跟读练习: INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH STORY 🌎A Different Life🌎 B1 - B2 | Level 5 - Level 6 | BRITISH ACCENT SUBTITLES - 通过视频学习英语口语
正在创建课程...
1
Hello and welcome to Lovely English Stories.
2
Thank you for stopping by.
3
This story is written for intermediate English learners.
4
Ready?
5
Let's get started.
6
B1, B2 English Story.
7
A different life.
8
Josie was fed up with her friends, if truth be told.
9
They were narrow-minded and stuck in the same routines they'd had for years.
10
She wasn't like them.
11
She'd always felt different.
12
She never wanted to follow the ideals they had set for themselves.
13
She wasn't interested in pursuing a successful career,
14
having kids or meeting a so-called perfect husband who would no doubt cheat on her further down the line.
15
She wanted a different kind of life to them.
16
Josie often saw married couples as lonely figures trapped together in their,
17
on the surface, picture-perfect lives.
18
Sure, they have the house and the car and the exquisite holidays, but do they have the love,
19
the passion and the excitement any more?
20
Josie always knew she was an anomaly in the small town in which she grew up.
21
She had no desire to stay and yet always found herself back there after she'd finished one of her whirlwind adventures.
22
Every time she came back, she hated it that little bit more.
23
Of course, it had its pros.
24
The people were friendly, the pubs were good,
25
her family were close, and she could meet up with some of her more open-minded friends and discuss in-depth topics at length.
26
But then she'd meet up with her old friends Who,
27
in all honesty, she had grown apart from But they all clung to this sense that they had something in common
28
The reality was that Josie didn't have anything in common with them She went to their lunches
29
and often sat there daydreaming as they talked about their radiators,
30
their jobs, their children's sleeping patterns and their pension pots.
31
It was soul-destroying for her.
32
There was nothing wrong with their way of life, of course.
33
What bothered Josie was that they always tried to project their lives onto her,
34
as though the way she chose to live was offensive to them.
35
They couldn't understand why she wasted her time volunteering, travelling or taking courses and learning languages.
36
They certainly couldn't understand why she hadn't made her first step onto the property ladder yet.
37
It was exhausting.
38
Party after party and lunch after lunch, she was bombarded with the same questions.
39
Are you dating anyone yet?
40
And I don't know how you cope being back at your parents.
41
Don't you want to buy?
42
And the dreaded, why don't you just get on the dating apps?
43
Josie had to stifle her eyes from rolling.
44
It was infuriating.
45
Why couldn't they see that she just wasn't like them.
46
She didn't question why they'd paid £4,000 for a new sofa,
47
why they'd decided to go all-inclusive to Tenerife, or why they'd just got another new car on finance.
48
Everyone made their own decisions and she wished they would just accept the way she wanted to live.
49
Josie was a free spirit.
50
Since being a child, she has always wanted to be out in the world exploring and learning new things.
51
Her motto to live by was that variety is the spice of life.
52
You never learn anything new if you keep doing the same old stuff.
53
As a result, Josie could speak three languages.
54
She travelled to over 30 countries and she had worked in various jobs.
55
Her diaries were full of memories of exciting experiences.
56
Experiences that her friends from her hometown weren't interested in, in the slightest.
57
It made her feel sad.
58
One day, after visiting some friends for brunch, Josie got back to her desk and signed into work for the day.
59
She was working as a language teacher online.
60
She loved helping her students and interacting with people from different cultures.
61
The student she had a lesson with was from Spain.
62
She lived in the mountains and didn't have access to an English school where she lived.
63
Josie had a lightbulb moment.
64
What if she could go there and teach these people?
65
Everyone deserved the right to an education after all.
66
Her draining morning listening to her friends reel off their latest financed purchases made her reassess her life.
67
She had managed to save some money while being back at her parents and working online during the lockdown.
68
She decided to look into a working visa for Spain, living costs and more.
69
Josie could speak intermediate Spanish.
70
She got a B in Spanish at GCSE and had spent a semester at university in a small town south of Madrid.
71
She tried to keep up her Spanish skills as much as she could,
72
often by teaching Spanish people English or by taking part in English to Spanish tandems.
73
Josie had lived and worked as an English teacher in Germany, Thailand, Vietnam and London.
74
In between contracts she would go back to her hometown and live in her parents' spare room.
75
This was where she currently found herself.
76
She knew it was always just an intermission.
77
But for some reason, whenever she came back,
78
her friends thought she would stay there and work hard to try and have a life like theirs.
79
Josie shook her head in disdain at the thought.
80
She often wondered why she kept in touch with them.
81
They weren't bad people, but they had all changed so much since school.
82
They kept in touch purely to remember the good old times.
83
But the good old times had gone over 20 years ago.
84
Was it time for them all to move on?
85
Josie spent a few weeks looking into teaching opportunities in Spain.
86
She managed to secure two interviews.
87
She was nervous but ready for her next adventure.
88
One interview went terribly.
89
The interviewer decided to test Josie's Spanish skills She froze on the spot and couldn't remember a thing
90
Then she fumbled her way through her presentation and completely fluffed all her answers Her second interview went much better
91
She took a couple of Spanish lessons beforehand, just in case they decided to switch languages mid-interview.
92
She needn't have worried.
93
The interviewer was kind and generous, and they spoke at length about teaching English,
94
teacher concerns, and how to enthuse and inspire students.
95
Josie felt good after the interview.
96
If she were successful, she would work at a small privately owned language school in a small Spanish town close to Valencia.
