Shadowing Practice: The Worst Punishments in Human History - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Let's start with the bad and slowly work our way towards the stuff of nightmares.
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Number 10.
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The Rat Dungeon.
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If you were alive in London, England during the medieval period, you would have definitely heard about the Rat Dungeon,
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since this punishment struck paralyzing fear into the hearts of even the most hardened criminals.
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This was a cell that was located at the bottom of the London Tower, where prisoners were shackled and chained in complete darkness.
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But here's the thing, the dungeon was connected to the nearby river and just below the river's waterline,
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rows, all the rats that lived along the riverbed would be pushed out of their shelters and forced to swim downstream.
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This would of course lead the hungry and angry rats towards the entrance of the dungeon, where they would then come face to face with the prisoner.
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But to the unlucky prisoner, he never actually saw anything, and all he would hear were the soft scurries of the rat's feet entering the dungeon.
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And in a matter of minutes,
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these soft noises were in the hundreds and all rats would then begin to take small bites from the prisoner,
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who had no way of defending himself.
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Now, he might be able to shake the rats off for a few hours, but eventually the prisoner would pass out from pure exhaustion.
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And while he slept, the rats would continue to take bites from his flesh.
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Eventually, when he would wake up, he would discover hundreds of bites throughout his entire body.
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But it didn't stop there.
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The prisoner was left here for days or weeks on end, depending on this form of punishment just got more and more deranged,
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eventually becoming a form of execution, where prisoners would just be thrown in the dungeon and forgotten about.
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Number 9.
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The Rack.
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This was yet another punishment that took place in the London Tower.
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The Rack was a torture device that was used in many places throughout history.
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This form of punishment was originally designed for getting a confession, usually from criminals, slaves, or prisoners of war.
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The device looked like a large ladder, but instead of secure steps, like a rolling pin.
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You see, when a prisoner was placed on the rack, he would have his feet and wrists tied to a ratchet pulley system,
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where two legal officials would slowly tighten the ropes and locking them in place, placing an increasing amount of strain on the prisoner's shoulders,
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hips, knees, and elbows with every single turn.
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This was all done to get information, but of course, a lot of the times the truth was not accepted as reality,
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and the prisoner would then begin to say would work and the prisoners would be let go,
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while other times they would be tortured even more for lying.
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When the whole ordeal was over, prisoners were usually released with dislocated joints, but oftentimes they were left completely paralyzed.
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That was the case in England in 1447
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when a 25 -year -old girl named Anne Askew would be tortured on the rack for hours
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and hours on end and left completely paralyzed after all her joints were dislocated.
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She was then carried on a chair and burned alive at the stake.
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All this because she read and memorized scriptures from the Bible which she preached in private to small group of women,
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which were the exact women she refused to name and expose during her torture.
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You see, during this time period, if you followed any religion other than the Catholic Church, you better not say a word to anybody,
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including your own husband, which was the person that turned her in.
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Number 8: Keelhauling This brutal punishment was carried out at sea on sailors who would steal
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or be violent towards others and would usually result in death.
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Keelhauling would start with a sailor having his arms tied with
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the rope then looped around the entire circumference of the ship before being tied off to his feet.
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The sailor would then be thrown overboard
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while the group of men on board pulled on the rope
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to slowly drag him around the outside of the ship including over the keel, which is how this punishment gets its name.
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But a lot of the times, the sailor wouldn't even have to worry about it, since they were dead before they ever reached it.
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Kinda just depends on how hard the guys on the rope feel like working that day.
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Not only would the sailors be drowning and getting their backs and necks broken on the keel,
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they were also getting sliced apart like a cheese grater by all the sharp barnacles on the outside of the ship.
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But if by some miracle, a sailor actually happens to make it all the way around the ship without dying, one of three things will happen.
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One, he would be sent for round two and for sure be dead by then.
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2. Be freed and allowed back on the ship, where he would then slowly die to infections. Or 3.
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Lived the rest of his life single
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and being made fun of since he was now fully covered in scars from head to toe.
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Number 7.
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Crushed by Elephants.
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Now we are getting to the part of the list where living is no longer an option.
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This form of punishment has been used by many countries throughout history, but was most recently used by India in the 19th century.
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Which is really not that long ago if you really think about it.
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Like, your great grandma could have witnessed one of these.
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What type of crimes would you have to commit to be crushed by an elephant you might ask?
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Well, apparently if you failed to pay your taxes.
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That was good enough.
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enemy soldier was also a great way to become a tortilla.
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But the most disturbing case in history was
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when the fourth Mughal Emperor of India ordered an enormous amount of criminals to be crushed to death in a single day,
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simply because he was bored and needed some entertainment.
