跟读练习: The Conqueror (1956) - The Objectively Worst Film Ever Made - 通过视频学习英语口语
选择练习模式
每种模式都会打开全屏练习室。
155 句
如果句子过短或过长，请点击 Edit 进行调整。
1
When people talk about the worst movies ever made, there are a number of titles commonly thrown around.
2
Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Room, Star Wars The Last Jedi, and Star Wars The Rise of Skywalker,
3
and Star Wars The Phantom Menace, and damn, were any of these movies ever good?
4
I hate them!
5
But as bad as these movies are, there is one that is objectively worse.
6
A movie whose very production could almost be said to be cursed.
7
After all, its creation resulted in dozens of deaths and drove its creator to madness like some kind of Lovecraftian grimoire.
8
The Conqueror is a 1956 epic historical film about the life of Genghis Khan.
9
It stars John Wayne in the title role of Temujin.
10
Yeah, that's right, John Wayne the cowboy as a Mongolian warlord.
11
But horrible miscasting is only the tip of this iceberg.
12
Beyond the bland dialogue and cardboard performances of the cast, the movie also had one of the most unfortunate productions of any movie ever made,
13
and the effect it had on its mysterious producer is a story worth telling, unlike this film.
14
So let's take a look back at what I consider to be the objectively worst film ever made.
15
This is The Kong World.
16
The movie opens with the Merkit chief Targatai crossing the lands of the Mongols to bring home his new wife.
17
The Mongol chief Temujin confronts him and is instantly attracted to the wife, a Tartar woman named Bortai.
18
Temujin decides to steal her for himself
19
and organizes a raid against the Merkits despite his men's warning that the Merkits will seek revenge.
20
Temujin and his men ambush the caravan, driving Targatai away and taking Bortai for his own.
21
His mother Hunlun despises Bortai, as her father killed Temujin's father many years ago.
22
She warns Temujin to get rid of her, lest she bring woe to their people, but he refuses, as he wants to keep her for his wife.
23
However, Bortai refuses Temujin, seeing him as a beast beneath a woman like her.
24
She approaches Temujin's blood brother and right hand man Jamukha, offering herself to him if he will free her.
25
He refuses to betray Temujin, but at that moment, the Marekits attack the camp.
26
In the confusion, Temujin sees Jamukha leaving Bortai's tent, sowing seeds of distrust in his mind.
27
Temujin manages to escape the fighting along with Bortai.
28
Hiding together from the Merkits, they make love.
29
When they return to the camp the next day, his mother chastises him for letting a woman bring danger to the camp.
30
Temujin again refuses to listen, and instead decides to seek help from his old ally, Wang Kahn.
31
His plan is to lie to Wang Kahn and convince him that the Tartars and Merkits are conspiring against him.
32
He and Bortai arrive at Wangkan's city, who welcomes him with a feast and a display of dancing women.
33
After the celebration, Temujin lies to him about the Tartar threat.
34
Wangkan consults with his shaman, who declares that the spirits say Temujin is truthful.
35
Wangkan agrees to unite against the Tartars.
36
However, as Temujin is leaving, the shaman reveals that he lied because he wants Temujin to take over Wangkan's kingdom after his death.
37
On their return to their camp, Temujin is ambushed by the Tartars.
38
Bortai manages to escape back to her people, leaving Temujin wounded in a cave.
39
Jamukha finds him and pretends to defect
40
so the Tartars will trust him enough in order for him to steal horses for their escape.
41
However, they follow him back to Temujin's location and end up capturing him.
42
Temujin sees Jamika escape, making him believe that he betrayed him.
43
The Tartars bring Temujin back to their camp, torturing him and planning on executing him the next day.
44
However, Bortai, now realizing her love for him, helps him escape.
45
Returning back to his camp, Temujin accuses Jamika of betrayal.
46
In order to prove himself, he is sent along with Temujin's actual brother Kassar to Wang Kahn's city in order to organize the attack on the Tartars.
47
Arriving in the city, the shaman warns Wang Kahn that Temujin plans on betraying him.
48
He orders that Jamika and Kassar be held captive while he goes to investigate the Mongols' plan.
49
Jamika manages to escape their captivity, but Kassar is killed in the escape.
50
Jamika rides for the camp, but is captured by the Tartars.
