・121.1 Why a language becomes a …

次の文章を読み、後の設問に答えなさい。

     Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it.  It has much more to do with who those speakers are.  Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they conquered.  They were simply more powerful.  And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power ―― the religious power of Roman Catholicism.

     There is the closest of links between language dominance and cultural power.  Without a strong power-base, whether political, military, or economic, no language can make progress as an international medium of communication.  Language has no independent existence, living in some sort of mystical space apart from the people who speak it.  Language exists only in the brains and mouths and ears and hands and eyes of its users.  When they succeed on the international stage, their language succeeds.  When they fail, their language fails.

     This point may seem obvious, but it needs to be made at the outset, because over the years many popular and misleading beliefs have grown up about why a language should become internationally successful.  It is quite common to hear people claim that a language is ideal, on account of its perceived aesthetic qualities, clarity of expression, literary power, or religious standing.  Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, and French are among those which at various times have been praised in such terms, and English is no exception.  It is often suggested, for example, that there must be something inherently beautiful or logical about the structure of English, in order to explain why it is now so widely used.  “It has less grammar than other languages,” some have suggested.  “English doesn’t have a lot of endings on its words, nor do we have to remember the difference between masculine, feminine, and neuter gender*1, so it must be easier to learn.”

     Such arguments are misconceived.  Latin was once a major international language, despite its many inflectional endings*2  and gender differences.  French, too, has been such a language, despite its nouns being masculine or feminine; and so ―― at different times and places ―― have the heavily inflected Greek, Arabic, Spanish, and Russian.  Ease of learning has nothing to do with it.  Children of all cultures learn to talk over more or less the same period of time, regardless of the differences in the grammar of their languages.

     A language does not become a global language because of its intrinsic structural properties, or because of the size of its vocabulary, or because it has been a vehicle of a great literature in the past, or because it was once associated with a great culture or religion.  These are all factors which can motivate someone to learn a language, of course, but none of them alone, or in combination, can ensure a language’s world spread.  Indeed, such factors cannot even guarantee survival as a living language ―― as is clear from the case of Latin, learned today as a classical language by only a scholarly and religious few.  Correspondingly, inconvenient structural properties ( such as awkward spelling ) do not stop a language achieving international status either.

     A language becomes an international language for one chief reason: the political power of its people ―― especially their military power.  The explanation is the same throughout history.  Why did Greek become a language of international communication in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago?  Not because of the intellects of Plato and Aristotle.  The answer lies in the swords and spears wielded by the armies of Alexander the Great.  Why did Latin become known throughout Europe?  Ask the armies of the Roman Empire.  Why did Arabic come to be spoken so widely across northern Africa and the Middle East?  Follow the spread of Islam, carried along by the force of the Moorish armies from the eighth century.  Why did Spanish, Portuguese, and French find their way into the Americas, Africa, and the Far East?  Study the colonial policies of the Renaissance kings and queens, and the way these policies were implemented without mercy by armies and navies all over the known world.  The history of a global language can be traced through the successful expeditions of its soldier/sailor speakers.  And English has been no exception.

     But international language dominance is not solely the result of military might.  It may take a militarily powerful nation to establish a language, but it takes an economically powerful one to maintain and expand it.  This has always been the case, but it became a particularly critical factor early in the twentieth century, with economic developments beginning to operate on a global scale, supported by the new communication technologies ―― telegraph, telephone, radio ―― and fostering the emergence of massive multinational organizations.  The growth of competitive industry and business brought an explosion of international marketing and advertising.  The power of the press reached unprecedented levels, soon to be surpassed by the broadcasting media, with their ability to cross national boundaries with electromagnetic ease.  Technology, in the form of movies and records, fueled new mass entertainment industries which had a worldwide impact.  The drive to make progress in science and technology fostered an international intellectual and research environment which gave scholarship and further education a high profile.

     Any language at the center of such an explosion of international activity would suddenly have found itself with a global status.  And English was in the right place at the right time.  By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Britain had become the world’s leading industrial and trading country.  By the end of the century, the population of the USA ( then approaching 100 million ) was larger than that of any of the countries of western Europe, and its economy was the most productive and the fastest growing in the world.  British political imperialism had sent English around the globe during the nineteenth century, so that it was a language “on which the sun never sets.”  During the twentieth century this world presence was maintained and promoted, almost single-handedly, through the economic supremacy of the new American superpower.  And the language behind the US dollar was English. 

