Vocabulary Challenge 9: https://tw.voicetube.com/everyday/20190515
心智圖詞彙攻略: ericvocab.com
Script:
Yo, yo, yo! VoiceTubers! Welcome back to our academic vocab challenge!
My name is Eric, your resident English teacher, and today, let’s talk about the history of rap!
History of rap (饒舌)? Isn’this academic vocab challenge? Yes! Rap is a form of music! It incorporates rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular, the form of a language that a particular group of speakers uses naturally, especially in informal situations (本地話，方言；白話).
So have you ever thought why rap is important? Why is it so popular?
Well, Rap (Rhythm and Poetry) is a way of expressing emotions, problems, etc. It can also be a social commentary, a way for people to talk about discrimination, racism, drug abuse, social controversies, injustice but also about hope. Rap can bring greater awareness to these
issues!
There are even reading passages on the TOEFL that talks about rap.
Do you have a favorite rapper? I think my favorite is Tupac Amaru Shakur, the rapper of California Love. Check out the song later on YouTuber, it will be worth your while.
First, let’s focus on our Sentence of the Day.
So when the MC would come out, the goal would be to get the crowd engaged, so the MC found creative ways to put the words together that would prepare the crowd for the DJ.
司儀的目的就是要吸引觀眾，因此他們會把稿子用創意的方式拼湊組合，讓觀眾迎接 DJ 出場。
So let’s say this sentence again.
So when the MC would come out, the goal would be to get the crowd engaged, so the MC
found creative ways to put the words together that would prepare the crowd for the DJ.
Faster
So when the MC would come out, the goal would be to get the crowd engaged, so the MC
found creative ways to put the words together that would prepare the crowd for the DJ.
What are the possible thought groups 字組?
So when the MC would come out, (1)
the goal would be to get the crowd engaged, (2)
so the MC found creative ways (3)
to put the words together (4)
that would prepare the crowd for the DJ. (5)
What about the sentence stress (句子的重音)?
You could say:
So when the MC would come out, (1)
the goal would be to get the crowd engaged, (2)
so the MC found creative ways (3)
to put the words together (4)
that would prepare the crowd for the DJ. (5)
How about the intonation (語調)?
So when the MC would come out,(up)
the goal would be to get the crowd engaged,(down)
so the MC found creative ways (up)
to put the words together (up)
that would prepare the crowd for the DJ (down).
As for grammar, did you notice that the speaker uses “so” at the beginning of both sentences? He used “so” to give himself time to think, and I do this as well sometimes. We can use
conjunctions to connect our ideas, but try to use more conjunctions in your speech next time.
Use “because, although, when, while, after, before, even if”
You do NOT need to overdo it and include one in every single sentence, but these
conjunctions will make it easier for listeners to follow along and will make your ideas
connect better.
So you could say:
When the MC would come out,
the goal would be to get the crowd engaged,(down)
So,/To achieve this goal, the MC found creative ways (up)
to put the words together (down)
This would prepare the crowd for the DJ (down).
Conjunctions and Conjunctive Adverbs 對等連接詞,從屬連接詞, 相關連接詞, 連接副詞
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/conjunctions.htm(Conjunctions- English)
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/transitions.htm#transitions(Conjunctive Adverbs/Transition Words- English)
http://englishhome.org/grammar/conjunctions.htm (Chinese)
http://www.taiwantestcentral.com/Grammar/Title.aspx?ID=8 (Chinese)
Correlative Conjunctions (相關連接詞) http://www.taiwantestcentral.com/Grammar/Title.aspx?ID=171 (Chinese)
http://www.chompchomp.com/terms/correlativeconjunction.htm (English)
Parallel Structure 對稱構句的觀念
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/1/ (English)
http://web.chu.edu.tw/~wswu/grammar/sentence_structure/parallelism.htm (Chinese)
Comparatives and Superlatives 比較級和最高級
http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/regcom.htm(English)
http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/comparative-and-superlative-adjectives (English)
http://210.240.55.2/~t311/moe/engb4/b4grammar/b4comparative.htm(Chinese)
http://www.taiwantestcentral.com/Grammar/Title.aspx?ID=471 (Chinese)
OK, now every time, we can go over thought groups, sentence stress, and intonation. Then,
we can talk about one grammar point each time. Please note that I usually speak a little
slower this part because it is designed for you to make notes, which I had talked about in the
previous lessons. We are going over learning strategies here and not just practicing listening.
