高校生英語学習情報

Birth of Coca Cola

  Over a hundred years ago, John Pemberton ran a small drugstore in Atlanta, Georgia. He made and sold drinks and medicines there. He was very proud of his Pemberton's Blood Medicine and another medicine called Pemberton's Herbal Cough Syrup for coughs that would not go away.
  John made his medicines in a small laboratory in his house. One day, he was working on an important new medicine---the perfect cure for headaches. He chose his ingredients carefully. To make the medicine taste good, he used oils from fruits and spices. He added caffeine to give people energy. But he also needed something to reduce the pain of a headache So he added some coca leaves from Peru Finally, he had a new medicine that tasted good, gave energy and reduced pain.
  John's headache medicine was a reddish-brown syrup which was mixed with water. John started to sell his new medidne in the summer of 1886. The new medicine soon became popular. Many people would come to his store for a glass of Pembertcn's Special Headache Medicine before they went to work.
  One day, a customer arrived at the store and he looked terrible "I feel just awful," the customer told the young clerk. "I drank too much last night, I have a hangover and a bad headache. Give me a Pemberton's. Quickly!" The clerk was confused and
mixed the syrup with "carbonated water instead of ordinary water. And that is how a new drink was born: Coca Cola.

Coca Colaは、どのようにして誕生したと上記の文章では言っているか。まとめてみよう。

Learn more about Coca Cola on the following site:
http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/coca_cola.htm

Marmite

    It is strange the things which people miss. I, and many other English people living abroad, miss a strange kind of food called 'Marmite'. You can buy Marmite in Japan, but it is expensive, so whenever I go back to England, I buy some to bring back with me. My brother did the same when he used to live in the United States, and many English people living abroad are careful to make sure that they buy a stock of Marmite when they visit England. I can't really explain Marmite, except to say that it is made from the yeasty muck that is left at the bottom of the vat when beer is brewed, that it has been going now for over a hundred years, and that when my Japanese mother-in-law found some in our refrigerator, she opened the jar, she sniffed it, and she decided instantly that this was something so old, rotten and disgusting that she had better throw it away very quickly before it walked away by itself. I nearly cried when I got back from work and found it gone. Maybe an English mother-in-law would react the same way to miso, natto or umeboshi, but it is still a shock to find your Marmite gone.　[NHK『ビジネス英会話』テキストより]

It is strange the things which people miss.　見慣れない表現かもしれません。どういう表現のバリエーションと考えればいいでしょうか？その他、ここに表れる文章構造を考えてみましょう。

４月から高校１年生になる人たちへ

ここでは文章構造の分析をやります。英語の勉強に必ずしも必要な作業ではありませんが、多読、口頭訓練、音読、リスニングと併用することを前提に進めてゆきます。英語学習の補助学習と位置づけでやってゆきます。

当スクールで常に強調する３点

１．  時制[現在か過去か]

２．  数[単数か複数か、数えられる名詞か数えられない名詞か]

３．  S+V[動詞語法を軸に、動作の主体、話題の主体を常に捉える習慣をつける]

具体的には少しずつお話してゆきます。

英文を読むための基礎知識--- 3

[その３]
   By the 1600s, coffee drinking had spread through most of Europe. In 1652 the first coffeehouse was opened in England. It was through English coffeehouses that tipping became popular. Those desiring adequate service would toss extra coins into a cup placed by a sign saying: "To Insure Prompt Service." In a few years, more coffeehouses were built in England raising the total number to well over 300. This　phenomenon was observed in other European countries and cities as well. Much like those on the Arabian Peninsula, European coffeehouses became centers of social activity. They attracted a variety of customers from artists to merchants.
   By the mid-seventeenth century the knowledge of coffee had spread to the New World. There has been some dispute as to whether coffee first came to Canada or to the United States. The majority of evidence suggests that John Smith, the captain of a British ship, introduced this bitter beverage to the New World in the early 1600s. Because the colonists resisted the heavy tea taxes imposed by Britain, coffee drinking became more popular than tea among Americans.

◎It was through English coffeehouses that tipping became popular.
強調構文

◎Those desiring adequate service would toss
このwouldはこの文章ではどんな役割をしているでしょうか。

◎To Insure Prompt Serviceについて。どんなことですか。

◎以下の前置詞の意味の違いを説明しなさい。
In a few years,
By the mid-seventeenth century
in the early 1600s

◎以下のas toはどんな意味ですか。
as to whether coffee first came to Canada or to the United States