注： *1 neuter gender: （文法用語で）中性  *2 inflectional endings: 語尾変化

 

[設 問]

(1)  全体の議論を200～250字の日本語で要約しなさい。句読点も1字に数える。

(2)  Explain in 100 to 150 words in English what the author means by the underlined statement that “English was in the right place at the right time.”  As much as you can, avoid copying from the given text.

(3)  Suppose that your task is to determine whether the globalization of a language, as explained in the above passage, is similar to the globalization of (i) a particular team sport, or (ii) a particular genre of music, or (iii) a particular style of cooking.  Choose an example from one of these three categories.  What would you do to accomplish your task?  Answer as specifically as possible in 100 to 150 English words.  As much as you can, avoid copying from the given text.

 

  この問題は、設問(1)についてのみ[正答へのアプロウチ]と[解答例]を示すことといたします。設問(2)(3)は解答を英語で記すやう求めてゐますが、目下教養ある native speaker のチェックを得られる環境にないため、責任ある解答例を示すことができません。御諒解をお願ひいたします。

 

[正答へのアプロウチ]

(1) 各パラグラフの要點をメモ風に記してみますと（※パラグラフを丸數字で示します）、

① ある言語が世界的に普及して國際語となるのは、使用者の數とはあまり關はりがない。

② 政治の力であれ、軍事力であれ、經濟の力であれ、力の基礎が無ければ言語は國境を越えて普及することはない。

③ 言語の國際化は、言語自體の特質（美的特性、表現の明確さ、文藝の創作力、宗教など）によると、長年廣く信じられてきた。

④ さうした主張は誤りである。習得のし易さも言語の國際化とは關係ない。

⑤ 言語の世界普及の可否は、言語自體の長所・短所によるのではない。

⑥ 言語の國際化が主に使用者の政治の力、とくに軍事力によることは、歴史を通じて同じであり、英語も例外ではない。

⑦ 國際化した言語の維持・擴大には強い經濟の力が必要であり、特に20世紀初頭には、經濟發展が新しい情報傳達技術により地球規模で進み始め、大規模な多國籍組織を出現させてゐて、經濟の力が極めて重要となつた。（市場・宣傳の國際化、報道・放送の擴大、娯樂産業の成長、研究・教育の促進など）

⑧ 英語は、産業・通商國家として海外に進出した英國から廣まり、經濟力の優勢な米國により普及が維持・擴大されて、國際語となつた。

 

  上記メモのうち要約でおさへておくと良いのは以下の點だと思ひます。

１ 言語の國際化は使用者の數や言語の特質にはよらないこと。

２ その要因は力の強さ（政治・軍事・經濟）であること。

３ 20世紀初頭から、經濟の力が特に重要となつたこと。

４ 英語は要件を滿たして國際言語となつたこと。

 

  この設問の字數（200～250字）は、20字詰の原稿用紙なら10～12行あまりです。極めて簡潔に内容をまとめることが必要で、個別の例示に言及する餘裕はあまりないとみるべきでせう。さまざまな解答が考へられますが、下に示すのは、問題文の中心主題が「英語の國際語化」とみて、英語にやや重點を置いた解答の例です。

 

[解答例]

・言語の國際化は、言語使用者の數、言語自體の特質、習得のし易さによるのではなく、使用者のもつ力による。言語の國際化は先づは政治の力、特に軍事力によりもたらされるが、その維持・擴大には強い經濟の力が必要である。特に20世紀初頭からは、新しい情報傳達技術により經濟發展が地球規模で進み始め、大規模な多國籍組織が出現して、經濟の力が極めて重要となつた。英語は、産業・通商國家として海外に進出した英國により廣められ、經濟力の優勢な米國によりその普及が維持・擴大されて、國際語となつた。（236字）

 

  一般論として、評論文の要約問題の對處法を、あくまで私見とことはりつつ、述べてみます。

・試驗など時間の制約がある場合には、評論文のパラグラフ構造の特徴を踏へると要約が容易になるのではないかと思ひます。多くの英語評論文は、パラグラフの積み重ねから成つてをり、１パラグラフ１主題が原則となります。（※例外もあります。パラグラフの構造については、拙ブログの General Structure of an Essay [2011年2月25日～2011年3月31日掲載] を御覽ください。）

