マイチューターのリーディング

           Edited by  セシル

           IELTS　TOEFL　インストラクター

 

私たちはどうして英文法を学ぶのでしょう。
自然できちんとした英語を話したり、文章を作ったり、あるいは、本を読んだりするために必要なのが文法です。
みなさんの中には、すでに長い間、文法を勉強されてきた方も多いことでしょう。
また、文法学習に疑問を持つ方もいらっしゃるかもしれません。
文法は自然に身に付けるべきだとか・・、日本人は文法ばかり勉強しているから
英語がはなせない・・などの意見もあるでしょう。
しかし、ネイティブとは違い英語習得時間が限られた私たちは、文法を身に付けることで、
正しい英語を習得する時間を短縮できるのです。

 
IELTS、TOEFL、英検など英語検定試験では、ちょっとした文法のミスが合否を分けることもあります。
普段から文法に注意して英語学習に取り組んでください。
今回は、冠詞の正しい使い方について学習します。
 

What are articles?　　　冠詞とは？

artic(冠詞)とは、単純に名詞の前に”つける” ものではありません。
むしろ、名詞の前に置くことによって、続く名詞がどのような性質のものか予告する働きをもちます。
冠詞には「specific 定冠詞」と「unspecific 不定冠詞」と呼ばれるものがあります。
不定冠詞はa/an、の2種類、定冠詞は　the　を使います。
 
使い方
Article + noun　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
Example:   an + apple
a + balloon
the + umbrella
 
 

不定冠詞　a/anを使う場合

それまで話しに出てこなかったもの、つまり聞き手や読者が知らない事柄を示す時に使います。
 I bought an apple from the supermarket yesterday.
私は昨日スーパーでりんごを1つ買いました。
 
相手がそれまで意識していなかった、それまで聞いたことのないりんごなのでanを使う。
次に昨日買ったりんごを食べたという文では定冠詞theを使います。
I ate the apple I bought yesterday.  私は昨日買ったそのりんごを食べた。
昨日買ったりんごであることが聞き手にはわかっているのでtheを使う。
 

a/an の区別

a と an の使い分けは、名詞が母音で始まる場合は an をつけ、子音で始まる場合は a をつけます。
母音とは、日本語でいえば「ア、イ、ウ、エ、オ」の5つになります。
Examples are:　 a book
a pair of shoes
a great friend
例文　　: Mike has always been a great friend of mine.
Examples are:    an umbrella
an amazing talent
an unforgettable experience
例文　: She was born with an amazing talent.

 
注意　１
実際の発音が母音で始まる場合には、つづりが子音から始まっていてもanと結びつきます。
Example:  an honest person instead of a honest person
honestは子音で始まりますが「h」は発音せずに次の「o」を”a”と発音しているのでanを
使います。
 
注意　2
y / w は「半母音」と呼ばれ、a と結びつきます。
a year,  a word
 
注意 3
実際の発音が母音で始まらない場合には、つづりが母音で書かれていてもa と結びつきます。　 a university
Examples are:　 a book
a pair of shoes
a great friend
例文　　: Mike has always been a great friend of mine.
 

定冠詞　the　を使う場合

Theは、「ほかとはっきり区別がつくもの」で聞き手・読書が「ああ、あれのことだな」と
納得できるものが次にくることを予告することにもなります。
Examples are: 　　the house
the sunken treasure
the next heir
例文　: The government discovered the sunken treasure approximately one mile from here.
 
