Shadowing Practice: Why Britain Uses Separate Hot and Cold Taps - Learn English Speaking with Video
Les maken...
1
The mixer tap.
2
Brilliant invention, and yet something that seems to have passed Britain by.
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You'll get Americans coming over here and asking why our taps look like they're from the 1940s.
4
And even here, in my parents' bathroom, I'm visiting my folks this weekend, and I just have a new bathroom put in.
5
Separate hot and cold taps.
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And there are all sorts of theories out there about why that might be, generally revolving around that we're British and stiff upper lip, and, you know, we don't need mixer taps, we've never had them and,
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well, that's partly true, but it also goes back to how houses in Britain were constructed after World War II.
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In most old British houses, there's a cold -water storage tank up in the attic.
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It's reasonably sized, about 250 litres, and that, in turn, feeds a hot -water storage tank that's for the central heating
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and for hot water in the bathroom and the kitchen and so on.
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But the trouble is, that might not be entirely safe drinking water, because that cold water storage tank, in some houses that weren't properly maintained,
12
might have been open to the elements, or silted up, or covered with iron rust, or in one particular case that you can read about, have a couple of dead rats floating in it.
13
That water might technically not be drinkable, and under the regulations it is not counted as drinking water.
14
The cold, meanwhile, at least certainly in the kitchen and sometimes the bathroom too, that cold water comes straight from the mains.
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That counts as drinkable.
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So here's the thing, you have cold, safe, the regulations call it wholesome drinking water, and you have, well, almost certainly safe,
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but not technically, not legally under the regulations, hot water.
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And never the twain shall meet.
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If you have a mixer tap, then technically, the unsafe hot water, in worst -case scenario where there's a backwash valve failure and the mains turns off,
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that unsafe water could go back, backwash through all the systems and go out to contaminate the rest of the street or the rest of the water system.
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That's not legal, therefore, no mixer tap.
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You don't cross the streams.
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Nowadays, of course, it's a little bit different.
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This house had its hot water tank ripped out a few months ago.
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The attic is now just a big empty space again.
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And, well, there's a very modern, shiny bit of technology downstairs that heats up water on demand.
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All new -build houses, go this way, they've got mixer taps, it'll be absolutely fine.
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But, I remember being told as a kid, never drink from the hot water tap.
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And that stuck with me.
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Even now, if there is a mixer tap and I want to drink from it, I will run the cold water for a few seconds, just to make sure that anything that's unsafe has come out of it.
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Even now, old habits die hard, and sometimes these things just feel a bit safer.
32
Thank you.
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles op niveau B2 is gebaseerd op de video “Why Britain Uses Separate Hot and Cold Taps”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: tap, cold, hot, mixer, bathroom. Deze video bevat 32 zinnen en 510 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 2:49. De spreker praat snel, ongeveer 181 woorden per minuut, dus reken op verbonden en ingeslikte klanken. 83% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden; de rest kun je beter vooraf bekijken.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
De 15 moeilijkste woorden uit de video, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| mixer zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈmɪksə(ɹ)/ | mengar |
| unsafe bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ʌnˈseɪf/ | onveilig |
| technically bijwoord | /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/ | technisch gesproken, strikt genomen |
| drinkable bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈdɹɪŋk.ə.bəl/ | drinkbaar |
| attic zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈætɪk/ | zolder |
| litre zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈli.tɚ/ | liter |
| wholesome bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈhoʊl.səm/ | deugdelijk |
| downstairs bijwoord | /daʊnˈstɛɹz/ | beneden |
| rust zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɹʌst/ | roest, oxidatie |
| stiff bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /stɪf/ | rigide, stug |
| float werkwoord | /fləʊt/ | drijven |
| reasonably bijwoord | /ˈɹiː.zən.ə.bli/ | redelijkerwijs |
| invention zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɪnˈvɛnʃən/ | uitvinding |
| nowadays bijwoord | /ˈnaʊ.ə.deɪz/ | heden, momenteel |
| valve zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈvælv/ | ventiel |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Betekenis |
|---|---|
| come over werkwoord | langskomen |
| go back werkwoord | teruggaan |
| turn off werkwoord | uitzetten, uitschakelen |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 10 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals don't, I'm, it'll. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: backwash /ˈbæk.wɑʃ/, invention /ɪnˈvɛnʃən/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, contaminate /kənˈtæmɪneɪt/, reasonably /ˈɹiː.zən.ə.bli/
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 mixer, unsafe, technically.
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.