Shadowing Practice: What is the Uffington white horse? - Learn English Speaking with Video
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The Huffington White Horse is one of the most incredible prehistoric sites in the world.
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It's 3,000 years old.
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Part of its mystery is, of course, its meaning and its purpose.
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Why would this horse be carved into the side of this hill?
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The answer may lie in its location.
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This stretch of the Ridgeway marked the boundary between three Iron Age tribes.
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Each tribe minted its own coins, and archaeologists can trace their approximate territories by mapping where these coins have been found.
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So the White Horse may have been a meeting place for these three tribes, or perhaps it was made as a warning sign by one of the tribes to ward off their neighbours.
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Below the White Horse is Dragon Hill, a naturally occurring hill that was flattened for ceremony several hundred years after the White Horse was first carved.
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According to local folklore, it marked the site where St. George slayed the dragon.
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The patch of ground here marks the spot where the dragon's blood spilt onto the earth, poisoning it forever.
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This old story led to a more modern belief that the white horse was actually not a horse at all, but a dragon.
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This, however, can't be the case.
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We know from Iron Age coins and artefacts that horses were prevalent in Iron Age art.
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However, we don't have any depictions of dragons.
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We don't even know if dragons existed in the mythology of these tribes.
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If it was a dragon, it would be the first and only depiction of a dragon that we have from this era, whereas horses are everywhere.
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Some say the horse is a representation of the goddess Epona, but that's likely to be too early.
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Epona doesn't seem to arrive in Britain until after the Roman invasion.
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Horses were being used in battle for the first time during the Iron Age.
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Carving one onto a hillside would show your neighbours you had horses and you weren't afraid to use them.
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To further add to this theory, there is a hill fort above the White Horse which did have significant defences.
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There haven't been any fines to suggest there was military action that took place here, but perhaps the fort was deterrent enough.
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But beyond a show of power, the horse could have had a spiritual significance.
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It's built just below some burial mounds and some have theorised that the horse represents death and rebirth.
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We can't overlook the fact that the horse is viewed best from above.
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Could it have been carved for the pleasure of some celestial being?
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We can't say for sure but it is tantalising.
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One of the most amazing things about this horse is how it survived all of this time.
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As you can see the lines on the carving are incredibly thin.
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It would only take 30 years for the grass to grow over it and it would be covered forever.
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Every seven years or so the horse would be re-chalked.
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It's a custom that was well established by the 18th century and we know this from a newspaper article.
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It's called the scouring of the white horse.
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It was a festival with cheese rolling, wrestling, drinking and music.
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There's no source that tells us how the horse was maintained for 3,000 years.
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We only know it from recent history really.
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But in local folklore it's believed that
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if the horse is ever allowed to fade away
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that the land would suffer and the spirits of the hill would grow restless.
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I think this story might have played an important part in the horse being cared for
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and looked after after all these years.
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It's living proof of how folk tales bring people together.
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It's survived countless religious changes, the Roman invasion, the Norman invasion, plagues, wars.
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No matter what, people came together to preserve the horse.
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Its meaning and original purpose lost, but its significance has never been forgotten.
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze video bevat 46 zinnen en 654 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 3:23. De spreker praat snel, ongeveer 193 woorden per minuut, dus reken op verbonden en ingeslikte klanken. Slechts 80% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is pittig.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
15 minder gangbare woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
- dragon /ˈdɹæɡən/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — draak, lintworm. In European mythologies, a gigantic beast, typically reptilian with leathery bat-like wings, lion-like claws, scaly skin and a lizard-like body, often a…
- invasion /ɪnˈveɪʒən/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — invasie, inval. A military action consisting of a large armed force of one geopolitical entity entering territory controlled by another such entity, generally with the…
- coin /ˈkoɪ̯n/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — munt, muntstuk. A piece of currency, usually metallic and in the shape of a disc, but sometimes polygonal, or with a hole in the middle.
- fort /fɔɹt/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — fort, vesting. A fortified defensive structure stationed with troops.
- significance /sɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — betekenis, belang. The extent to which something matters; importance
- neighbour /ˈneɪbɚ/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — buur, buurman. A person living on adjacent or nearby land; a person situated adjacently or nearby; anything (of the same type of thing as the subject) in an adjacent or…
- naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/ (bijwoord) — natuurlijk. In a natural manner.
- occur /əˈkɜː/ (werkwoord) — plaatsvinden. To happen or take place.
- thin /ˈθɪn/ (bijvoeglijk naamwoord) — dun. Having little thickness or extent from one surface to its opposite.
- belief /bɪˈliːf/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — geloof. Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
- establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/ (werkwoord) — oprichten, stichten. To make stable or firm; to confirm.
- mystery /ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — mysterie. Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown.
- suffer /ˈsʌfɚ/ (werkwoord) — lijden. To undergo hardship.
- custom /ˈkʌstəm/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — manieren, gebruiken. Frequent repetition of the same behavior; way of behavior common to many; ordinary manner; habitual practice; method of doing, living or behaving.
- ceremony /ˈsɛɹ.əˌmoʊ.ni/ (zelfstandig naamwoord) — ceremonie, plechtigheid. A ritual, with religious or cultural significance.
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
- look after (werkwoord) — verzorgen, behartigen. To follow with the eyes; to look in the direction of (someone or something departing).
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 8 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals can't, don't, doesn't. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De “th”-klanken: thin /ˈθɪn/, mythology /mɪˈθɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, rebirth /ɹiːˈbɜːθ/
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: invasion /ɪnˈveɪʒən/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, depiction /dɪˈpɪkʃən/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: significance /sɪɡˈnɪfɪkəns/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, ceremony /ˈsɛɹ.əˌmoʊ.ni/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/
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 dragon, invasion, coin.
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | be carved · have been found · was made |
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | have been found · haven't been · have theorised |
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.