跟读练习: Why Taiwan is caught between China and the US - BBC World Service - 通过YouTube学习英语口语
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This island is something that China and the United States have basically agreed to disagree about for decades.
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This island is something that China and the United States have basically agreed to disagree about for decades.
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Most governments don't recognise Taiwan as a country, but it has its own flag and its own army, and its elected president says it is a country.
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It has islands two kilometres from China.
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But China says all of Taiwan is a part of China.
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It hasn't ruled out taking it by force.
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And if that happened, Taiwan would look to its strongest partner, the United States.
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But even though it sells weapons to Taiwan, American policy is to answer questions about whether it would defend the island like this.
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I never comment on that. I don't comment on any-because I don't want to ever put myself in that position.
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Taiwan's situation is unique and complicated.
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And to make any sense of it, we need to start with a crash course in the island's history.
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There's been many, many phases over 300 years.
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It was under Dutch rule for a few years in the 17th century.
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It was then part of what we call the Qing Empire in China.
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And then it was part of the Japanese Empire from 1895 to 1945.
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At the end of World War Two, Japan was defeated and Taiwan was handed to Chiang Kai-shek, an American ally and leader of the Chinese nationalists.
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But they were in the middle of a civil war with the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong. In 1949, the communists won and founded the People's Republic of China on the mainland.
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The nationalists fled to Taiwan, along with more than a million refugees.
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But the war never officially ended.
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What we were left with was effectively two Chinas.
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Both the governments in Beijing and in Taipei were claiming to be the legitimate representative of China.
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The split that exists today between Taiwan and China started here.
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And the United States got involved because of what happened to another of its allies, South Korea.
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In 1950, North Korea, backed by China and the Soviet Union, invaded the South.
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As South Korean forces moved up to stem the invasion, the world saw the challenge. Communism was on the march.
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The US had wanted to keep out of any wars in Asia after fighting there in World War Two.
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But it decided to send troops to support South Korea.
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We are united in detesting Communist slavery.
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We are determined to preserve our freedom no matter what the cost.
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The United States regarded the spread of communism as a huge threat.
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And because of that, Taiwan as a non-Communist country became an important ally.
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Chiang Kai-shek ran Taiwan as a dictatorship which imprisoned and executed its opponents.
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But because he shared America's anti-communist stance, for 20 years the US and Taiwan remained close.
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Thousands of American troops were stationed on the island ready to defend it.
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But then China's relationship with the Soviet Union, America's biggest rival, began to break down.
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And the US saw an opportunity.
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Up until now, the US had refused to recognise the legitimacy of the government in Beijing.
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But the two governments began to be driven by a shared desire to counterbalance the Soviet Union.
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For President Nixon, a sudden change in schedule.
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China was no longer an enemy.
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There can be no stable and enduring peace without the participation of the People's Republic of China and its 750 million people.
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Very quickly everything changed for Taiwan.
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And not just because of the US.
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At the United Nations an historic moment.
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The United Nations voted to change who represented mainland China.
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Up until now it had been Taiwan.
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But they gave the seat to the People's Republic of China.
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Now we are being deserted. We are being forsaken.
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Then under new leaders, the US and China got even closer.
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The US-China relationship normalised in 1979.
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As a condition of normalisation, the US then dropped its official relations with Taiwan.
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It was absolutely seen as an abandonment of Taiwan.
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The US pulled its troops off the island, but said it would keep unofficial relations with Taiwan.
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Back in the US, some politicians still saw the whole thing as a betrayal of their ally.
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Congress passed a law which said the government had to sell weapons to Taiwan so it could defend itself.
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But the US drew a line on going any further.
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It never stated clearly whether it would definitely come to Taiwan's assistance if it was attacked.
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It maintained this thing called strategic ambiguity, meaning that it was likely it would, but not completely certain.
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Since 1979, this American ambiguity hasn't changed.
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Even when Taiwan itself has.
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In the 1990s, it became a democracy and stopped claiming to represent the whole of China.
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But the Chinese position has always been that Taiwan is a part of China.
