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The
North Wind and the Sun
British English version as
spoken by John Underwood *.
*born, raised and
educated in various parts of South East England where he is
currently the conductor of the Prommers' Orchestra & Chorus.
His RP accent has S.E. regional influences.
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1. Listen without
reading.
Click
here.
2. Read the text without
listening.
Click
here.
3. Listen without reading again
and note characteristics.
Click
here.
4. Read the text while listening.
Click here
and then here.
Finally, compare the G.A. and
R.P. texts sylistically.
Click
here for the G.A. text.
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From: Dennis Freeborn, Varieties of
English, 1993
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British English
version as spoken by John Underwood
The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which of them
was stronger, when a traveller came along wrapped in a warm cloak.
They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveller
take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other.
Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the
more he blew, the more closely did the traveller fold his cloak
around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt.
Then the Sun shone out warmly, and immediately the
traveller took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to
confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.
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Note the differences with the text in
General American English: not just lexico-grammatical, but also
pragmatic, textual, stylistic... Click
here for the G.A. text.
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to the map of the U.K. and the listening exercise.