・パラグラフ毎の主題をつかむには、各パラグラフの先頭文や最終文に注目すると有效な場合が多いやうに思ひます。英文では、難しい語句のあとに説明を加へたり、平易な語句で言ひ換へたりする場合が結構ありますので、わからなくてもその續きを讀み進めば主題の把握に差支へないことがあります。

・パラグラフわきにメモを書きつけたり、重要と思はれる文中の語句にしるしをつけるなどしておくと時間の節約になるでせう。どのパラグラフに何が書いてあるかわかれば可いので、メモを文にまとめる必要はありません。

・字數感覺を養ふには、原稿用紙か、一行あたりの字數を適切に設定したワープロ・ソフトを使つて練習するのが便利です。

・なほ、試驗問題は、書物や記事の一部を拔萃したものが多く、「長文問題」とは言ひながら實は比較的短いものです。かうした事情から、全體の主題が捉へにくかつたり、問題文がやや不自然に思はれることがあります。

 

※本文についての解説は拙ブログの記事を御參照ください（2012年8月20日～9月14日までの月曜日と金曜日に掲載）。畫面右の Back Numbers で該當の月・年をクリックし、Calendar で該當日をクリックしてご利用ください。

 

※お知らせ： 加齡による目の衰へのため、6月より扱ふ題材を變へて目の負擔輕減をはかることと致します。御諒承ください。これまでの記事はそのまま殘しておきます。

・121.0 Why a language becomes a …

次の文章を読み、後の設問に答えなさい。

     Why a language becomes a global language has little to do with the number of people who speak it.  It has much more to do with who those speakers are.  Latin became an international language throughout the Roman Empire, but this was not because the Romans were more numerous than the peoples they conquered.  They were simply more powerful.  And later, when Roman military power declined, Latin remained for a millennium as the international language of education, thanks to a different sort of power ―― the religious power of Roman Catholicism.

     There is the closest of links between language dominance and cultural power.  Without a strong power-base, whether political, military, or economic, no language can make progress as an international medium of communication.  Language has no independent existence, living in some sort of mystical space apart from the people who speak it.  Language exists only in the brains and mouths and ears and hands and eyes of its users.  When they succeed on the international stage, their language succeeds.  When they fail, their language fails.

     This point may seem obvious, but it needs to be made at the outset, because over the years many popular and misleading beliefs have grown up about why a language should become internationally successful.  It is quite common to hear people claim that a language is ideal, on account of its perceived aesthetic qualities, clarity of expression, literary power, or religious standing.  Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Arabic, and French are among those which at various times have been praised in such terms, and English is no exception.  It is often suggested, for example, that there must be something inherently beautiful or logical about the structure of English, in order to explain why it is now so widely used.  “It has less grammar than other languages,” some have suggested.  “English doesn’t have a lot of endings on its words, nor do we have to remember the difference between masculine, feminine, and neuter gender*1, so it must be easier to learn.”

     Such arguments are misconceived.  Latin was once a major international language, despite its many inflectional endings*2  and gender differences.  French, too, has been such a language, despite its nouns being masculine or feminine; and so ―― at different times and places ―― have the heavily inflected Greek, Arabic, Spanish, and Russian.  Ease of learning has nothing to do with it.  Children of all cultures learn to talk over more or less the same period of time, regardless of the differences in the grammar of their languages.

     A language does not become a global language because of its intrinsic structural properties, or because of the size of its vocabulary, or because it has been a vehicle of a great literature in the past, or because it was once associated with a great culture or religion.  These are all factors which can motivate someone to learn a language, of course, but none of them alone, or in combination, can ensure a language’s world spread.  Indeed, such factors cannot even guarantee survival as a living language ―― as is clear from the case of Latin, learned today as a classical language by only a scholarly and religious few.  Correspondingly, inconvenient structural properties ( such as awkward spelling ) do not stop a language achieving international status either.

     A language becomes an international language for one chief reason: the political power of its people ―― especially their military power.  The explanation is the same throughout history.  Why did Greek become a language of international communication in the Middle East over 2,000 years ago?  Not because of the intellects of Plato and Aristotle.  The answer lies in the swords and spears wielded by the armies of Alexander the Great.  Why did Latin become known throughout Europe?  Ask the armies of the Roman Empire.  Why did Arabic come to be spoken so widely across northern Africa and the Middle East?  Follow the spread of Islam, carried along by the force of the Moorish armies from the eighth century.  Why did Spanish, Portuguese, and French find their way into theAmericas, Africa, and the Far East?  Study the colonial policies of the Renaissance kings and queens, and the way these policies were implemented without mercy by armies and navies all over the known world.  The history of a global language can be traced through the successful expeditions of its soldier/sailor speakers.  And English has been no exception.

