Shadowing Practice: What Makes Us Happy? | practice English with Spotlight - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Welcome to Spotlight.
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I’m Adam Navis. And I’m Ruby Jones.
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Spotlight uses a special  English method of broadcasting.
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It is easier for people to understand,  no matter where in the world they live.
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If you could wish for one thing, what would it be?
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Is there one thing that would make you happy?
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You may wish for a larger house,  a better job, or a new car.
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These are all normal things which  people think will bring them happiness.
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Most people believe that the rule for happiness  is simple: happiness is getting what you want.
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But you know what? People are wrong.
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Today's Spotlight is on this  question: what makes people happy?
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In the end, we will find that people who seem  happy as children are not always happy as adults.
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Also, people are not that good at  knowing what will make them happy.
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And finally, we will see how happiness has more  to do with ourselves than with our situation.
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Some important research began in 1937.
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It was called the Grant Study.
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This study involved several  hundred male college students.
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It followed their lives over the next 70 years.
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Every few years the men were examined by doctors.
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They had mental tests and answered  a series of written questions.
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This information was collected and organized.
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Today, the men are old, so the  information is being collected together.
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The results are interesting.
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People who were happy as children were  not always happy or successful as adults.
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The study used students from Harvard University.
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Harvard is one of the United State's top  universities - and one of the most costly.
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As children, the students had financial security.
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They attended the best schools.
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As far as anyone could see, they were on the path  to a good job, a good family, and happy life.
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But not everyone developed  into a happy, healthy adult.
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In fact, those who reported the most  happiness as adults often grew up in difficult situations, such as  having a parent who hit them.
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The study showed that it was not a question  of which men would experience trouble, but how they would react when they did.
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Everyone experiences trouble.
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It is often those people who have  learned to deal with trouble when they were children who are best  able to deal with it as adults.
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Joshua Wolf Shenk is a writer.
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In the magazine Atlantic Monthly, he wrote  about some of the results of the research:".
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People learn how to deal with  trouble from the pain of experience.
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They then use these skills  through their whole lives.
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For example, compare two men - the study names  them "David Goodhart" and "Carlton Tarrytown." Both men grew up afraid and lonely.
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Goodhart was raised in a lower-class family.
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His father drank alcohol, and his mother  was "very tense, afraid, and worried." Tarrytown was raised in a wealthy family.
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But his father also drank alcohol.
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His mother was so depressed that Tarrytown  was afraid she would kill herself.
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Goodhart went on to become a  leader on human rights issues.
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Goodhart was in the top fifth of  the Grant Study in mental health.
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However, Tarrytown was in the bottom fifth.
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He was divorced three times.
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He drank alcohol and took  drugs to deal with his pain.
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At age 53, Tarrytown killed himself.
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Goodhart lived to 70." What was the difference between these two men?
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Why did one grow into a happy adult  who improved the lives of other people, while the other destroyed himself?
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In the end, it turns out that happiness  depends less on our situation than we think.
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There are some things that  we should choose over others.
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For example, we should prefer to  make more money than to get sick.
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But we should be careful not to believe that a change in our situation will have a  big effect on our level of happiness.
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In fact, putting too much  hope in such a change will probably lead to disappointment and unhappiness.
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There is one area of life that does affect  our happiness: love and relationships.
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People are not meant to be alone.
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People are designed to be with other people.
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It is the same for all of us - no matter  what age, sex, or country of origin.
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Even people who enjoy time alone need  to spend some time with other people.
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This is not a new idea.
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The Bible claims that God  designed people to live together.
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If we were created to live with  other people, then it makes sense that our happiness comes from other people.
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It also makes sense that cars, money,  or being famous do not make us happy.
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So, if you want to live a happy life, make sure you put your time and  energy into the people you care about.
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Who are the people you most care about?
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How much time do you spend with them?
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What choices can you make to improve  your relationships with other people?
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You can also leave your comments on our website.
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Or you can email us at [email protected].
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You can also find us on Facebook  - just search for spotlightradio.
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The writer of this program and the  producer were part of the Spotlight team.
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The voices you heard were from the  United States and the United Kingdom.
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All quotes were adapted for this  program and voiced by Spotlight.
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You can listen to this program again, and read  it, on the internet at www.radioenglish.net.
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This program is called ‘What Makes Us Happy?’ You can also get our programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through  our free official Spotlight English app.
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We hope you can join us again  for the next Spotlight program.
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Goodbye.