51
Temujin is at the meeting spot, awaiting Wang Khan's forces.
52
The shaman arrives and tells him that Wang Khan has betrayed their agreement.
53
He offers to unlock the city gates and allow Temujin to conquer the city.
54
Temujin agrees, but is distrustful of the shaman.
55
The shaman allows the Mongol forces through the gate, who take the city under their control.
56
With his dying breath, Wang Khan reveals the shaman's deception.
57
Temujin cuts him down and claims Wang Khan's forces as his own.
58
Together, they march on a Tartar camp.
59
Temujin finally gets his revenge by killing the Tartar chief, and he and Bortai are reunited.
60
She reassures Temujin that Jamukha never betrayed him and only feels love for his blood brother.
61
However, Jamukha says that the seeds of distrust can never be undone.
62
and asks that Temujin kill him and let him die with honor.
63
Temujin reluctantly agrees.
64
As the movie ends, Jamika narrates that with all his enemies defeated,
65
Temujin assumed the title of Chinggis Khan and conquered the land with Bortai by his side.
66
There's so much wrong with this film, I don't even know where to begin.
67
The elephant in the room is of course the casting.
68
While I'll give the film leeway as casting white actors in non-white roles wasn't as controversial then as it is today, even with that in mind,
69
Wayne is horribly out of place as the great Mongol chief.
70
Now, John Wayne is a good, if not slightly limited actor.
71
He shines in a certain role.
72
The gruff cowboy, the stern gunslinger.
73
And while the role of the brutish conqueror might seem like something that suits him, he sounds ridiculous delivering lines like this.
74
I'm not saying the blame is entirely on him, as the entire cast gives a cardboard performance.
75
Much of it has to do with the dialogue.
76
These lines are trying to sound vaguely 13th century, but when combined with the cowboy accent, it just comes off as awkward.
77
The only actor who comes close to a good performance is Agnes Moorhead, who plays Temujin's mother Hun Lun.
78
She's not on camera for long, but she was clearly having fun with the role.
79
She is the daughter of Kumlik.
80
Kumlik's daughter?
81
Spawn of evil!
82
Let your slaves have their sport with her.
83
I will not have her within our tents.
84
I say who stays in our tents.
85
This woman is for my pleasure.
86
You will take pleasure with the offspring of your father's slayer?
87
She will bring woe to you, my son, and to your people.
88
The story is also atrocious for many reasons.
89
For starters, it isn't even close to historically accurate.
90
The real story of Temujin's life, or at least the one we know from the secret history of the Mongols, is so interesting it could be a movie on its own.
91
And it's clear the writers at least had some idea of history, as they get the names mostly right.
92
But they changed so many details for no reason.
93
In real life, Jamika was blood brother to Temujin, but he wasn't the dotering man-servant he's portrayed as in the movie.
94
In actuality, he was Temujin's superior by birth, and in time, they developed a rivalry that ended in war.
95
It's honestly an epic story about brothers turning into enemies, and it would make for a damn good film.
96
But instead, Jamika is devoted to serving Temujin for seemingly no reason.
97
I mean he says there's something about Temujin that makes men want to follow him or something, but we never actually see it.
98
In fact it's just the opposite in this movie.
99
The movie portrays Temujin as a complete jackass.
100
He endangers his tribe by recklessly attacking the Merkits in order to steal some woman for himself,
101
and then has the gall to accuse his men of failure in stopping the counter attack.
102
He complains that he is beset by traitors
103
when he himself lied to his benefactor Wang Kahn and tried to trick him into going to war for his own benefit.
104
This is all in complete disregard to the real Temujin, who dedicated himself to protecting his people.
105
Why the hell would anyone want to follow this tool?
106
I'd almost say the movie is trying to criticize Temujin and show that he was a terrible person, if it wasn't for the fact that they show Bortai falling in love with him.
107
From her reaction, we get the sense that there's something to love and admire in Temujin.
108
But her sudden feelings for Temujin come out of nowhere, and are a complete contradiction to how he has treated her throughout the entire film.
109
What exactly is she supposed to love about this guy?
110
The way he hits her?
111
I mean I know as the 50's and women were expected to just swoon when a big tough guy grabs them, but even as the so called conqueror, Temujin is lacking.
112
The first time they make love, it's after Temujin runs away from the enemy, something she mocked her first husband for.