     But international language dominance is not solely the result of military might.  It may take a militarily powerful nation to establish a language, but it takes an economically powerful one to maintain and expand it.  This has always been the case, but it became a particularly critical factor early in the twentieth century, with economic developments beginning to operate on a global scale, supported by the new communication technologies ―― telegraph, telephone, radio ―― and fostering the emergence of massive multinational organizations.  The growth of competitive industry and business brought an explosion of international marketing and advertising.  The power of the press reached unprecedented levels, soon to be surpassed by the broadcasting media, with their ability to cross national boundaries with electromagnetic ease.  Technology, in the form of movies and records, fueled new mass entertainment industries which had a worldwide impact.  The drive to make progress in science and technology fostered an international intellectual and research environment which gave scholarship and further education a high profile.

     Any language at the center of such an explosion of international activity would suddenly have found itself with a global status.  And English was in the right place at the right time.  By the beginning of the nineteenth century, Britain had become the world’s leading industrial and trading country.  By the end of the century, the population of the USA ( then approaching 100 million ) was larger than that of any of the countries of western Europe, and its economy was the most productive and the fastest growing in the world.  British political imperialism had sent English around the globe during the nineteenth century, so that it was a language “on which the sun never sets.”  During the twentieth century this world presence was maintained and promoted, almost single-handedly, through the economic supremacy of the new American superpower.  And the language behind the US dollar was English.  

注： *1 neuter gender: （文法用語で）中性  *2 inflectional endings: 語尾変化

 

[設 問]

(1)  全体の議論を200～250字の日本語で要約しなさい。句読点も1字に数える。

(2)  Explain in 100 to 150 words in English what the author means by the underlined statement that “English was in the right place at the right time.”  As much as you can, avoid copying from the given text.

(3)  Suppose that your task is to determine whether the globalization of a language, as explained in the above passage, is similar to the globalization of (i) a particular team sport, or (ii) a particular genre of music, or (iii) a particular style of cooking.  Choose an example from one of these three categories.  What would you do to accomplish your task?  Answer as specifically as possible in 100 to 150 English words.  As much as you can, avoid copying from the given text.

 

  この問題については、次囘に設問(1)のみ解答例を示すことといたします。設問(2)(3)は解答を英語で記すやう求めてゐますが、目下教養ある native speaker のチェックを得られる環境にないため、責任ある解答例を示すことができません。御諒解をお願ひいたします。

・124.10 Your favorite coffee shop is …

本問最終回は、問題文全体に關はる設問をとりあげます。

①                    

     Your favorite coffee shop is crowded with people who are stressed out, and you are standing shoulder to shoulder with them in a slow-moving line.  The pushing and elbowing of the crowd worsens your severe social anxiety.  You start gasping for air, your heart quickens, and you want to run away.

②

     You force yourself to stay, however.  You manage that achievement only because you are not actually there.  You are living this experience through your avatar, an animation that represents you in a virtual environment.  In reality, you have never _(a) made it to the counter during the morning rush, but you can get there on a computer.  The experience of watching your digital look-alike smoothly reach the front of the virtual line and order a pretend drink is real enough, research suggests, to help you learn to cope with similar situations in the actual world.

③

     Recent studies have demonstrated that watching an avatar that resembles you can influence your thoughts, feelings, and actions, which is called the “doppelgänger* effect.”  Doppelgänger avatars allow you to see yourself perform a desired action, live out a fantasy or take on a slimmer, fatter, or older form.  For instance, you can help people make smarter decisions about money.  In a recent study, a psychologist, Hal Ersner-Hershfield, and his colleagues created look-alike avatars of 50 participants whom they had digitally aged to 70 years old.  Each user “went inside” his or her avatar and _(ア) peered out onto the virtual scenery from the perspective of a new self.  Thus, researchers made some participants look in a virtual mirror to acquaint themselves with their senior selves while they answered questions known to enhance identification with an avatar, such as “What is your greatest fear?” and “What is your greatest hope?”

④

     Participants were then told to _(b) allocate $1,000 to four purposes: a special occasion, someone else, a short-term savings account, and a retirement savings account.  Those who had seen their older selves opted to put twice as much into their retirement account as those who had not seen their aged selves.  In a similar study, exposure to senior counterparts reduced participants’ prejudices against older people, ( Y ) the attitudes of subjects who did not meet their digitally aged doppelgängers.