Vocabulario y notas de pronunciación para esta lección

Esta lección de conversación de nivel B1 se basa en el vídeo “What Makes Us Happy?”. Las palabras que más se repiten: happiness, Spotlight, adult, study, program. Este vídeo tiene 79 frases y 945 palabras para practicar shadowing. La parte hablada dura 14:22. El hablante habla despacio, unas 66 palabras por minuto, así que hay tiempo para imitar cada sonido. El 91 % de las palabras está entre las 3.000 más comunes del inglés, por lo que el vocabulario es fácil de seguir.

Vocabulario clave de este vídeo

Las 13 palabras más avanzadas del vídeo, con su pronunciación y significado:

PalabraPronunciaciónSignificado
unhappiness sustantivoinfelicidad
costly adjetivo/ˈkɒst.li/costoso, caro
tense sustantivo/tɛns/tiempo
organize verbo/ˈɔɹɡənaɪz/organizar
adapt verbo/əˈdæpt/adaptar, ajustar
disappointment sustantivo/ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/decepción, ahueve
depressed adjetivo/dɪˈpɹɛst/deprimido, abatido
react verbo/ɹiːˈækt/reaccionar
examine verbo/ɪɡˈzæmɪn/examinar, analizar
depend verbo/dɪˈpɛnd/depender/pender (de), ser dependiente (de)
wealthy adjetivo/ˈwɛl.θi/adinerado, rico
lonely adjetivo/ˈloʊnli/solitario, solo
goodbye/ɡʊdˈbaɪ/adiós, hasta luego

Phrasal verbs que vas a escuchar

PalabraSignificado
grow up verbocrecer
turn out verboresultar

Frases que vale la pena repetir

Frases cortas y completas del vídeo que puedes reutilizar en la conversación diaria:

  • If you could wish for one thing, what would it be?
  • Is there one thing that would make you happy?
  • Who are the people you most care about?
  • How much time do you spend with them?
  • What choices can you make to improve  your relationships with other people?

Gramática en este vídeo

Las estructuras que más usa el hablante, con las palabras exactas del vídeo:

EstructuraEn el vídeo
Voz pasiva be + participio pasado — importa lo que ocurre, no quién lo hacewas called · were examined · was collected
Oraciones de relativo who / which + oración — información extra sobre una persona o cosapeople who seem · People who were · those who reported
Consejo con “should” should + verbo — decir qué es buena ideashould choose · should prefer · should be
Superlativos the -est / the most … — lo más alto o lo más bajo de un grupothe most costly · the best · the most happiness

Cómo practicar con este vídeo

  1. Escucha el vídeo entero una vez sin hablar y anota las palabras que no conoces.
  2. Haz shadowing frase por frase a velocidad normal, repitiendo cada una hasta que tu ritmo coincida con el del hablante.
  3. Grábate y compara con el original, prestando atención a palabras como unhappiness, costly, tense.

¿Qué es la Técnica de Shadowing?

Shadowing es una técnica de aprendizaje de idiomas respaldada por la ciencia, desarrollada originalmente para la formación de intérpretes profesionales y popularizada por el políglota Dr. Alexander Arguelles. El método es simple pero poderoso: escuchas audio en inglés nativo y lo repites en voz alta de inmediato, como una sombra que sigue al hablante con solo 1-2 segundos de retraso. A diferencia de la escucha pasiva o los ejercicios de gramática, el shadowing obliga a tu cerebro y músculos de la boca a procesar y reproducir simultáneamente patrones de habla reales. Las investigaciones muestran que mejora significativamente la precisión de la pronunciación, la entonación, el ritmo, el habla conectada, la comprensión auditiva y la fluidez al hablar, convirtiéndola en una de las metodologías más efectivas para la preparación del IELTS Speaking y la comunicación en inglés en el mundo real.

Técnica de shadowing: lee la guía completa paso a paso →