113
He's constantly falling into traps and is completely out of touch with the situation around him.
114
It makes her sudden love for him contradict her character and make no sense.
115
And speaking of making no sense, what the hell is up with that ending?
116
Jamika has been a loyal servant of Temujin the entire movie, and even though Bortai confirms that he's never even thought about betraying Temujin,
117
for some reason he has to die?
118
His reasoning that doubt would creep into Temujin's thoughts makes no sense, as there's no one left for him to betray Temujin to, even if he wanted to.
119
I think the writers were hoping his death would give the ending a sense of sadness, Temujin's victory came at the cost of a friend,
120
but the problem is we aren't invested into this conflict because the character is flat and boring.
121
Instead the scene just serves to confuse the audience and slow the climax down for no reason.
122
Now all of that would be enough to call any movie terrible, but the problems this film has go beyond just what's on the screen.
123
The film also had one of the most unfortunate productions of any movie ever made, and the decision to film there would result in an untold number of deaths.
124
The film was primarily shot near St. George, Utah, which is downwind of the United States nuclear test site in Nevada.
125
In fact only 3 years earlier, 11 nuclear weapons had been tested in the area,
126
which allowed radioactive fallout to be dispersed and carried downwind to the filming site.
127
Of the 220 members of the crew, 91 developed cancer and at least 46 died from it.
128
This included Wayne himself, who developed lung and stomach cancer, eventually dying from the latter.
129
Pedro Armand Rees would end up committing suicide after a terminal diagnosis of cancer in 1963,
130
and Agnes Moorhead, Susan Hayward, and director Dick Powell would all die from cancer as well.
131
Even Wayne's sons, Michael and Patrick, who only visited the set,
132
developed cancer, and a true number of cases is suspected to be even higher than what was reported.
133
The decision to film in St. George was made by the film's producer, the legendary business magnate Howard Hughes.
134
Hughes is an interesting figure, having been both a record setting pilot and one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time.
135
He wielded great political and business power and came to be an influential member of Hollywood.
136
He financed many films including the original 1931's Scarface, and later came to control RKO Studios,
137
which gave us King Kong and Citizen Kane.
138
Recluse was known to be an eccentric even in his early days, and suffered from OCD.
139
However, later in his life, his eccentricity turned into madness.
140
He became a recluse, not taking care of himself and rarely being seen in public.
141
While the cause of his decline is impossible to pinpoint, many think that the guilt he felt over the Conqueror was part of it.
142
He spent $12 million buying every copy of the film he could so no one could ever see it, and watched it on repeat over and over again in his personal theater.
143
He often sat in his chair naked, watching the film for weeks on end, not bathing or cutting his hair or nails.
144
When he finally died in 1976, he was so unrecognizable, the FBI had to use fingerprints to confirm it was him.
145
To be fair to Hughes, he didn't know the area was dangerous.
146
When he went to the Atomic Energy Commission, they told him it was perfectly safe, which is also what they told the residents of St. George.
147
However, higher rates of cancer in the area were reported all the way until the 1980s,
148
and Congress would later set up a fund to compensate the victims of the nuclear fallout.
149
When the film debuted, it was a box office bomb, no pun intended.
150
It was met with negative reception, mostly around the casting and a nonsensical story.
151
Wayne would later receive the Golden Turkey Award for his performance, and the film would be included in the 50 worst films of all time.
152
Unlike some of the other films on that list, like Plan 9, there's nothing even funny bad here.
153
Nothing that would bring the film into the so bad it's good category.
154
It's a tragic story, for the characters in the film, for the people who made it, and of course for the people who had to watch it.
155
But the next time you see a crappy movie and think to yourself this is the worst thing ever, just remember, it can get so much worse.
FOR YOU
推荐视频
C15
67 句
The Real Story of the Mongolian Singing Dunes
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21
992 句
The worst movie I've ever seen **50 SHADES OF GREY**
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
207 句
Top 10 Most Epic Movie Scenes of All Time
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
331 句
The Deadliest Wars in History
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
147 句
Mortal Kombat II Pitch Meeting
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
46 句
A Princess Marries a Man Who Refuses to Give Her Any Attention. #foryou #movie #part6
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B22
231 句
The Only Nazi Hitler Feared
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
240 句
Mechagodzilla vs Ghidorah | Battle FACE OFF | In-Depth Combat Analysis!