⑤

     In addition to giving people a new perspective, doppelgänger avatars may be able to modify behavior _(イ) by providing substitute reinforcement.  Jesse Fox, a communications researcher atOhioStateUniversity, and her colleagues created avatar doubles for 69 college and graduate students who then watched their artificial selves eat in a virtual-reality environment.  The avatar sat in front of a bowl of carrots and a bowl of chocolates.  When the avatar ate chocolate, it got fat, and when it snacked on carrots, it slimmed down.

⑥

     Afterward, participants filled out a survey, which was placed next to a bowl of chocolates.  The female participants who witnessed their avatars gaining and losing weight and felt absorbed in the scenario consumed less of the available chocolate than did those ( Z ) avatars did not change or who did not buy into the virtual experience.  Many of the women thought the visual reinforcement had altered their attitude and behavior.  “Even though I really dislike carrots,” one said, “I liked watching myself get thinner, so watching the weight ( あ ) take ( い ) ( う ) me ( え ) ( お ) eat more healthily.”

⑦

     Avatars can also be used for less virtuous purposes, such as making us feel more favorable toward a product than _(ウ) we might otherwise be.  Already commercials feature actors who look, sound, and act like the people in the community _(甲) they target, in order to get consumers to envision themselves as owners or users of a particular product. A doppelgänger avatar might be an even more powerful way to accomplish the same goal.

⑧

     In 2010 researchers at StanfordUniversity’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab decided to test the power of avatars to influence consumers.  They asked 80 students to log on to a website and watch virtual _(c) endorsements of imaginary soft-drink brands.  Some brands appeared in advertisements with text endorsements only.  Others were shown with a picture of a stranger or a picture of the participant as a spokesperson.  In a survey asking which brand participants preferred, most chose the one that appeared with their own image.  This finding suggests that advertisers might benefit from _(エ) appropriating static images of individuals from, for example, social network sites, in order to personalize their marketing.

⑨

     The most appealing spokespersons of all, however, might be fully controllable doppelgänger avatars of the type featured in extremely absorbing virtual games.  When Stanford students entered such a virtual setting featuring their doppelgänger in a soft-drink T-shirt, they highly endorsed the product on the shirt, _(d) provided they could control and manipulate their digital doubles.  Such studies indicate the degree to which our opinions may be _(e) vulnerable to influence by anyone who decides to take and manipulate our digital image and put it before us.  “Our identities are _(f) on the verge of becoming that mixture of our physically real and virtual self or selves,” says sociologist Sherry Turkle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 (Adapted from Samantha Murphy, “Your Avatar, Your Guide,” Scientific American Mind, March / April, 2011)

[注]  doppelgänger  分身

 

I－F  以下の[A]～[C]の英語の質問に答える時、もっとも適切なものを次の1～4の中からそれぞれ一つ選びなさい。

 [C]  In this whole passage, which of the following does NOT describe an avatar?

  1  a digital double of a person

  2  an actual living person

  3  an animated representation of a person

  4  a virtual look-alike of a person

 

I－G  本文の意味・内容に合致するものを次の1～6の中から二つ選びなさい。

  1  Research suggests that a virtual experience through an avatar is effective in helping those who suffer from social anxiety improve their behavior in the actual world.

  2  Ersner-Hershfield’s study indicates that those who had watched their digitally aged avatars became more carefree with their monetary plans.

  3  The researchers at Ohio State University reported that 69 female subjects who had doubted the virtual reality setting of gaining and losing their weight did not improve their eating habits.

  4  In terms of sales promotion, good-looking strangers featured in commercials are more effective than the doppelgänger avatars of consumers.

  5  According to the research conducted at Stanford University, advertisers have difficulty in influencing people if they exploit the avatars of a target group.

