DO you often go to the cinema?
a. Yes. On Friday nights, I usually go and watch whatever's playing. It's kind of a family tradition that I started when my son was young.
昨日、今日とSkypeで先生にその場で新しい問題を出してもらっても、
そこそこそれなりの答え方ができるようになってきました。
今日はInternet関連の話題ばっかりだったので、いろいろ具体的に話しやすかった
というのもあるんですが、一つどうにも答えに詰まったのがこの質問。
What kind of technology will replace the Internet?
技術的可能性を真面目に考えようとし過ぎて全然答えにならなくなってしまいました。
先生がくれたヒントは、
Brain-To-Brain Communication will replace The Internet in the near future.
これは一応ちゃんとした科学的研究がされていて、それなりに実現可能性があるようですが、
こういう研究を知らなかった場合は、例えSFチックで実現可能性があまり無いアイディアでも
その場でひねり出せるようにならないといけないですね。
日本のことを説明する際に便利で加点に繋がりそうな表現が、
「the Japanese equivalent of 〜」です。
これは「〜に相当するもの」という意味で、例えばNHKについて述べるときは、
NHK, the Japanese equivarent of BBC
のように言うと、さらっと相手に理解してもらえるでしょう。
巨大企業やメディアなどは、すべてこれで対応すると楽だと思います。
朝日新聞はNew York Timesに、
日本経済新聞はFinancial TimesやWall Street Journalに、
例えてしまってもいいでしょう。
Describe a teacher who had a great influence on you.
Than teacher that really influenced me a lot was Mr. Chen Li. He was the sports teacher when I was in in high school.
He was in his thirties at that time and I'd say all my classmates admired him because he was kind of a hero to us and also because he was very nice. As far as I can remember, one thing that was special about him was that he'd been on the national volleyball team. I don't think he ever actually won a medal or anything like that. But for us, just the the fact that he used to represent our country was really something. Actually, he was a very good teacher, very responsible and dedicated, you know...
I guess the thing he taught me was to have a fighting spirit. I mean he always encouraged us to do our best in sport, even if we were terrible at it. He used to say "it doesn't matter if you win or not. The important thing is to do your best and keep going." He also taught us a lot about health and maintaining a positive attitude towards life. And compared to other teachers, he seemed to be interested in everyone. Luckliy, we still keep in touch and I often go to see him on holidays.
今日スピーキングのレッスンで学んだこと。
Part2のスピーチの最初の文は、質問文から作ってしまえばいい。
例えば質問が、「Describe an object you particularly like when you were travelling.」なら
「The object I particularly like when I travelling is〜」
で始める。
締めもこの言葉を受けて「That's why I particularly like 〜 when I travelling」
としてしまえば、スピーチが終わったことが相手にも伝わる。
あと、「What do you think is the best way for a tourist to travel if they want to learn about your country?」
のように聞かれた場合、a trouristと聞かれているが単複は気にせず
代名詞はtheyで受けてしまっても構わない。
どちらも一般の人々を指す代名詞だから、とのこと。
苦しんだのがPart2のスピーチ用のこの質問
Describe an artist or entertainer you admire.
You should say:
Who they are and what they do
How they became successful
How you found out about them
And explain why you admire them
I admire Aimee Mann, who was a former bassist and vocalist of American Rock band 'til Tuesday.
She later pursued her music career as a soloist and had had a big
break when she created soundtrack albums for movies like "I am Sam" and "Magnolia".
I was into their genre when I was in high school.
I admire the soulful lyrics of songs and therapeutic sound of her music.
I like to go for a long journey once in a while.
In the last summer, I had traveled around Southeast Asia and India for two months and the experiences there were superb.
I visited five countries in total: Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and India at the trip.
The prime reason that I felt my experience is valuable, since I could experience multifarious local lives.
Especially in India, I stayed at my friend's house for five days and managed to communicate with local people who don't understand English.
My friend couldn't come back home for financial reason and I visited his home alone.
When I arrived there, I found they know only few English phrases and I was obliged to learn the local language quickly and intensely.
They took me house to house in the village and I could experience various local customs.
Another reason of why I felt impressive the travel is, the itinerary was very tough.
Since my budget was extremely limited, I could stay at accommodations once in a several days.
I found I was always choosing the cheapest lodging and transportation.
However, all those hardship also worked perfectly for me to learn common people's life.
