跟读练习: Are we too Materialistic? - 通过视频学习英语口语

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It doesn't seem to make sense to suggest that there might be such a thing as good materialism.

After all, isn't materialism just plain bad, always?

It can seem as if we're faced with a stark choice.

Either you can be materialistic, and that means obsessed with money and possessions, shallow and selfish, or you can reject materialism,

be good and focus on more important matters of the spirit.

But in truth, most of us are, in our hearts, stuck somewhere between these two choices, which is pretty uncomfortable.

We're still enmeshed in the desire to possess, but we're encouraged to feel rather bad about it.

Yet, crucially, it's not actually materialism, the pure fact of buying things and getting excited by possessions, that's ever really the problem.

We're failing to make a clear distinction between good and bad versions of materialism.

Let's try to understand good materialism through a slightly unusual route – religion.

Because we see them as focused exclusively on spiritual things, it can be surprising to note how much use religions have made of material things.

They've spent a lot of time making and thinking about scrolls to hang in your house,

shrines, temples, monasteries, artworks, clothes, ceremonies.

However, they've cared about these things for one reason only

because they've wanted material things to serve the highest and noblest purpose – the development of our souls.

It's just that they've recognised that we are incarnate, sensory, bodily beings and that the way to get through to our souls has to be,

at least in part, through our bodies rather than merely through the intellect.

The importance of material things was for centuries at the core of Christianity

which proposed that Jesus was both the highest spiritual being and a flesh and blood person.

He was the spirit incarnate, holiness embodied.

In the Catholic mass, great significance is accorded to the bread and the wine, which are believed to be transubstantiations of Christ,

that is, material objects which simultaneously have a spiritual identity, just as Jesus himself combined the spiritual and the bodily while on earth.

This can all sound like a very weird and arcane point, entirely removed from the local shopping mall.

But exactly the same concept actually applies outside of religions.

Many good material possessions can be said to involve a kind of transubstantiation, whereby they are both practical and physical,

and also embody or allude to a positive personality or spirit.

Take this watch by the designer Dieter Rams.

To the outer eye, it's an ordinary timepiece, but at a psychological level, it's also a kind of transubstantiation.

It tells the time, but it also hints at a more psychological or even spiritual side, with ideals of purity, simplicity and harmony floating around it.

It tells us how long there is till lunch, but it's also trying to nudge us towards being a certain sort of person.

Or take this chair.

It, too, transubstantiates a set of important values straightforwardness, strength, honesty and elegance.

By getting closer to the chair we stand to become a little more like it, which is an important piece of inner evolution.

Material objects can therefore be said to play a positive psychological or spiritual role in our lives when higher,

more positive ideals are materialized in them, and so when buying and using them daily gives us a chance to get closer to our better selves.

When they're contained in physical things,

valuable psychological qualities that are otherwise often intermittent in our thoughts and conduct can become more stable and resilient.

This isn't to say that all consumerism just conveniently turns out to be great.

It depends on what a given material object stands for.

An object can transubstantiate the very worst sides of human nature, greed, callousness, the desire to triumph, as much as it can the best sides.

So, we must be careful not to decry or celebrate all material consumption just like that.

We have to ensure that the objects we invest in

and tire ourselves and the planet by making are those that lend most encouragement to our higher, better natures.

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本课的词汇与口语要点

这节口语课以视频“Are we too Materialistic?”为素材。视频中反复出现的词有：material, materialism, spiritual, object, psychological。这段视频共有 43 个句子、686 个单词可供跟读。讲话部分时长为 4:24。说话人语速自然，每分钟约 156 个词，接近日常对话。只有 80% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词，词汇难度较高。

视频中的重点词汇

视频中 15 个值得学习的单词，附发音和释义：

单词	发音	释义
spiritual 形容词	/ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/	精神
possession 名词	/pəˈzɛʃn̩/	所有物, 財產 /财产
ideal 形容词	/aɪˈdi(ə)l/	理想的
bodily 形容词	/ˈbɑdɪli/	身體的 /身体的
practical 形容词	/ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/	使用的, 實用 /实用
stable 名词	/ˈsteɪ.bəl/	馬厩, 馬棚 /马棚
encourage 动词	/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/	鼓勵 /鼓励, 激勵 /激励
temple 名词	/ˈtɛm.pl̩/	寺廟 /寺庙, 寺
unusual 形容词	/ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/	稀有
plain 名词	/pleɪn/	平原, 平野
ceremony 名词	/ˈsɛɹ.əˌmoʊ.ni/	儀式 /仪式, 祭
designer 名词	/dɪˈzaɪnɚ/	設計師 /设计师, 設計家 /设计家
ordinary 形容词	/ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/	普通, 平常
evolution 名词	/ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/	演變 /演变, 變遷 /变迁
merely 副词	/ˈmɪəli/	只是, 只不過 /只不过

视频中的语法

说话人最常用的结构，并附上视频中的原话：

结构	视频中的用法
现在完成时 have/has + 过去分词 — 过去发生但与现在仍有关联的事	have made · They've spent · they've cared
被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的	is accorded · can be said · be said
定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物	choices, which is · wine, which are

需要注意的发音

说话人用了 12 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 they've, we're, isn't。请按听到的简短形式来说。

“sh” 和 “zh” 音: possession /pəˈzɛʃn̩/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/, consumption /kənˈsʌmp.ʃən/, flesh /flɛʃ/
长单词——注意重音位置: psychological /ˌsaɪ.kəˈlɑː.d͡ʒɪ.kl̩/, unusual /ʌnˈjuːʒ(u)əl/, ceremony /ˈsɛɹ.əˌmoʊ.ni/, ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/

中文母语者容易读错的音：

/v/ — 不要读成 /w/，上齿轻触下唇: evolution /ˌiːvəˈluːʃ(ə)n/, invest /ɪnˈvɛst/, involve /ɪnˈvɑlv/, exclusively /ɪkˈskluːsɪvli/, conveniently /kənˈvinjəntli/
词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: encourage /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/, invest /ɪnˈvɛst/, involve /ɪnˈvɑlv/, depend /dɪˈpɛnd/, flesh /flɛʃ/
/r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: spiritual /ˈspɪɹɪt͡ʃuəl/, practical /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/, scroll /skɹoʊl/, materialism /məˈtɪɹiəlɪzəm/, crucially /ˈkɹuːʃəli/

如何用这段视频练习

先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 spiritual, possession, ideal 这类单词。

什么是跟读法？

跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧，最初开发用于专业口译员的培训，并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大：您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同，跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性，语调，节奏，连读，听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟读法: 阅读完整分步指南 →

跟读练习: Are we too Materialistic? - 通过视频学习英语口语

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