Shadowing Practice: P.G. Wodehouse AUDIOBOOK 'Heavy Weather ' - Learn English Speaking with Video

Heavy Weather by P.

G. Woodhouse Read by Martin Jarvis Sunshine pierced the haze that enveloped London.

It came down Fleet Street, turned to the right, and stopped at the premises of the Mammoth Publishing Company.

Entering through an upper window, it beamed pleasantly upon Lord Tilbury, founder and proprietor of that vast factory of popular literature,

literature, as he sat reading the batch of weekly papers which his secretary had placed on the desk for his inspection.

Considering what a pleasant rarity sunshine in London is, one might have expected the man behind the mammoth to beam back.

Instead he pressed the buzzer.

His secretary appeared.

He pointed silently.

The secretary drew the shade, and the sunshine, having called without an appointment, was excluded.

"'Oh, I beg your pardon, Lord Tilbury.' "'Well?' "'A Lady Julia Fish has just rung up.

"'She says she would like to see you this morning.' "'Lord Tilbury frowned.

"'He remembered Lady Julia Fish as an agreeable hotel acquaintance "'during his recent holiday at Bieritz, but this was Tilbury House,

and he did not desire the company of hotel acquaintances.

Did she say what she wanted?

No, Lord Tilbury.

The secretary withdrew.

Lord Tilbury returned to his reading.

The particular periodical which had happened to come to hand was the current number of that admirable children's paper, Tiny Tots.

But presently he threw it down, and for the third time since it had arrived by the morning post, picked up a letter which lay on the desk.

It was brief, but it had ruined Lord Tilbury's day.

It ran, Blanding's Castle, Shropshire.

Dear sir, enclosed fine cheque for the advance you paid me on those reminiscences of mine.

I've been thinking it over, and have decided not to publish them after all.

Yours truly, G.

Threepwood.

Lord Tilbury rose from his chair and began to pace the room.

Short and stumpy, and about twenty-five pounds overweight, he looked like Napoleon taking his morning walk at St Helena.

And yet, oddly enough, there were men in England who would have whooped with joy at the sight of that letter.

In this world everything depends on the point of view.

Some months before, the news had got about that the on Galahad Threepwood, brother of the Earl of Emsworth,

and as sprightly an old gentleman as was ever thrown out of a Victorian music hall, was writing the recollections of his colourful career as a man about town.

The shock to many now highly respectable members of the governing classes was severe.

All over the country decorous dukes and steady Viscounts, who had once sown wild oats in the society of the young Galahad, sat quivering in their slippers,

at the thought of what long-covered skeletons those reminiscences might disclose.

To not a few, Lord Emsworth's nearest neighbour, Sir Gregory Parslow-Parslow of Matchingham Hall, was one of them.

It was as if the recording angel had suddenly decided to rush into print.

Lord Tilbury, however, had looked on the thing from a different angle.

He knew, no man better, what big money there was in this type of literature.

The circulation of his nasty little paper, Society Spice, proved that.

Even though Percy Pilbeam, its nasty little editor, had handed in his portfolio and gone off to start a private inquiry agency,

it was still a goldmine.

There is a tender spot in all great men.

Achilles had his heel, with Lord Tilbury it was his pocket.

He hated to see money get away from him, and out of this book of galley Threepwoods he'd been looking forward to making a small fortune.

Little wonder then that he mourned.

He was still mourning when his secretary entered bearing a slip of paper.

Name Lady Julia Fish, business personal.

At a time like this, tell her I'm— And then there flashed into his mind a sudden recollection of something about this Lady Julia Fish.

The words Blanding's Castle seemed involved.

He turned to his de Bret's peerage and searched among the Es for Emsworth Earl of.

There it was.

Lady Julia Fish had been born Lady Julia Threepwood.

She was a sister of the perjured Galahad.

That altered things.

The woman would not be calling unless she wanted to get something out of him.

To inform her in person that she was most certainly not going to get it would be balm to his lacerated feelings.

"'Ask her to come up.'

✨ Aanbevolen Video

83 zinnen

Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les

Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “P.G. Wodehouse AUDIOBOOK 'Heavy Weather '”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: Lord, Tilbury, Julia, Lady, Fish. Deze video bevat 58 zinnen en 746 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 4:58. De spreker praat in een natuurlijk tempo van ongeveer 150 woorden per minuut, dicht bij een alledaags gesprek. Slechts 76% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is pittig.

Belangrijke woorden in deze video

De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:

Woord	Uitspraak	Betekenis
sunshine zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈsʌnʃaɪn/	zonneschijn
mammoth zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈmæməθ/	mammoet
recollection zelfstandig naamwoord	/ɹɛkəˈlɛkʃən/	herinnering, herinneren
reminiscence zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˌɹɛm.əˈnɪs.əns/	herinnering
acquaintance zelfstandig naamwoord	/ʌˈkweɪn.təns/	bekendheid
litter zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈlɪt.ɚ/	strooisel
beam zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈbiːm/	balk, biels
admirable zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈæd.məɹ.ə.bəl/	bewonderenswaardig
buzzer zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈbʌzɚ/	zoemer
cheque zelfstandig naamwoord	/t͡ʃɛk/	cheque
decorous bijvoeglijk naamwoord	/ˈdɛkəɹəs/	goed, keurig
enclose werkwoord	/ɪnˈkloʊz/	omheinen
galley zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˈɡæli/	galei
periodical zelfstandig naamwoord	/ˌpɪɹiˈɑdɪkl̩/	tijdschrift
perjure werkwoord	/ˈpɜːd͡ʒə(ɹ)/	meineed plegen

Phrasal verbs die je zult horen

Woord	Betekenis
look forward to werkwoord	uitkijken naar, zich verheugen op
pick up werkwoord	oppakken, optillen

Uitspraak om op te letten

De spreker gebruikt 3 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals he'd, I'm, I've. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.

De “th”-klanken: mammoth /ˈmæməθ/, withdraw /wɪðˈdɹɔ/
De klanken “sh” en “zh”: sunshine /ˈsʌnʃaɪn/, recollection /ɹɛkəˈlɛkʃən/, circulation /ˌsɝkjʊˈleɪʃən/, publish /ˈpʌblɪʃ/, inspection /ɪnˈspɛkʃən/
Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: recollection /ɹɛkəˈlɛkʃən/, reminiscence /ˌɹɛm.əˈnɪs.əns/, admirable /ˈæd.məɹ.ə.bəl/, periodical /ˌpɪɹiˈɑdɪkl̩/, circulation /ˌsɝkjʊˈleɪʃən/

Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:

Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: enclose /ɪnˈkloʊz/, peerage /ˈpɪə.ɪdʒ/, exclude /ɪksˈkluːd/, disclose /dɪsˈkləʊz/, shade /ʃeɪd/
/æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: mammoth /ˈmæməθ/, admirable /ˈæd.məɹ.ə.bəl/, galley /ˈɡæli/, lacerate /ˈlæ.sɚ.ɛɪt/, batch /bæt͡ʃ/
/g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: agreeable /əˈɡɹiəbəl/, galley /ˈɡæli/, govern /ˈɡʌv.ən/

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 sunshine, mammoth, recollection.

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.

Shadowing-techniek: lees de volledige stap-voor-stap-gids →

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