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The guy who forgot to pay his taxes?
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Crushed.
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The man who stole an apple from the local market?
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Crushed.
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The little orphan who jaywalked across the street?
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Crushed.
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The man who murdered his neighbor
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and added his remains to a large pot of tomato soup then fed that soup to his
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the shadows with a creepy smirk on his face.
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Eh, he's alright.
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Apparently he makes a damn good soup.
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There are a few ways that this public execution goes down, but one thing always stays the same.
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There's always a guy on top of the elephant controlling its every move.
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And this was very intentional, as this was meant to showcase just how amazing the ruling class were.
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I mean, look at them.
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They can control an elephant.
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Now be impressed.
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The first method of execution was the one that you better pray for if this was going to be your fate.
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Here the criminals would have their arms tied behind their back and their heads placed on a pedestal, where it was then crushed like a grape by the elephant's foot.
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Now the second method is much more cruel.
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The criminal would be placed flat on the floor with their arms tied behind their backs.
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Then the elephants would be guided to walk over the person's body, and hopefully the criminal would die on the first go.
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But sometimes they just end up crushing a leg or an arm, then has to make a U -turn and try again and again and again.
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The final and worst way is when a highly trained elephant was guided to slowly crush the person limb by limb.
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They would first crush the arms, then the legs, and then poke holes in them with the tusks, until eventually dealing the final blow to the head or torso.
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This is the more theatrical route that rulers like the 4th mogul love to take, and made for a truly traumatizing experience for everyone.
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Except for the fourth mogul.
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He loved it.
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Number 6.
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Impelment.
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Probably one of the grossest and most cruel forms of punishment on the list.
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This has been used by a few countries throughout history, but was most recently used in Egypt in the 17th century, usually against criminals that were highway robbers,
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grave thieves, or anyone who would try and start a rebellion.
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This punishment would start by having a criminal lay flat on their stomachs with their arms tied behind their back.
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They would then be sliced open incision was made,
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the cut would be lathered with paste to instantly stop the blood.
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They would then thrust in a long wooden stake that was the width of a man's arm, which was sharply tapered on one end.
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They then begin to hit the wooden stake with the mallet, pushing it further and further in.
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And of course, the stake was greased up beforehand to make this process a lot smoother.
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And once the stake has popped out of the criminal's shoulder, head, or mouth, they were pretty much long gone.
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road like a Halloween decoration to remind everyone that this is what happens when you break the law.
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They will be left there for the entire day and removed the following morning before the body begins to stink.
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But wait, there's another version of this as well.
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You see, on some occasions, the criminals would only be impelled just deep enough to keep them in place, but not too deep that it would cause immediate death.
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They would do this by having stakes that had a seated position
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They would then be placed on a busy road where they would suffer for hours
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and hours pleading to people walking by for help, until eventually succumbing to their wounds.
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Number 5.
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Poena Cule.
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Poena Cule is Latin for penalty of the sack.
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And that's exactly what it was, just a lot more terrifying and cruel.
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This was an exclusive punishment for anyone that would murder their own family members.
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This was first seen in the 2nd century in Rome, but would later be used by the Germans in the 18th century.
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This all begins with a convicted murderer being placed inside a thick leather bag.
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But just to make sure the man isn't lonely, they would then add a dog, a rooster, a viper, and a monkey.
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I don't know what these animals did to deserve this, but hey, at least the evil family murderer doesn't die alone.
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Once all the animals are added inside the bag, it is then sewn shut, creating an almost airtight seal.
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Now you would think this would be horrible enough, but no, this is just the beginning.
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Because as soon as the bag is sewn shut, it is then tossed into the ocean.
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But don't worry, later on, these murderers would be given the option to either be placed inside the leather bag,
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form the act of being mauled to death in front of all of their loved ones and peers.
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You know, at least they had the option.
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Number 4.
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Rats.
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This is one of the most sick punishments in all of human history, and it involves the use of rats.
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I will cover two of them here as they are very similar.
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The first use of this form of punishment dates back to 1568, during the 80 years war.
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A Dutch leader named Diedrich Sonoy would often use this method of punishment, which involved placing a rat inside of a clay bowl,
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then placing it topside down on a prisoner's stomach, chest, face, or groin.
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bowl would be heated with either a torch
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or some coals causing the rat to go into a full -on panic trying to escape from the heat
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and its only way out was to burrow into the human once inside it would continue to chew
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and tear apart whatever was in its way desperately searching for
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a way out eventually the rat finds its way out of the maze and survives
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The same could not be said for the prisoner.
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But the second method was much, much worse.
