Shadowing Practice: Cambridge Ielts 16 Reading test 2 Passage 2 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Les maken...
1
contain multitudes.
2
Wendy Moore reviews Ed Yong's book about microbes.
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Microbes, most of them bacteria, have populated this planet since long before animal life developed and they will outlive us.
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Invisible to the naked eye, they are ubiquitous.
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They inhabit the soil, air, rocks and water and are present within every form of life, from seaweed and coral to dogs and humans.
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And, as Yong explains in his utterly absorbing and hugely important book, we mess with them at our peril.
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Every species has its own colony of microbes,
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called a microbiome, and these microbes vary not only between species but also between individuals and within different parts of each individual.
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What is amazing is that while the number of human cells in the average person is about 30 trillion, the number of microbial ones is higher about 39 trillion.
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At best, Jung informs us, we are only 50% human.
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Indeed, some scientists even suggest we should think of each species and its microbes as a single unit, dubbed a holobiont.
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In each human there are microbes that live only in the stomach, the mouth or the armpit and by and large they do so peacefully.
13
So, bad microbes are just microbes out of context.
14
Microbes that sit contentedly in the human gut, where there are more microbes than there are stars in the galaxy, can become deadly if they find their way into the bloodstream.
15
These communities are constantly changing too.
16
The right hand shares just one-sixth of its microbes with the left hand.
17
And, of course, we are surrounded by microbes.
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Every time we eat, we swallow a million microbes in each gram of food.
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We are continually swapping microbes with other humans, pets and the world at large.
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It's a fascinating topic and Yang, a young British science journalist, is an extraordinarily adept guide.
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Writing with lightness and panache, he has a knack of explaining complex science in terms that are both easy to understand and totally enthralling.
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Yang is on a mission.
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Leading us gently by the hand, he takes us into the world of microbes a bizarre, alien planet in a bid to persuade us to love them as much as he does.
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By the end, we do.
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For most of human history we had no idea that microbes existed.
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The first man to see these extraordinarily potent creatures was a Dutch lensmaker called Antony van Leeuwenhoek in the 1670s.
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Using microscopes of his own design that could magnify up to 270 times,
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he examined a drop of water from a nearby lake and found it teeming with tiny creatures he called animalcules.
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It wasn't until nearly 200 years later that the research of French biologist Louis Pasteur indicated that some microbes caused disease.
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It was Pasteur's germ theory that gave bacteria the poor image that endures today.
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Young's book is in many ways a plea for microbial tolerance, pointing out that while fewer than 100 species of bacteria bring disease,
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many thousands more play a vital role in maintaining our health.
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The book also acknowledges that our attitude towards bacteria is not a simple one.
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We tend to see the dangers posed by bacteria, yet at the same time we are sold yogurts and drinks that supposedly nurture, friendly, bacteria.
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In reality, says Yang, bacteria should not be viewed as either friends or foes, villains or heroes.
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Instead we should realize we have a symbiotic relationship, that can be mutually beneficial or mutually destructive.
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What then do these millions of organisms do?
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The answer is pretty much everything.
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New research is now unraveling the ways in which bacteria aid digestion, regulate our immune systems, eliminate toxins,
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produce vitamins, affect our behavior and even combat obesity.
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They actually help us become who we are, says Young.
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But we are facing a growing problem.
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Our obsession with hygiene, our overuse of antibiotics and our unhealthy,
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low-fiber diets are disrupting the bacterial balance and may be responsible for soaring rates of allergies and immune problems, such as inflammatory bowel disease, IBD.
45
The most recent research actually turns accepted norms upside down.
46
For example, there are studies indicating that the excessive use of household detergents
47
and antibacterial products actually destroys the microbes that normally keep the more dangerous germs at bay.
48
Other studies show that keeping a dog as a pet gives children early exposure to a diverse range of bacteria, which may help protect them against allergies later.
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The readers of Yang's book must be prepared for a decidedly unglamorous world.
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Among the less appealing case studies is one about a fungus
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that is wiping out entire populations of frogs and that can be halted by a rare microbial bacterium.
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Another is about squid that carry luminescent bacteria that protect them against predators.
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However, if you can overcome your distaste for some of the investigations, the reasons for Yang's enthusiasm become clear.
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The microbial world is a place of wonder.
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Already, in an attempt to stop mosquitoes spreading dengue fever a disease
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that infects 400 million people a year mosquitoes are being loaded with a bacterium to block the disease.
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In the future, our ability to manipulate microbes means we could construct buildings with useful microbes built into their walls to fight off infections.
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Just imagine a neonatal hospital ward coated in a specially mixed cocktail of microbes
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so that babies get the best start in life.
📺 Zelfde Kanaal
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze video bevat 59 zinnen en 895 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 5:24. De spreker praat in een natuurlijk tempo van ongeveer 166 woorden per minuut, dicht bij een alledaags gesprek. Slechts 73% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is pittig.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
15 woorden uit de video die het leren waard zijn, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| indicate werkwoord | /ˈɪndɪˌkeɪt/ | aanwijzen, aanduiden |
| mutually bijwoord | /ˈmjut͡ʃuəli/ | wederzijds |
| mosquito zelfstandig naamwoord | /məsˈki.toʊ/ | mug, steekmug |
| allergy zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈæl.əɹ.d͡ʒi/ | allergie |
| topic zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | onderwerp, thema |
| pet zelfstandig naamwoord | /pɛt/ | huisdier, troeteldier |
| exposure zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɪkˈspəʊ.ʒə(ɹ)/ | blootstelling, contact |
| naked bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈneɪkɪd/ | naakt, bloot |
| soil zelfstandig naamwoord | /sɔɪl/ | grond, aarde |
| stomach zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈstʌmək/ | maag |
| journalist zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈd͡ʒɝnəlɪst/ | dagboekschrijver |
| sixth bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /sɪksθ/ | zesde |
| vital bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈvaɪtəl/ | levens- |
| ward zelfstandig naamwoord | /wɔɹd/ | bewaking |
| coat zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈkoʊ̯t/ | mantel, jas |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Betekenis |
|---|---|
| point out werkwoord | aanwijzen, aanduiden |
Uitspraak om op te letten
- De “th”-klanken: sixth /sɪksθ/, enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/, unhealthy /ʌnˈhɛl.θi/, enthrall /ɪnˈθɹɔːl/
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: exposure /ɪkˈspəʊ.ʒə(ɹ)/, infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, specially /ˈspɛʃəli/, obsession /əbˈsɛʃən/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: eliminate /ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/, invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/, beneficial /ˌbɛn.ɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, enthusiasm /ɪnˈθuziæzəm/, supposedly /səˈpoʊ̯.zɪd.li/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als indicate, mutually, mosquito.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.