Try to focus on one concept each time so if you have not heard our previous Pronunciation/Academic Vocab Challenge, go back to the first episode.
OK, let’s take a break!
We usually focus on just listening in our break time.
So today’s topic is on rap.
There’s a lot of controversy when it comes to rap. Many political and media groups blame rap for youth violence because or the lyrics and music videos seemingly promote violence, sex, and drugs.
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/zht/%E8%A9%9E%E5%85%B8/%E8%8B%B1%E8%AA%9E/controversy
Rap, however, is not so simple. Many argue that rap does not advocate violence, rather it
communicates the existing problems such as the racism and inequality faced by youth
today. Rap, like other forms of music, needs to be viewed in its historical and social context, in order to be understood.
It can be viewed as the voices of working-class African Americans and under-represented
groups. Like everything else that is popular, it has been commercialized. Not all raps have a
strong and valuable message, but many of them do. Take the songs of Tupac Shakur, for
example.
The young rapper was murdered in a drive-by shooting at the age of 25. While his songs do
glorify violence and misogyny, he spoke of discrimination, poverty, gangs and police
injustice in his lyrics. In his song, Changes, he spoke against racism and hatred.
“I see no changes, all I see is racist faces
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under, I wonder what it takes to make this
One better place, let’s erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people, they’ll be acting right”
Rap, like all music, is a representation of our feelings, thoughts, and emotions. It should not be blamed for our social problems, rather, it gives insight into these problems and helps us better understand them, so that we may be able to solve them one day.
Did you enjoy our discussion? If so, join us at ericvocab.com, where we will use the English
that we learn to engage in meaningful learning and discussions.
Now, let’s go back to English learning and over some additional words:
| Word | Form |
| 1. hip hop 嬉哈音樂 A. a type of popular dance music with a regular heavy beat and spoken words → rap B. a type of popular culture that began among young African-Americans in big cities, which includes hip hop music, dancing, and graffiti art. The difference between rap and hip hop is that Hip Hop is a whole culture with Rap being one of the elements of the Hip Hop culture. Hip Hop is made or formed of different elements such as rapping, DJing, B-boying or breakdancing and graffiti arts.hip hop culture 嘻哈文化 hip hop music 嘻哈音樂 Hip hop music has greatly influenced American culture. 嘻哈音樂對美國的文化有極大的影響。 |
(n.) |
| 2. master of ceremonies (MC) / emcee In American English, you can also spell it “emcee” a person who makes certain that official events happen correctly, for example by introducing performers at the right time 司儀；儀式主持人 The master of ceremonies is responsible for introducing the performers. 儀式主持人負責介紹表演者。 |
(n.) |
| 3. hype a situation in which something is advertised and discussed in newspapers, on television, etc. a lot in order to attract everyone’s interest （新聞媒體的）大肆宣傳，炒作 media hype 媒體炒作 There’s been a lot of hype around/surrounding his latest film. 大規模的宣傳都圍繞著他的最新電影進行。verb [ T often passive ] UK /haɪp/ US /haɪp/ also hype up to repeatedly advertise and discuss something in newspapers, on television, etc. in order to attract everyone’s interest（透過新聞媒體）大肆宣傳，炒作 |
(n.) |
| 4. focal central and important 中心的；重要的focal point 焦點 focal figure 焦點人物; 中心人物The focal figure of the movie is Annette Corley, a dancer who has boyfriend troubles. 這齣電影的中心人物是安妮特‧科利，一個在有點男朋友問題的舞蹈演員。 |
(adj.) |
| 5. lyrics the words of a song, especially a pop songlyrics （尤指流行歌曲的）歌詞 beautiful lyrics 美麗的歌詞 meaningful lyrics 有意義的歌詞Paul Simon writes the lyrics for most of his songs. 保羅‧賽門的歌大多都是他自己寫的詞。 |
(n.) |
OK, it’s been great talking about rap. If you are interested in learning more about academic knowledge, check out one lecture in ericvocab.com
Come and listen to me talk about vocabulary, knowledge, and how to use English for success.
I’m Eric and I will see you next week!
2pac feat Dr.Dre – California Love
歌曲分析: https://www.storyanddrama.com/tupac-dr-dre-california-love-lyrics-analysis-meanings/