跟读练习: Why are families disappearing from London? - 通过视频学习英语口语
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76 句
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1
Something strange is happening in this part of London.
伦敦的这一区域正发生着一些奇怪的事。
2
Fewer babies are being born here than in almost any other part of the capital.
这里的新生儿出生率几乎低于首都其他所有地区。
3
Do I want to bring someone else into that if I can't actually support myself at this point?
如果我现在连自己都养不活，我还想把另一个人拉进这种处境里吗？
4
We live in a one bedroom as well, two kids, so our living room becomes our bedroom.
5
It would be a very strange city without any families, wouldn't it?
6
OK, before we get into this, I want to point out that fertility rates, that's the number of children
7
that a woman is expected to have over her lifetime are falling in other parts of the world, in England and across inner London.
8
But I've come here to Islington because that trend is more extreme.
9
At 0.99, it's the lowest rate in the capital, apart from the city of London, and one of the lowest in the country.
10
To put it in perspective, the rate in England and Wales is 1.4, which is already down from 1.9 15 years ago.
11
The average age of a mother in Islington is also 34.7, the fourth highest in the country.
12
Sorry to interrupt you from bubble time.
13
I want to find out what's really behind these numbers.
14
So I joined a Zip Zap Baby music class in the borough.
15
How have you found family life in Islington?
16
Prices is a huge factor, like it's increasing and renting as well.
17
And even if we have a good job, we are not sure we could afford like that and taking it on the one second child, we know that we need to move out of London.
18
So you're making the decision to move back to Luxembourg?
19
Yes, exactly.
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Luxembourg is a country where childcare is free.
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This is my first and I was 41 when I first had her.
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It's difficult for women to know when the right time is to have a baby
23
and so I think you want to sort of reach the pinnacle of your career before maybe venturing down that path.
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I was 35 so I had her a bit later, so it was too cold.
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It was too cold, it was intentional because I was moving forward in my career and I was really, really focused on that.
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And then when we started to try, no one tells you how hard it actually is.
27
Are you a local dad in the area?
28
Yeah, yeah I am, yeah.
29
What do you think the big challenges are then in living in Islington as a family?
30
We live in a one bedroom as well, two kids, so our living room becomes our bedroom, our one bed becomes the kids room and you know it's one of those things where you just have to juggle
31
and make use of the space
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but you know Islington is a very lovely area to live in it's great
33
but because of that it's really expensive to live in as well.
34
But what about those who haven't had kids yet?
35
Is it on their radar?
36
Could they even imagine raising a family here in inner London?
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Hi everyone!
38
Students Jess, Emily and Millie all in their early 20s and living in Islington were happy to have a chat.
39
It was never something I worried about
40
but now I'm kind of like oh I need to make sure I'm like settled
41
and can afford that if that's something I want in the future.
42
Obviously that's very It's very stressful at the moment with cost of living and where the job market is.
43
I definitely do want to have children, but kind of same thing as Jess.
44
There's like a million and one things that I want to do first.
45
I want to have a career.
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It kind of sounds like you've got so much to think about as it is.
47
The thought of even considering having a family, it feels like a whole other step that is perhaps overwhelming to think about at the moment, or...?
48
I think it feels relevant.
49
Do I want to bring someone else into that if I can't actually support myself at this point?
50
When having conversations with grandparents or parents, and they'll, you know, slide in a little comment about like, oh, what happens when you have children? and then you get to say, am I not?
51
It doesn't have to happen.
52
I think one thing that became clear to me whilst making this film is how personal this subject is, but I've had some really honest conversations.
53
Some people said they don't want kids, others say that they couldn't have kids, some say they had them later than planned.
54
There isn't one single reason.
55
Basically, a lot's going on here, both socially and economically, and I've been working with the BBC's data team.
56
They're essentially the clever people who do the maths bit bit.
57
And what we found is that in Islington, on average, people spend almost half their salary on rent.
58
Homes are 12 times the average salary.
59
It has some of the longest social housing waiting lists in the country and some of the country's highest childcare costs.
60
Factors like these are pushing families out of inner London to outer London and beyond.
61
At the other end of the scale, London's highest fertility rates, almost double Islington's, are in Barking and Dagenham, Redbridge and Hillingdon.
62
We are already seeing the impact of fewer children.
63
Schools are closing, maternity units are closing, key workers are leaving the city, which has an impact on the workforce and the economy.
64
But what does that tell us about the direction that a city is heading in?
65
If you have a hollowing out of children, it has all kinds of impacts on different urban institutions.
66
So there's a kind of a famous saying in urban design and urban planning, urban planning like children are an indicator species.
67
If you see children on the sidewalks, in streets, going in and out of schools and parks and playgrounds, that's a sign of a healthy city.
68
If you see a dearth of children in the city, that rings alarm bells that this city is not healthy, it's not functioning the way it should.
69
We need to tackle this as an absolute emergency.
70
If that continues on the current projections, we'll see a donut effect where we've got virtually no children left in inner London and only in the outer boroughs.
71
That would be an existential challenge for London.
72
The mayor says he's tackling these pressures by increasing affordable housing, funding free school meals and supporting public services.
73
The government says they've improved parental leave, rolled out 30 hours of funded childcare a week and are building more council homes.
74
This isn't just a story about the number of babies being born.
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It's about childcare, housing, work, money, and the choices that people feel they can or can't make.
76
The number of babies being born in Islington is a snapshot of a wider trend and how life in London is changing.
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伦敦伊斯灵顿的家庭困境：真实场景再现
视频中，伦敦伊斯灵顿的生育率降至0.99，成为英国最低地区之一。当地父母挤在一居室，客厅变卧室；年轻女性为事业推迟生育，却遭遇备孕难题；20多岁的年轻人担忧未来无法负担养娃成本。这些对话真实呈现了伦敦家庭面临的住房、经济和职业困境，也为英语学习者提供了贴近生活的口语素材。
实用表达与搭配
- fertility rates：生育率（如视频中“fertility rates are falling”可用于讨论人口问题）
- juggle and make use of the space：尽力利用空间（描述住房紧张时的应对，适合雅思口语“居住环境”话题）
- move forward in my career：推进事业（表达职业追求，可用于“工作与生活平衡”讨论）
- cost of living：生活成本（高频词汇，适用于各类经济相关对话）
- on their radar：被关注（如“Is having kids on their radar?”可用于询问他人计划）
影子跟读挑战：现在就行动
选择视频中年轻父母讨论住房的片段（“We live in a one bedroom... really expensive to live in as well”），进行英语影子跟读练习。先听原音，模仿语调、节奏和连读（如“juggle and make use of”的流畅发音），重复3遍。完成后，用自己的话复述内容，重点使用“juggle and make use of the space”“cost of living”等表达。这一训练能提升口语流畅度，同时积累雅思口语练习素材。通过看视频学英语，你不仅能理解真实语境，还能掌握实用表达。试试用“shadowspeaks”或“shadowspeak”方法，边听边说，快速提升口语能力！
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 | I've come · have you found · haven't had |
| 被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的 | being born · is expected |
| 定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物 | those who haven · people who do · city, which has |
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。