanese language as kirakira,
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which means shiny or glittery.
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And it's this idea that we're going to look at in our next headline.
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Our headline from Euro Weekly,
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You can't call your baby that.
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Japan limits the choice of baby names to stop flashy ones.
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And that headline again from Euro Weekly.
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You can't call your baby that.
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Japan limits the choice of baby names to stop flashy ones.
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So the word we're going to discuss is flashy.
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What does flashy mean, Beth?
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OK, well the word flashy is an adjective but it helps to look at the root of this of this word flash.
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Neil, what is a flash?
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Well, a flash is a short moment of bright light,
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like on an old-fashioned camera.
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And Beth, what happens when you see a flash?
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Well, it attracts attention, so you have to look in the direction of the flash to see what just happened.
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That's right.
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So, something that is flashy is something that attracts.
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So, what sort of things can be described as flashy?
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Well, if someone has a very expensive watch or car,
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one that seems to be worn or driven mainly to attract attention,
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we can say that it's flashy.
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We can also describe a person as flashy,
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if they behave or present themselves in a way that makes people look at them.
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And a note, we often shorten flashy to just flash.
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That's a flash watch you're wearing, Beth.
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Oh, well, I thought you'd notice it, Neil.
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Well, I did.
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We've had flashy, which describes something expensive or designed to attract attention.
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For example, the singer arrived at the awards ceremony in a flashy car.
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This is Learning English from the News from BBC Learning English.
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We're talking about new rules on the pronunciation of Japanese characters,
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which will prevent parents choosing unusual and flashy names for their babies.
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We've been hearing about a current trend in Japan of giving babies unusual names.
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The authorities say it can be hard to know how to pronounce these names
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and can also cause the children embarrassment in later life.
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Our next headline is about official attempts to stop this trend.
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So, let's have our next headline which comes from South China Morning Post.
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Don't do it!
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Japan takes aim at baby names like Nike with new rules on kanji readings.
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That headline again from the South China Morning Post.
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Don't do it!
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Japan takes aim at baby names like Nike,
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with new rules on kanji readings.
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So this headline says that the rules take aim at baby names like Nike.
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And we're looking at the expression take aim at.
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Now if you take aim at something literally,
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you try to hit it,
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either by throwing or kicking something,
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or pointing a weapon at something you want to hit.
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So a football player will take aim at the goal when they're taking a free kick.
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Or a soldier with a gun will take aim at an enemy soldier.
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But here we're talking metaphorically.
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Yes, we are.
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The Japanese authorities are taking aim at this new trend for baby names,
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like Pikachu and Nike.
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They are attacking the trend as if they are aiming a gun at it.
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And we see this expression commonly when talking about official attempts to deal with problems or criticise something seen as bad.
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Yes.
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So, for example, we might hear,
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the government has taken aim at unemployment by offering young people training opportunities.
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We've had take aim at something,
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try to deal with an issue or criticise something.
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So, for example, she took aim at her rival for the job promotion by pointing out all his weaknesses.
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That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.
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We'll be back next week with another news story.
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And don't forget to follow us on social media.
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Just search for BBC Learning English.
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Thanks for joining us and goodbye.
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Goodbye.
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为什么要通过这个视频练习口语？
通过观看并模仿这个视频，学习者可以有效提升自己的口语能力。视频中关于日本禁止奇怪婴儿名字的新闻，不仅提供了丰富的词汇，还涉及了实际生活中常见的对话场景。利用这种英语影子跟读方法，学习者可以关注说话者的发音、语调和表达方式，找到适合自己口音的语音特征，从而提高英语发音。
上下文中的语法与表达
- put something to bed：这个短语的意思是成功处理某个问题。在对话中，Neil 用这个表达来形容日本当局和家长之间的争论得以解决的过程。
- outlandish：形容奇特或不寻常的事物，例如用“皮卡丘”命名孩子。这个词汇帮助学习者理解在描述事物时如何使用夸张的语言。
- interrogative form：在讨论新闻时，问句的使用非常频繁。例如，Beth 提出的“Can you work out why...”，这种提问方式在口语交流中非常有效，能引发对话。
常见发音陷阱
视频中的一些词汇可能对学习者来说具有挑战性。例如，“Pikachu”（皮卡丘）和“Kitty”（小猫）这两个词在不同文化中可能会发音不同。同时，“outlandish”一词的发音对于非母语者来说或许也比较困难。学习者应该特别注意这些词汇的正确发音，练习时集中精力模仿说话者的语调和发音，以加强对这些词汇的掌握。
利用各种shadowing site和练习资源，英语学习者可以创建个人的shadowspeak练习，使口语更加流利。通过不断的练习和模仿，学习者将逐渐提高自信心，能够更自如地使用英语进行交流。
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。