以上のように冠詞は特別難しいものではありません。　冠詞の基本ルールを覚えて、
スピーキングやライティングの際は、正しい冠詞の使い方を心がけましょう。
次に、冠詞の特別な用法も覚えましょう。
 

冠詞　+　形容詞　　　形容詞を伴うことによって不定冠詞が必要になる場合

ふつうは無冠詞か定冠詞とともに使う名詞でも、形容詞とともなうと不定冠詞が必要になる場合があります。
形容詞をともなうと、「いくつもある種類のうちの〜な1つ」「いくつもある側面のうちの〜な1つ」
という意味合いが生まれるからです。
例文
an + amazing + talent = an(不定冠詞) +amazing(形容詞) +talent (unspecified noun)
the + sunken + treasure = the(定冠詞) + sunken (adjective) +treasure (specified noun)
 

冠詞　+　数えられる名詞（可算名詞）

数えられる名詞（可算名詞）は単独では使えず、数値、a/an,the,myなどと結びつきます。
可算名詞であるかを知るために、複数形であるか、または”s”が付いていないかをチェクします。
特定のもので複数形の場合は”the”を使い、不特定で単数形の場合は”a”又は”an”を使います。
 
例　  an + onion (means one onion; singular; unspecific)　１つのタマネギ
a kid (means one kid; singular; unspecific)　１人の子供
the umbrella (means one umbrella; singular; specific)　（すでに話に出た）１つの傘
the umbrellas (means many umbrellas; plural; specific)　（すでに話に出た）いくつもの傘
 

冠詞　+　所有格（his, her,　my etc. ）

 
所有格は、theに意味が１つ加わったものと考えてください。<the + 私の> でmyになります。
だれのものか明白な状況では、原則として所有格は使いません。
          誤　 She wants to bring her the umbrella because it’s raining outside.
          正　 She wants to bring the umbrella because it’s raining outside.
 

冠詞を使わない場合

冠詞を使わない場合は、「1つのまとまりとしてとらえることができず」「どれとはっきり決めることができないが」
「とりあえず存在するもの」を示すことになります。
 
love, happiness, experience, など抽象名詞では原則冠詞は使わない
Happiness is what I’ve been aiming for my whole life.
 
名詞だけ見れば（聞けば）、だれのことか、または、それのことかすぐわかる場合は冠詞を使わない。
誤　I want to dine at the McDonalds tonight.
正　I want to dine at McDonalds tonight.
誤　The Sheena is smart.
正　We will go where The Statue of Liberty is located.

食事・スポーツ・ゲームの名前には冠詞を使わない
誤　I like to play the basketball so much.
正　I like to play basketball so much.
 
数えられない名詞（不可算名詞）には冠詞を使わない
ただし、不可算名詞の前に数えられる前置フレーズがあれば”the”が使えます。
誤　I want to take home a bread from the grocery.
正　I want to take home bread from the grocery.
誤　She gave me an advice about my career, yesterday.
正　She gave me a piece of advice about my career, yesterday.
正　Don’t cry over spilt milk.

一般的なアイデアには冠詞は使わない
　　誤　The Pollution is one of the most common problem of the communities nowadays.
正　Pollution is one of the most common problem of the communities nowadays.

IELTSライティング Task 1　 Bar Chart（棒グラフ）攻略

お勧めしたい４段落構成

1. Introduction　　     （序論）
2. Overview 　             （大要）
3. Body Paragraph A　　（本論A）
4. Body Paragraph B     （本論B）

1　　INTRODUCTION Paragraph　序論

表現の言い換え　Paraphrase the information given by IELTS

第一段落では、序論として「そのグラフが何を表しているか」を書きます。
それは設問文に示されていますが、設問文をそのままコピーするのではなく、
言い換えた文を書くことが大切です。
序論ではできれば2つの文を作るとよいでしょう。
グラフが何を表しているのかを簡単に説明していきます。
“ Units are measure in・・・・” のように書いていきます。

サンプル　パラグラフ

重要ポイント！

同じ単語やフレーズの繰り返しを避けるために
「言い換え表現　synonyms」を覚えることが大切です。
また、次のようなアカデミックな表現を使いましょう。”The chart….consumer goods…
「　　」はアカデミックな文章ではよく使われます。
グラフの日付に合わせた時制を使うことに注意します。