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And was highly secretive since it was used under the guidance
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of the dictator Augusto Pinochet where he held power from 1976 through 1983.
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They called it the Rectoscope.
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And I'm sure you have already figured out where this is going.
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Yes, it's exactly what you think.
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They would place a tube on a prisoner's back door,
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then insert a rat inside so sick that they actually expected the prisoners to answer questions while this was going on.
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Eventually, the rat would find its way in and begin to move forward to find its way out.
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Nobody really knows how many people died from this punishment, but we do know that a ton of people went missing when this dictator was in charge.
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Number 3.
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Gibbeting.
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The last known use was in the early 1900s in Afghanistan.
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This all came to light in 1921 when the National Geographic's
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This was also used in the United States from time to time during the 17th and 18th century.
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One notable example was in Boston, Massachusetts, where a few pirates were hung at the Boston Harbor, which served as a warning to any sailors that were approaching Boston.
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Now let's talk about England since they loved this form of punishment so much.
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In England this was used on traitors, murderers, pirates, and thieves.
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But after the year 1752 the Murder Act was passed,
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which required that all convicted dissected or by gibbetting of some sort.
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And over 134 confirmed people met this fate.
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The most common form of gibbetting were actually cages and they looked like this.
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It was an all steel cage that was shaped tightly to the form of a human body, which was so tight that it would not allow the person inside to move.
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They were then hung 30 feet or more off the floor, usually on a public road or waterhole, to ensure that the most amount of people could witness this monstrosity. But I
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annoying than anything since every time you get thirsty
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and needed to fill up your container of water you would
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have to deal with the dying man begging you for a sip
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"Over here !" But the annoyance and torture of the public didn't stop there.
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Because after the criminals would die in the cages, the body would be left inside to rot for years and years on end.
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With the locals complaining that the smell of death was so pungent that they couldn't even sleep at night.
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There's even been reports that some human remains stayed inside of these cages for over 20 years, before a government official would finally remember to clean it out.
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Number 2.
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Scafism.
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This was a form of punishment that was used by the ancient Persian empire on anyone that would be convicted of murder.
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First, the criminal would be placed inside of a boat on their backs and tied down.
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The boat had four holes cut out so that the person's arms
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and legs would be outside of the boat and in the water.
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They were then force -fed large quantities of honey and milk until their stomachs were visibly full.
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They would then proceed to lather
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he was then pushed out to the middle of the lake where he was completely exposed to the heat of the sun.
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But the sun would soon become the least of his worries.
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You see, the reason they fed him milk and honey was not because it was a great last meal, but because this combination causes the person to get extreme diarrhea,
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which mixed with the sweet honey attracts rodents, bugs, wasps, bees, flies, and whatever other animals live near the lake.
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After being tormented by the time maybe gets a little better.
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No. Because as soon as the sun rises the following day, the person inside of the boat gets another gigantic meal of milk and honey and an additional lathering.
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This would be done on a daily basis to prolong the punishment for as long as possible.
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It was also well documented that the rodents would continuously attempt to burrow inside of the person through their back door.
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They were probably trying to get a head start on their next meal.
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A writer named John Cenaris wrote in great detail about one of these incidents.
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He would go on to say that it was one of the most horrid and cruel forms of punishment, since it was terribly long and seemed to have no end in sight.
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He wrote about a man who survived for an entire 17 days before he finally died from his wounds.
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Apparently, the man spent his last few days with his entire face completely covered with wasps,
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and his flesh rotting away filled with swarms of parasites and Filth.
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Number 1.
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The Oubliette.
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Oubliette simply means to forget in French.
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This was a punishment that was used in many places throughout history, including in the London Tower, which had a small and confined room called Little E's.
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Not only was this room pitch black, it was also so small that prisoners could not sit, stand, or lay down while inside it,
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and they would be left in this uncomfortable position for days on end.
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One of the most famous Oubliettes is not the one in district of Warwick, inside of Warwick Castle.
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Here, deep underground in the castle's dungeons, is a very small and narrow cell, completely made of stone, which has a metal door to close it shut.
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Prisoners were tossed inside of the cell and forgotten about, as the name implies.
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The prisoner would just have to sit there and wait for their inevitable death, which usually came in a few days from dehydration or starvation.
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Now of course, this would be the best case scenario, a rotting corpse inside of the cell to keep the new prisoner company.
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The previous occupier of the cell would serve as a daily reminder of his upcoming fate.
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But that's not the only companions that he will have, since the underground dungeons are completely infested with rats that have developed a taste for human flesh.
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But wait, there's more.
