【要約】How to study history? (Official TOEFL iBT Tests vol1 TEST5 講義問題1問目)

【はじめに】
学んだ英語の単語や表現を使う練習として、TOELF iBT Test vol1に入っているTEST5の講義問題・第一問の要約をしました。要約の過程は、音声をディクテーション→スクリプト確認→音声確認→和訳→音読→リードアンドルックアップ→リピーティング→できれば暗唱、をまず行います。しかし、1度に上記の勉強を５分ある講義音声に対して行うのは難しいです。そこで、1回当たり１分の音声に対して勉強を行い、５日ほどかけて講義全体の音声に対して上記の勉強をしました。その後、週末に聞き直して要約する、といった流れです。

色々な表現を使って、自分の表現力を高めることを目的としているので、「適切に要約ができているか」という観点から文章を読むと良い要約ではないです。要約内容が間違っているかもしれませんので、孫引きをしないようにご注意ください。もし要約中の表現や内容にご意見ある方は、根拠を示すとともに助言をいただければ幸いです。また、要約中の太字は記事の中から引用した、特に使いたい単語および表現となります。

【要約】
The title of this course is Introduction to World History. This lecture discusses three approaches to the world history.

The first approach is the Western Heritage model, which used to be the most common approach for the most U.S. high schools and colleges. This model focused on a set of values and ideas of Western Europe (the Greeks, the Romans, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance) such as democracy, legal systems, and artistic achievements. This approach made sense in U.S. schools since the history of Western Europe was the cultural heritage of everyone up until 1960s.

The student body in the U.S. schools, however, eventually became much more diverse at U.S. schools. The 1960s and 70s were a period when people from different cultures were demanding more relevance in the curriculum, and there was a criticism of the European fucus. As a result, the Western Heritage model was eventually replaced by or combined with a newer approach, the Different Cultures model. Instead of studying the Western Europe, with this model, we represent other civilizations or cultural categories, in addition to Western Europe.

Though the Different Cultures model is more inclusive than the Western Heritage model, it is still basically a “heritage” model, which brings us to a third approach, the Patterns of Change model. This model allows us to be no longer limited by notions of a fixed culture or geographical boundaries. It is looking at common themes, conflicts, and trends that cut across modern-day boarders of nations or ethnic groups. For example, with this model, we look at how interactions with Islamic civilizations affected the cultures in Africa, India, Spain, and so on. As a result, we can look through the past with a wider lens. The lecturer believes that this approach is the best way of studying history to better understand the current-day trends and conflicts.

In this course, instead of studying the “linear” development of particular nations from some ancient origins, such as a succession of British kings or a dynasty of Chinese emperors, students will look at common themes and concepts that go beyond cultural and regional distinctions, such as monarchy, imperialism, and political transformation.