  6  Seeing a digital doppelgänger can change your way of thinking for better or worse.

 

【解答・解説】

[設問]

I－F  以下の[A]～[C]の英語の質問に答える時、もっとも適切なものを次の1～4の中からそれぞれ一つ選びなさい。

 [C]  In this whole passage, which of the following does NOT describe an avatar? （この全文中で、アバターを表現してゐないのは次のどれか）

  1  a digital double of a person（人そつくりのデジタル畫像）

  2  an actual living person（實際に存在してゐる生身の人間）

  3  an animated representation of a person（本物のやうに動く代理像）

  4  a virtual look-alike of a person（假想空間のそつくりさん）

 

I－G  本文の意味・内容に合致するものを次の1～6の中から二つ選びなさい。

  1  Research suggests that a virtual experience through an avatar is effective in helping those who suffer from social anxiety improve their behavior in the actual world.（社會不安に惱む人が現實の世界での行動を改善するのを助けるのに、アバターを通じた假想空間での經驗が效果的だ、と研究は示唆する。 ※suggest: to say or show that something may be true.）

  2  Ersner-Hershfield’s study indicates that those who had watched their digitally aged avatars became more carefree with their monetary plans. （自分の高齡デジタル畫像を見てゐた人たちは、自分の金錢計畫について一層氣樂になつた、と Ersner-Hershfield の研究は示す。 ※indicate: (formal) to show that something exists or is likely to be true.）

  3  The researchers at Ohio State University reported that 69 female subjects who had doubted the virtual reality setting of gaining and losing their weight did not improve their eating habits. （假想空間での體重増減の設定に疑念を抱いてゐた69人の女性被驗者は食習慣が改善しなかつた、とオハイオ州立大學の研究者は報告した）

  4  In terms of sales promotion, good-looking strangers featured in commercials are more effective than the doppelgänger avatars of consumers. （賣上げ増進に關して[/の觀點で]は、宣傳に登場する見榮えの良い見知らぬ人のはうが、消費者の分身アバターよりも效果的である）

  5  According to the research conducted at Stanford University, advertisers have difficulty in influencing people if they exploit the avatars of a target group. （スタンフォード大學で行なはれた研究によると、廣告主は、販賣對象者のアバターを營利目的で利用すると、人々に影響を及ぼすのに難儀する）

  6  Seeing a digital doppelgänger can change your way of thinking for better or worse. （デジタルの分身を目にすると、考へ方が良い方か或は惡い方へと[良くも惡くも]變はる可能性がある）

 

[正答へのアプロウチ]

I－F [C]  ②（第２パラグラフ）にアバターの説明があります（your avatar, an animation that represents you in a virtual environment）。生身の人間ではありません。

 

I－G

  1  ○○△  social anxietyを幅ひろく捉へるならまづまづ合致してゐると言へるでせうが、True/False の判斷ではなく、ふたつの選擇肢を選ばせる設問ですから、一應他の選擇肢を眺めてからの結論となりませう。

  2  ×××  more carefree とは書いてありません。

  3  ×××  食習慣が改善しなかつたのは、アバターが變化しなかつた人たちと研究に參加しなかつた人たちです。

  4  ×××  效果的だつたのはアバターのはうでした。

  5  ×××  アバターを利用した場合に人々に影響を與へるのが困難であつたとは記されてゐません。

  6  ○○△  3.1に watching an avatar that resembles you can influence your thoughts, feelings, and actions とあります。選擇肢6は、この記述に含まれるとみて可いでせう。

 

[解答]

I－F [C]  2

I－G  1, 6

・124.9 Your favorite coffee shop is …

⑨

     The most appealing spokespersons of all, however, might be fully controllable doppelgänger avatars of the type featured in extremely absorbing virtual games.  When Stanford students entered such a virtual setting featuring their doppelgänger in a soft-drink T-shirt, they highly endorsed the product on the shirt, _(d) provided they could control and manipulate their digital doubles.  Such studies indicate the degree to which our opinions may be _(e) vulnerable to influence by anyone who decides to take and manipulate our digital image and put it before us.  “Our identities are _(f) on the verge of becoming that mixture of our physically real and virtual self or selves,” says sociologist Sherry Turkle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

I－A  下線部(a)～(f)の意味・内容にもっとも近いものを次の1～4の中からそれぞれ一つ選びなさい。

 (d)  provided

  1  in accordance with the ratio that   2  in spite of the fact that

  3  on the condition that            4  reporting the information that

(e)  vulnerable to

  1  beneficial for    2  defenseless against

  3  immune to      4  unaffected by

(f)  on the verge of becoming

  1  about to become      2  accustomed to becoming

  3  similar to becoming   4  unlikely to become

 

 【解答・解説】

[番號付英文]

9.1  The most appealing spokespersons of all, however, might be fully controllable doppelgänger avatars of the type featured in extremely absorbing virtual games.