2　　OVERVIEW Paragraph　大要

まずはグラフにある主な特徴を選びます。
それはグラフで表す数値が高いものや低いもの、或いは比較的大きな変化などです。
それらの特徴の概要を書いていきます。大要は評価の25％にあたる大切なところです。

サンプル　パラグラフ

3つの主な特徴

全体的特徴（どちらの国がより消費しているか）
最も消費しているもの
最も消費していないもの

重要ポイント！

Task 1　の中で最も大切な部分
全体的な特徴(Overall)から書き出すこと
グラフの数値を比較しながら説明していく（Often use comparatives.）
英文を論理的に展開するために、さまざまな接続表現を覚える。(range of linking devices)
While / whereas / as opposed to / compared to / in comparison with.

3            BODY Paragraphs 本論

本論は2つ以上書きます。通常2つの本体を書きだします。
本論では、さらに細かくグラフの特徴を比較しながら説明します。
グラフの特徴を2つの側面に着目して、論理的に描写していきます。

グラフの中で最も消費したものと消費が最低のものに着目する

消費額に最も格差があるものに着目する

サンプル　パラグラフ

Body paragraph(本論)では、数値を入れながら説明するようにしてください。
どんなに上手に書けても数値がない説明文は評価が上がりません。

それでは、最高得点（バンド　スコア　9）の模範解答をご覧ください。

The chart illustrates the amount of money spent on five consumer goods (cars, computers,
books, perfume and cameras) in France and the UK in 2010. Units are measured in pounds sterling.
Overall, the UK spent more money on consumer goods than France in the period given.
Both the British and the French spent most of their money on cars whereas
the least amount of money was spent on perfume in the UK compared to cameras in France.
Furthermore, the most significant difference in expenditure between the two countries was on cameras.
In terms of cars, people in the UK spent about ‎£450,000 on this as opposed to
the French who spent £400,000. Similarly, the British spent more money on books
than the French (around £400,000 and £300,000 respectively).
In the UK, expenditure on cameras (just over £350,000) was over double that
of France, which was only £150,000.
On the other hand, the amount spent on the remaining goods was
higher in France. Above £350,000 was spent by the French on computers
which was slightly more than the British who spent exactly £350,000.
Neither of the countries spent much on perfume which accounted for £200,000 of expenditure
in France but under £150,000 in the UK.

Questions :

http://www.mytutor-jpn.com/info/2016/0621222215.htm
Ricardo Semler: How to run a company with (almost) no rules
もし仕事が、あなたの人生を束縛しないとしたらどうでしょう？ブラジルで企業のCEOを務めるリカルド・セムラーは、過激な方法で、企業の民主主義を実践しています。彼は、取締役会から社員の休日の報告方法（そんなこと必要ないのです）まで、あらゆることを見直しました。それは、社員の英知に報い、ワーク・ライフ・バランスを促進し、さらには、仕事や人生とは本当はどうあるべきか、深い洞察に導いてもくれるのです。おまけの質問をひとつ ― もし学校もこんなふうだったら？
 

Part 1   (Comprehension Questions with Sample Answer):

1. What does Ricardo Semler mean about “terminal days”?
2. How did Mr. Semler run a company?
3. The speaker spoke about the most important things in life, what are those?
4. What was the name of the school they created?
5. What are the different ages Mr. Semler mention in his talk?
6. What is the beautiful cemetery in Cambridge?
7. Mr. Semler threw everything he had into the fire and it did two things for himself and his kids. What were those?
8. Asking three whys: What happens in the first why?
9. Asking three whys: What happens in the second and third why?
10. What is the effect of asking asking three “whys” in a row?

Part 2  (Express Yourself Questions):

1. How is what would you do if you only have six months or a year to live?
2. What is your own definition of “love”?
3. Do you think that there is life after death?
4. Where do you think people go after they die?
5. Have you ever thought your purpose of existence? What do you think it is?
6. Choose one: Having a lot of money but very little time or having time but not having money nor health?
7. How would you run a company? with rules or almost no rules?
8. What do you want to be remembered for?
9. “Nobody wants it for free” Do you agree with this? Explain further.
10. If you can have something for free, what would you like to have? Why?
11. If you can have something for free, what would you like to have? Why?
12. What did you write in your bucket list? How important is it to keep a bucket list?