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
56 句
Kill Bill Volume 1| 2003 | O-Ren Ishii and Tanaka
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B21
79 句
Why These Nuns Cut off Their Noses and Lips
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B24
256 句
She Gave Birth to a Dragon | The Mothers Monster | Full Fantasy Movie 4K
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B2323 句
Best Funny Comedic Danny McBride Movie Scenes
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
本课的词汇与口语要点
这节 B2 级别的口语课以视频“The Conqueror (1956) - The Objectively Worst Film Ever Made”为素材。 视频中反复出现的词有：Temujin, film, movie, Bortai, Tartar。 这段视频共有 155 个句子、2363 个单词可供跟读。 讲话部分时长为 15:42。 说话人语速自然，每分钟约 150 个词，接近日常对话。 只有 78% 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
视频中最难的 15 个单词，附发音和释义：
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| betray 动词 | /bɪˈtɹeɪ/ | 背叛, 出賣 /出卖 |
| shaman 名词 | /ˈʃɑːmən/ | 薩滿 /萨满, 巫醫 /巫医 |
| conqueror 名词 | /ˈkɑŋˌkɚ.ɚ/ | 佔領者 /占领者, 征服者 |
| cowboy 名词 | /ˈkaʊˌbɔɪ/ | 牛仔 |
| tent 名词 | /tɛnt/ | 帳篷 /帐篷, 帳幕 /帐幕 |
| distrust 名词 | /dɪsˈtɹʌst/ | 疑惑, 不信 |
| ambush 名词 | /ˈæm.bʊʃ/ | 遇袭, 偷袭 |
| cardboard 名词 | /ˈkɑɹdˌbɔɹd/ | 紙板 /纸板, 硬紙板 /硬纸板 |
| fallout 名词 | /ˈfɔlˌaʊt/ | 落下, 下降 |
| accuse 动词 | /əˈkjuz/ | 指責 /指责, 控告 |
| conquer 动词 | /ˈkɑŋkɚ/ | 征服 |
| madness 名词 | /ˈmæd.nəs/ | 狂, 瘋病 /疯病 |
| warn 动词 | /woɹn/ | 警告, 提醒 |
| servant 名词 | /ˈsɝvənt/ | 僕人 /仆人, 傭人 /佣人 |
| unfortunate 形容词 | /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/ | 不幸 |
视频中出现的短语动词
| 单词 | 释义 |
|---|---|
| end up 动词 | 到达 |
| take over 动词 | 接管, 接手 |
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 |
|---|---|
| 被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的 | be said · is ambushed · is sent |
| 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 | has betrayed · has treated · has been |
| 定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物 | Utah, which is · safe, which is · people who made |
需要注意的发音
说话人用了 10 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 wasn't, aren't, didn't。请按听到的简短形式来说。
- “sh” 和 “zh” 音: shaman /ˈʃɑːmən/, ambush /ˈæm.bʊʃ/, atrocious /əˈtɹoʊ.ʃəs/, brutish /ˈbɹuːt.ɪʃ/, contradiction /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
- 长单词——注意重音位置: objectively /əbˈd͡ʒɛktɪvli/, unfortunate /ʌnˈfɔː.t͡ʃə.nɪt/, actuality /ˌækt͡ʃuˈælɪti/, benefactor /ˈbɛnəˌfæktɚ/, contradiction /ˌkɑːntɹəˈdɪkʃən/
中文母语者容易读错的音：
- /v/ — 不要读成 /w/，上齿轻触下唇: objectively /əbˈd͡ʒɛktɪvli/, servant /ˈsɝvənt/, devote /dɪˈvəʊt/, captivity /kæpˈtɪvɪti/, caravan /ˈkæɹəvæn/
- 词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: tent /tɛnt/, distrust /dɪsˈtɹʌst/, downwind /ˌdaʊnˈwɪnd/, ambush /ˈæm.bʊʃ/, cardboard /ˈkɑɹdˌbɔɹd/
- /r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: horribly /ˈhɔɹəbli/, betrayal /bɪˈtɹeɪəl/, rivalry /ˈɹaɪ.vəl.ɹi/, historically /hɪˈstɔɹɪkli/
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 betray, shaman, conqueror 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。