9.2  When Stanford students entered such a virtual setting featuring their doppelgänger in a soft-drink T-shirt, they highly endorsed the product on the shirt, provided they could control and manipulate their digital doubles.

9.3  Such studies indicate the degree / to which our opinions may be vulnerable to influence / by anyone / who decides to take and manipulate our digital image / and put it before us.

9.4  “Our identities are on the verge of becoming that mixture of our physically real and virtual self or selves,” says sociologist Sherry Turkle of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

 

[設問]

I－A  下線部(a)～(f)の意味・内容にもっとも近いものを次の1～4の中からそれぞれ一つ選びなさい。

 (d)  provided（～といふ條件で/もし～ならば）

  1  in accordance with the ratio that（～といふに比率に一致して/～のとほりに）

  2  in spite of the fact that（～といふ事實にも拘らず）

  3  on the condition that（～といふ條件で/もし～ならば）         

  4  reporting the information that（[分詞構文を後に置いて]～といふ情報を報告した）

(e)  vulnerable to（[影響]を受けやすい）

  1  beneficial for（[影響]への助けとなる） 

  2  defenseless against（[影響]に對して無防備な）

  3  immune to（[影響]に對して免疫のある）   

  4  unaffected by（[影響]によつて變はらない）

(f)  on the verge of becoming（～となる間際の/今にも～にならうとして）

  1  about to become（まさに～にならうとしてゐる）   

  2  accustomed to becoming（～となることに馴れてゐる）

  3  similar to becoming（～となることに似てゐる）

  4  unlikely to become（～となりさうもない）

 

 [解答]

I－A (d)  3

I－A (e)  2

I－A (f)  1

 

[語句・構文等]

9.1  might be ～： 假定法由來の婉曲表現です。控へ目に推定を述べてゐます。

9.3  關係代名詞の節がふたつ重なつてゐて多少讀みにくいのですが、「前から順に、頭に意味を放りこむ」讀み方をして意味を把握します。區切りの例を番號付英文ではスラッシュで示してみました。

  關係代名詞の節は前の名詞（先行詞）の説明として置かれてゐます。「そのやうな研究は程度(/度合)を示す」…これが中心文です…「程度」についての説明が續きます…どういふ程度か？…「私たちの意見が影響を受けやすい（であらう）程度」とあります…この influence は名詞で「影響」の意味です…次に by がありますから、誰による影響なのかが説明されます…anyone は「誰であれ～の人」…では、どんな人による影響なのか、その説明が who ～です…「私たちのアバターをとりあげ、操作し、私たちの前に置くことにする人」です…その影響を受ける程度を研究が示してゐる、といふことになります。

  關係代名詞は前の名詞を言ひ換へたものと解すると、日本人には讀みやすく使ひやすくなるやうです。前置詞 to も the degree を言ひ換へた which についてゐるものと解するとわかりやすいでせう。

□參考例文： degree に to がついた例です。

To what degree is the plan realistic?

その計畫はどの程度まで現實性があるのか。

9.4  or selves： or で言ひ換へ説明を行なつてゐます。physically real self と  virtual self とがあるので、單數の self を複數の selves に言ひ換へて一層正確に表現しようとしたのではないかと思ひます。

9.4       on the verge of ～        （あまり好ましくない事態について）～間際の/今にも～しようとして

 

[意味把握チェック]

9.1 しかしながら、最も心を動かす(/説得力のある）語り手は、非常に熱中しやすい假想空間ゲームに登場するタイプの、完全制禦可能な分身アバターかもしれない。

9.2 スタンフォード大學の學生たちは、清涼飮料水のＴシャツを着た自分の分身（アバター）が登場する假想空間（場面）に入つたとき、デジタル加工した自分の複製(/分身アバター)を制禦し操作できるといふ條件であれば、Ｔシャツにあしらはれた製品を大いに支持したのである。

9.3私たちの意見が、（誰であれ）私たちのデジタル畫像を作つて操作し私たちに提示することにした者によつて、どの程度影響を受けやすくなるかを、さうした研究は示してゐる。

9.4 「自分といふものが、本物の自分と假想の（單一または複數の）自分とが混りあつたものになる瀬戸際にある」とマサチューセッツ工科大學（M.I.T.）の社會學者 Sherry Turkle は言ふ。

 

※問題文全體に關はる設問（英問英答と内容眞僞）は、2018年5月14日に全文と共に解説いたします。