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China says it wants peaceful unification with Taiwan, but won't rule out the use of force.
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It runs frequent military exercises in the seas around the island.
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US intelligence agencies say they don't think an invasion is imminent, but that China is building up the military capability it could use to seize Taiwan.
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China has really scaled up its military exercises and threats vis a vis Taiwan.
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Chinese leaders also see the ability to return Taiwan to China as a test of its ability to break through Western containment.
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Taiwan sits at the centre of what's known as the First Island Chain.
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It links together US military bases in Japan and South Korea, and bases it has access to in the Philippines.
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Since 2024, the US and its allies have increased navy patrols here in the Taiwan Strait.
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A fifth of the world's sea trade goes through here.
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The tiny chip which powers the device you're using to watch this video was probably shipped from Taiwan through the strait.
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Taiwan is one of Asia's top economies.
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Most of the world's most advanced microchips are made by one Taiwanese company, TSMC.
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It's so important that it's seen by many as a deterrent against a Chinese invasion.
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Taiwan has this silicon shield because if you attack Taiwan, you attack this company and everyone kind of relies on this company now.
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The US is trying to reduce this reliance by helping TSMC set up this factory to make the same chips but in Arizona.
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China is also investing in manufacturing, but the vast majority of chips are still made in Taiwan.
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If that island were blockaded, that capacity were destroyed, it would be an economic apocalypse.
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That scenario is played out in a Taiwanese TV drama about a fictional Chinese invasion.
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It was partially funded by Taiwan's government, which in the real world has expanded defence drills to prepare civilians for possible attacks.
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But polls show that most people in Taiwan don't think China will invade any time soon.
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Most identify as Taiwanese, not Chinese.
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And many in Taiwan think that keeping things how they are is the best way to avoid war.
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The majority support the status quo, which is not to have unification, but not to have independence either. To live in this ambiguous area, but at least relatively secure and stable.
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But maintaining the status quo between Taiwan, China and the US is a delicate balance.
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Over the decades the three parties have been able to preserve peace and stability because of a willingness really to maintain ambiguities around Taiwan's status.
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But this question has become increasingly a point of contention between the US and China as competition heats up between the two powers.
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为什么要通过这个视频练习口语？
通过观看并练习这个视频，学习者不仅能够提高英语口语练习的能力，还能深入了解台湾在国际局势中的独特地位。视频中所提及的历史背景和政治关系为练习提供了生动的对话场景，这种语境不仅增强了学习的趣味性，还提高了理解能力。通过模仿说话者的语音、语调和表达方式，英语学习者可以有效进行shadow speech，这是一种通过跟读来改善发音和流畅度的有效方法。利用看YouTube学英语的优势，结合真实的谈话内容，能够帮助学习者在实际交流中更自信。
语法与表达在语境中的应用
视频中使用的一些关键句式和表达方式非常适合进行深入分析，学习者可以从以下几个方面来提升自己的表达能力：
- 被动语态: "It was under Dutch rule..." 这种表达强调了过去事件的影响，适合用于描述历史背景。
- 条件句: "If that happened, Taiwan would look to its strongest partner..." 这种句型可以帮助学习者理解假设与结果之间的关系。
- 对比结构: "But even though it sells weapons to Taiwan, American policy is..." 通过对比，可以丰富语言表达，让观点更具说服力。
- 复杂句: "But the war never officially ended." 使用复杂句可以提升口语的层次感，使表达更加深入。
常见发音陷阱
在视频中，有一些单词和短语对于英语学习者来说可能较为棘手。注意以下几点可以帮助你避免发音错误：
- "Taiwan" vs "China": 注意这两个词的重音位置和发音差异，确保能够清晰区分。
- "United States": 经常有人在快速交流中忽略"United"的音，导致听不清晰。
- 连音现象: 在自然对话中，词与词之间的连读会使得发音变得更加流利，学习者可以通过多次的跟读练习来掌握。
通过关注这些发音细节，学习者能够更自信地使用英语进行交流。在进行shadowing时，建议多重复几遍，以增强记忆和熟练度，进而在真实环境中实践时能做到游刃有余。
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。