Part 3   (Activity): Fill in the blank

Questions

http://www.mytutor-jpn.com/info/2016/0621214659.html
Randall Munroe: Comics that ask “what if?”
ウェブ漫画家のランドール・マンローは「もし こうだったら？」という内容のシンプルな質問に答えています（例えば、「もし光速で移動するボールを打ったら？」）。彼が使うのは数学と物理学、論理と淡々としたユーモアです。この楽しい話でマンローは、グーグルのデータセンターに関する読者からの質問からスタートし、遠回りしながら笑ってしまうほど詳細な答えに達します。その答えとは・・・シーッ、あなたもそこから何か学べるかも知れませんよ。
 
 

Part 1   (Comprehension Questions with Sample Answer):

1. If a baseball is pitched at 90 percent of the speed of light, how long would it take to reach the home plate?
2. What are the few things that we need to consider in order to figure out how big would Google’s data warehouse?
3. What does the Google need to get the power they need?
4. It is prohibited but people still do it when they visit a data center. What is it?
5. What was Mr. Munroe’s estimation?
6. How many characters can a punch card hold?
7. How many punch cards can you fit into a box?
8. How did Mr. Munroe figured out Google’s response?
9. What was the Google’s response to the article about the punch cards?
10. Before Mr. Munroe ended his speech, he talked about receiving a question from anonymous sender using what subject line?

Part 2   (Express Yourself Questions):

1. Can you give an example of a hypothetical question?
2. What do you think is the best and fastest way to hide a body? Can you do this one soon?
3. Would you like to work at Google? Why? Why not?
4. How do you relate to Randall Munroe’s talk about Google towards being the biggest usage server for websites?
5. Would we be able to survive without using Google?
6. Do you believe that Google has the answers to all our questions?
7. Is everything written on the Google a fact?
8. How do you filter the information you have read in the internet?
9. In what way does Google take over our lives?
10. According to Randell Munroe’s talk, it is said that Google is the world’s largest consumer. Aside from NSA, could you think of any other organizations as well?
11. If you received a parcel from Google, what would be your reaction?
12. What can you say about Google’s response to Mr. Munroe?
13. Why do you think Google is so secretive about the size of its data pool?
14. No matter how much information and data is stored, we are faced with the problem of retrieval. List as many characteristics of a great information retrieval program as you can and explain you answer to someone.
15. Aside from money, electricity and number of servers, what do you think are the other factors you can suggest to Mr. Monroe?
16. What do you think is unusual about combining math, science and comics? Explain your viewpoint to someone.
17. Would it be a good idea if all the digital data in the world will be stored in punch cards?
18. What do you think will happen if Google would be transparent with the information they have?
19. Do you think all questions can be answered by math, science and comics?
20. “If people had wheels and could fly, how would we differentiate them from airplanes?”

Part 3    Activity : Instruction:

Find the words for each description below and write it on the space provided. All words will occur horizontally or vertically – not diagonally.

Questions :

http://www.mytutor-jpn.com/info/2016/0614223900.html
The surprising thing I learned sailing solo around the world
あなたは、世界一周単独航海で何を学びますか？単独航海者のエレン・マッカーサーが、必要な物だけを揃え地球を周回して帰還すると、世界の機能の仕方について新しい洞察を得ました。世界は連動し、資源には限りがあります。今日の決定が、明日の資源の枯渇を左右するのです。彼女は、世界の経済システムについて、大胆で新しいアイデアを提案します。直線型は終わりにして、全てが周り続ける循環型を目指そう、というのです。

Part 1　　 (Comprehension Questions with Sample Answer):

1. What age did the she started to sail?
2. What did she me made up in her mind at the age of four?
3. What age did she begin to go apprenticeship?
4. What is the name of the ship that used in sailing at the age of 24?
5. What day did she first encounter storm at sea?
6. What’s the definition of the speaker about the word “finite”?
7. In the background of the speaker what is the job of her great-grandfather and how many years that he spent his life in the underground?
8. What was the speaker found out as she went to the World Coal Association website? 9. “Can the circular economy decouple growth from resource constraints?