97
She could finally live her dream of being close to the sea.
98
The interviewer told her they'd be in touch by the end of the week.
99
It was only Monday.
100
Josie knew it would be a long week.
101
She tried to think positively and imagined herself at the school.
102
It felt right.
103
She drew up a budget and a plan.
104
The role was initially for a year.
105
That was ideal for Josie to decide if she liked it and whether the school liked her or not.
106
She looked into visas and worked out what she needed to prepare and when.
107
On Wednesday, she was meeting her old school friends for lunch.
108
As usual, their questions about her lifestyle flowed.
109
Why don't you just get a normal job?
110
And why don't you buy a little flat?
111
There's one for sale on my road.
112
Josie went to the toilet and took a few deep breaths to calm her composure.
113
Maybe she should just tell them that the lives they had chosen to lead were not what she wanted.
114
She liked moving around and exploring.
115
She loved teaching English and learning languages.
116
She liked to be spontaneous.
117
She decided against it and went back to the lunch.
118
As she did, her phone started ringing.
119
It was an international number.
120
Josie paused for a moment, assuming it was a call centre.
121
She was going to reject the call.
122
Then she realised it might be the job.
123
She went outside and answered.
124
It was good news.
125
The headteacher didn't want to wait until Friday.
126
They knew they wanted her.
127
They offered her a provisional start date in six weeks
128
and they would help her with finding accommodation and any paperwork she needed.
129
Josie was overjoyed.
130
She had to sit on a wall in the beer garden and compose herself.
131
It was really happening.
132
She was about to spend the next 12 months living and working close to Valencia.
133
She quickly called her parents and told them the news.
134
They were happy and sad.
135
They'd miss her, but they knew this was the best thing for her.
136
Then she walked back into the pub.
137
You've been ages, her friend exclaimed.
138
We thought you'd fallen down the loo.
139
Josie smiled.
140
She wanted to tell them, but wasn't sure if she could be bothered with their response.
141
It could go one of two ways.
142
They could be overjoyed or they would be bitter somehow.
143
She decided to be honest.
144
Well, I just got a phone call actually.
145
I've been offered a brilliant opportunity to teach English in Spain, so I'll be moving in six weeks.
146
Her friends looked stunned.
147
They congratulated her, but it felt cold somehow.
148
They were happy for her, but they found it hard to relate to anything she wanted to do.
149
They were content with their suburban lives and she was happy with hers.
150
They had become opposites and Josie realised she needed to embrace that.
151
Her friends weren't there to please.
152
They were there to be just that, her friends.
153
In the run-up to Josie leaving, she had lots of goodbye parties.
154
The day before she left, she received a package from her school friends.
155
They had put together lots of things that they knew she loved and that reminded them of her.
156
They also wrote little cards and she was overcome by emotion.
157
They were encouraging and kind and one admitted that they couldn't relate to her choices,
158
but nevertheless they were still proud of what she did and what she had accomplished.
159
Josie realised that they had overcome a barrier.
160
As people grow older, they do grow apart and have different lives.
161
They just had to learn to accept that everyone is unique and has a special perspective on what they want from life.
162
Josie packed the cards.
163
She decided she would proudly display them in her new flat.
164
One of her school friends had already booked to see her in the summer.
165
She said she needed more time for herself to do the things she enjoyed, like travelling.
166
Maybe Josie was rubbing off on them after all.
167
Do you still keep in touch with your school friends?
168
Tell us in the comments below.
为何要利用这个视频练习口语？
这个中级英语故事不仅仅是一个有趣的故事，同时也是英语口语练习的绝佳材料。通过观看和跟读这个视频，您可以在真实语境中提升您的英语口语能力。故事中的角色Josie表达了她对生活方式的独特见解，使您能够在日常对话中学习到如何表达个人观点和情感。利用这个机会增强您的沟通技巧，您将能够更加自信地在日常生活中与他人交流。看YouTube学英语，尤其是这类生动的故事，能够有效提高您的英语口语能力。
语法与表达在语境中的应用
在视频中，有几个关键的语法结构值得注意：
- "She wasn't like them."：这里使用了过去式和否定形式，强调了Josie与朋友之间的差异。这种结构对于表达不同的观点时非常有效。
- "She wanted a different kind of life."：该句展示了对未来的渴望，使用了简单句的构造，可以帮助学习者练习表达自己的梦想与目标。
- "They couldn't understand why..."：通过这种表达方式，您可以有效地描述他人的无知与困惑，这在讨论社会观念时尤为重要。
- "It was exhausting."：简洁有力的句子传达了情感困扰，帮助学习者在表达感受时做到精准。
通过这些句型的学习，您可以掌握在不同情境中表达思想和情感的方式，增强您的英语口语能力。
常见的发音难点
在观看这个视频时，有几个可能会造成发音困扰的单词和短语：
- "anomaly"（异常）：这个词在人们交流时不常被使用，且发音较为复杂，注意元音和辅音的发音。
- "enough"（足够）：这个词的发音常常容易被忽视，尤其是在快速语速中，确保重音正确。
- "passion"（热情）：这个词中双辅音的发音需要特别注意，学习者在发音时要确保清晰可辨。
通过练习这些词汇，结合视频中的情境，您可以有效提高英语发音。尝试shadow speech的方法，跟随视频中的发音，能够帮助您在实际交流中更流利自如。同时，借助这种方式，您可以改善您的英语口语训练，掌握更多的口语技巧。
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。