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These oubliettes existed in many of the castles throughout Europe,
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and in recent times they have actually discovered these dungeons ever cleaned.
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Like in Leap Castle of Ireland, where in 1900 during the castle's renovation, a worker found a small opening behind a wall inside of the chapel.
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This hole had an 8 foot drop that led to a large oubliette.
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And what the worker found inside shocked him, since it was filled with so many skeletons that they needed multiple cart loads to clear it all out.
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But just when you think this section is over, it just keeps on giving.
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You see, there's been many stories of and kept alive for years and years on end,
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surviving off crumbs of food and minimal amounts of water, prolonging their inevitable demise for as long as humanly possible.
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These cells were sometimes even placed on ground level so they can hear the voices and laughter of the people outside.
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An experience that they will never get again in this lifetime.
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Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección
Esta lección de conversación de nivel B2 se basa en el vídeo “The Worst Punishments in Human History”. Las palabras que más se repiten: punishment, prisoner, inside, rat. Este vídeo tiene 221 frases y 3215 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 17:45. El hablante habla rápido, unas 181 palabras por minuto, así que espera sonidos enlazados y reducidos. Solo el 81 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es exigente.
Vocabulario clave de este vídeo
Las 15 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| prisoner sustantivo | /ˈpɹɪzənə/ | prisionero, preso |
| crush verbo | /kɹʌʃ/ | aplastar, destripar |
| dungeon sustantivo | /ˈdʌn.d͡ʒən/ | mazmorra, calabozo |
| rat sustantivo | /ɹæt/ | rata |
| sailor sustantivo | /ˈseɪ.lɚ/ | velerista |
| elephant sustantivo | /ˈɛlɪfənt/ | elefante |
| stake sustantivo | /steɪk/ | estaca |
| torture sustantivo | /ˈtoɹt͡ʃɚ/ | tortura, suplicio |
| murderer sustantivo | /ˈmɝdɚɚ/ | asesino, asesina |
| rack sustantivo | /ɹæk/ | estante, estantería |
| cruel adjetivo | /ˈkɹuːəl/ | cruel, cruento |
| cage sustantivo | /keɪd͡ʒ/ | jaula, gayola |
| convict verbo | /ˈkɑnvɪkt/ | condenar, sentenciar |
| rope sustantivo | /ɹoʊp/ | soga, maroma |
| soup sustantivo | /sup/ | sopa, caldo |
Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar
| Palabra | Pronunciación | Significado |
|---|---|---|
| cut out verbo | dejar de, dejar | |
| end up verbo | terminar, ir a parar | |
| figure out verbo | averiguar, captar | |
| fill up verbo | llenar, repletar | |
| lie down verbo | echarse, tenderse | |
| wake up verbo | /ˌweɪk ˈʌp/ | despertarse, recordar |
Gramática en este vídeo
Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:
| Estructura | En el vídeo |
|---|---|
| Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hace | was located · was connected · would be pushed |
| Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosa | husband, which was · keel, which is · guy who forgot |
| Present perfect have/has + participio pasado — una acción pasada que sigue importando ahora | has been · has popped · have already figured |
Pronunciación a tener en cuenta
El hablante usa 10 contracciones y formas reducidas, como didn't, don't, couldn't. Dilas en su forma corta, tal como las oyes.
- Los sonidos de “th”: thief /ˈθiːf/, thrust /θɹʌst/, width /ˈwɪtθ/
- Los sonidos de “sh” y “zh”: crush /kɹʌʃ/, flesh /flɛʃ/, decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/, confession /kənˈfɛʃən/, sharply /ˈʃɑɹpli/
- Palabras largas — cuida el acento: inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, decoration /ˌdɛkəˈɹeɪʃən/, rebellion /ɹɪˈbɛl.i.ən/, continuously /kənˈtɪnjuəsli/, desperately /ˈdɛs.p(ə.)ɹət.li/
Sonidos difíciles para hispanohablantes:
- s + consonante al inicio — sin añadir una “e” delante: stake /steɪk/, slice /slaɪs/, strain /stɹeɪn/
- /v/ — no es /b/: los dientes tocan el labio inferior: convict /ˈkɑnvɪkt/, inevitable /ɪˈnɛvɪtəbəl/, medieval /mɪdˈi.vəl/
- /z/ — sonora, no /s/: prisoner /ˈpɹɪzənə/, paralyze /ˈpæɹəˌlaɪz/, expose /ɪkˈspoʊz/
Cómo practicar con este vídeo
- Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
- Empieza a velocidad 0,75×, haz shadowing frase por frase y vuelve a la velocidad normal cuando te resulte fácil.
- Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como prisoner, crush, dungeon.
¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?
Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.