10.What is she referring to about her questions” So could we achieve this in their lifetimes? Is it actually possible?
 

Part 2 　　(Express Yourself Questions):

1. Do you think changes in the economy are predictable?
2. Are you interested in the economy?
3. How important is the economic situation to your daily life?
4. Do you think it is important to be knowledgeable about the economy?
5. What do you think are the main economic problems in the world today?
6. Do you worry about the world economy?
7. Do you have any ideas about how the problems could be solved?
8. What can assist economic growth?
9. What do you think will happen 20 years from now?
10. Do you think there would be lot of inventions in the near future?
11. What are the best and the most useful inventions of the mankind in the 20th and 21st centuries?
12. What famous inventors do you know?
13. How did the Internet influence such things as communication, correspondence, access to information?
14. Do you think that the Internet is the good or the evil?
15. What do you think is the worst invention of the mankind? (weapon, atomic energy, cigarettes, television, mobile phones, cars, genetically modified products etc)
16. Can you name some inventions are you looking forward to? (human cloning, time traveling, eternal-life-pill, AIDS\cancer vaccine, teleportation)
17. Just like what the speaker did have you tried to go sailing around the world?
18. Do you have interest in sailing?
19. How many countries have you been to? How many states?
20. How many times have you traveled abroad?

Part 3　(Activity): Multiple Choice:

Part 1   (Comprehension Questions with Sample Answer):

1. Who invented the automobile in 1885?
2. What does the speaker talks about the topic?
3. How many people are killed on the world’s roads every year?
4. In America alone how many people are killed each year in a car accident?
5. What is the kind problem that is getting worse in our roads today?
6. What does the conventional wisdom says?
7. What year they had the first test of a self-driving car where they let regular people use their car?
8. What invention does the speaker is introducing?
9. What year do they first test a self-driving car and let regular people use it?
10. What statement they thought after letting the people used the self-driving car?

Part 2   (Express Yourself Questions):

1. What will driving be like in the future?
2. How safe do you think is the self-driving cars?
3. Do you want to have self-driving car in the future?
4. Do you think self-driving cars will be use in the future? Why or why not?
5. In your own idea do you think that self-driving cars could lessen traffic jam?
6. Can you drive a car?
7. Are you a good driver?
8. Have you ever been in a car accident?
9. Are the drivers in your area where you live good drivers?
10. Do you know anything about repairing or maintaining a car?
11. Do you prefer driving or riding public transportation?
12. What kind of car do you prefer?
13. What are the advantages/disadvantages of buying a car?
14. If you were going to get a new car, what kind of car would you get? A luxurious car? A sports car? A hybrid or electric car?
15. What kind of cars do you think look the best?
16. What is the fastest you have gone in a car?
17. Do you think cars are safe?
18. What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of driving versus public transportation?
19. What do you think cars will be like in the future?
20. Do people drive well in your country?

Part 3   (Activity): Multiple Choice:

Questions

www.mytutor-jpn.com/info/2016/0608233841.html
TED　Talk　オリジナル
How a driverless car sees the road
統計的に自動車おいて信頼性の最も低い要素が何かというと、それは運転手です。現在進められている運転席から人間をなくそうという企ての１つ、Googleの自動運転車プログラムを率いるクリス・アームソンが自動運転車の現状について語り、自動運転車はどのように道路を見、次にどうすべきか自律的に判断しているのか、興味深い映像を使って紹介します。