【語注】
threat 脅威
今回は人口増加をテーマにしたトピックスです。
内容をまとめました🌼
The world’s population has officially reached eight billion. The growth is partly due to developments in health,nutrition and medicine. It has taken just eleven years to go from seven to eight billion. But growth in several countries is actually slowing. Many are concerned the expanding population is destroying the planet. Now I’d like to talk about population increase and introduce three new words - peak,poses,shape- in this topic.
1,World population hits eight billion as experts predict when it will peak
The world ‘s population has reached eight billion. Experts predicts that the world population will peak. “Peak”has a connection to mountains. If you picture a mountain,the top is the peak. It means you can’t go any higher. But we also use this word “peak”to talk about data and graphs. If you look at a graph,the highest point is the “peak”,which means the top. The top of the mountain peak and on the graph are nouns. But it’s also used as a verb to mean go as high as possible. The headline writer is saying that population is continuing to rise now,but at the some point,the population will read the peak,which means it can’t go any higher,just like an actual mountain. And also we can use another means,not just to talk about graphs and mountains. I explain them by using examples. First,in sport,it often used meaning that a team or a person has reached their best level of performance. - they can’t get any better,they’ve peaked. Second,the World Cup is coming and it’s really important for a football team not to peak soon. This means that they shouldn’t be at their best level of performance until the actual competition,not before it. That’s an useful phrase “don’t peak too soon”. And we use it for other situations,not only sport. If you’re revising for exams and you start doing too much too early,you could say,”don’t peak too soon or you’ll forget everything on exam day”.
2,Global population hits 8 billion as growth poses more challenges for the planet.
This population growth is causing problems for the planet. Poses means the way you stand in a particular position like yoga pose,a model for a photo and an actor on the stage. But here it’s a verb and “poses”means creature or causes something to happen. The headline is saying that this population growth is causing problems,issues,challenges. It “poses”a problem. So we often use “poses”with questions,you can “pose”a question. But it’s commonly used with negative nouns like “threat”or “danger”or “problem”. For example,if a driver has been drinking alcohol,it poses a danger to people in the road and in that car as well. And a political scandal could pose problems for the government.
3,As the 8 billionth person s born, here’s how Africa will shapethe future of the Planet’s population.
This headline is looking specifically at Africa and how it will shape the future. Shape is a noun like triangle,square,circle. But if you want to make something into the shape you want,you shape it. That is t say,it’s a verb. The headline is talking about how Africa will shape or influence the future. And we often use this verb “shape “in relation to beliefs or ideas or personalities. It has something or someone in your life shaped you as a person. For example,I moved around a lot when I was as child,and I think that shaped my personality. Because as an adult,I’ve moved around a lot as well.
World population has reached eight billion. The figure is the top and can’t go any higher. And the population growth has created negative problems. Specifically at Africa,it will influence the future of the planet ‘s population.
世界的に見ると人口は増え続けているけれど、日本は逆に少子化が進んで人口減少していますね。
移民を受け入れて人口不足を解決する案も出ているみたいで、そうなると今度は逆に治安悪化やテロが起きたりするのではないかなぁという不安に思います😢
また現在日本に拠点を置いて、日本語を用いて生活をしている外国人の方は、外国から日本語を一生懸命学んで、日本の文化を尊敬しているように感じられます。
もし、移民にて人口不足を補った場合、私達日本人が大切にしてきた、また日本が大好きで渡って来た外国人によって守られてきた、伝統的な日本文化が消え失せてしまう可能性も少なくはないですよね。。
人口不足を補う為に移民受入することは、決して簡単なことではないかなと思いました。
