東大志望の受験生のためのサイト

　皆さん、こんにちは！

　2回目である今回も前回に引き続きデレクシヴァーズのプレゼンテーションを扱います。前回のおさらいを少ししておくと、Keep your goals to yourself.というタイトルの通り、目標を他人に打ち明けるとその達成率が低下してしまうということを科学的な実験結果を示しつつ紹介してくれました。

　さて今回のタイトルは‘Weird, or just different?’ということですが、どういった意味なのでしょうか？このweirdという単語、皆さんには少し馴染みが薄いかもしれません。辞書を引いてみると次のような意味があることが分かります。

weird 【形容詞】
1.(幽霊などの超自然的なものを思わせて)異様な, 気味の悪い, この世の物でない
2.<口語>変な, 奇妙な.

　これを踏まえてタイトルを直訳してみると「変、あるいは単に違うだけ？」となりますね。一体何が“weird”、あるいは“different”なのか注意して聞いてみてください。2分ほどの非常に短いプレゼンテーションですが興味深いアイデアを伝えてくれるはずです！



⇒問題はこちら

問1. 次の(1)〜(4)の問いに対してそれぞれ正しい答えを一つ選び、その記号を記せ。
(1) In anywhere in America, …
ア blocks are named after the famous man and streets are called by number.
イ you can tell where you are by block’s name.
ウ blocks are the unnamed area between the streets.
エ streets don’t have names and defined as the space between the blocks.

(2) How the house numbers are named in Japan?
ア They are named in the order of their size.
イ They are named in the order in which they are built.
ウ They are named according to the blocks name.
エ They are named according to the streets which surround the house.

(3) In China, you don’t have to pay the doctors when you are sick because…
ア it’s the doctors fault that you are sick.
イ you pay the tax for the medical care when you are healthy.
ウ it is their duty to keep you healthy for nothing.
エ there is lots of social welfare service in China.

(4) According to the speaker,
ア “one” is thought of the end of the phrase in American music.
イ you should go to the opposite side of the world to know their culture.
ウ going abroad will tell you that there’re many cultures that don’t fit global standard.
エ what you think true may not be true in the different part of the world.


問２. 以下の文章が英文と一致するように空所　(1)~(3)を埋めよ。

So, for example, there are doctors in China who believe that ( 1 ). So, any month you are healthy you pay them, and when you're sick you don't have to pay them because they failed at their job. They get rich when you're healthy, not sick.(Applause)
In most music, we think of the "one" as the downbeat, the beginning of the musical phrase: one, two, three, four. But in West African music, the "one" is thought of as the end of the phrase, ( 2 ). So, you can hear it not just in the phrasing, but the way they count off their music: two, three, four, one. And this map is also accurate. (Laughter)
There's a saying that ( 3 ) about India, the opposite is also true. So let's never forget, whether at TED, or anywhere else, that whatever brilliant ideas you have or hear, that the opposite may also be true. Domo arigato gozaimashita.

⇒ヒントはこちら

プレゼンテーションの大きな構成としては、前半部分でアメリカと日本の住所の表し方の違いや、中国での医者精度、西アメリカの音楽、世界地図などの具体例をあげ、最後にそれらをまとめて結論付けるという流れになっています。この具体例を用いた論の発展は東大英語大問1の要約でもよく見かけます。具体例を理解することによって筆者の主張への理解も深まるので聞き漏らさないようにしましょう。

以下にこのプレゼンテーションの重要部分を抽出しておきます。よく聞き取れなかった人はよく読み、訳した上でもう一度聞いてみましょう！



So, I love that sometimes we need to go to the opposite side of the world to realize assumptions we didn't even know we had, and realize that the opposite of them may also be true. There's a saying that whatever true thing you can say about India, the opposite is also true. So, let's never forget, whether at TED, or anywhere else, that whatever brilliant ideas you have or hear, that the opposite may also be true.

⇒解答・解説はこちら