Pratica di Shadowing: Exercise helps the brain: BBC News Review - Impara a parlare inglese con YouTube

C1
Controlli di Shadowing
0% completato (0/159 frasi)
News Review from BBC Learning English Hello and welcome to News Review, the programme where we show you how to use the language from the latest news stories in your everyday English.
⏸ In Pausa
Tutte le Frasi
159 frasi
1
News Review from BBC Learning English Hello and welcome to News Review, the programme where we show you how to use the language from the latest news stories in your everyday English.
2
Hi, I'm Neil.
3
Joining me is Catherine.
4
Hello Catherine.
5
Hello Neil.
6
So, what's our story today?
7
OK, today's story is an exercise story.
8
Now, we all know that exercise is good for the body, but today we're going to find out how exercise is also good for the mind.
9
OK, interesting stuff.
10
Let's find out more from this BBC Radio 4 News report.
11
A study says moderate exercise several times a week is the best way for the over-50s to keep their brains in good working order.
12
Australian researchers say combining aerobic activities such as swimming, cycling or jogging with muscle-strengthening exercises is most effective.
13
They support the idea that taking up exercise at any age is worthwhile.
14
OK, so everybody knows that exercise is good for the body.
15
It keeps your body working well, it keeps your body healthy.
16
But Australian scientists have done some research which shows that exercise can also keep the brain and the mind working well and healthy.
17
And if you keep your mind working well, your brain healthy, it means that older people will have less chance of developing diseases of the brain.
18
This means that memory loss will be less, and in particular a condition called dementia will happen less if you take exercise as you get older.
19
OK.
20
Well, you've been looking at all the news websites to find the words and expressions people need to understand and to be able to use to talk about this story.
21
What have you found?
22
OK.
23
So, we have sharp, keep something at bay and stint.
24
So, that first one there, sharp.
25
OK.
26
So, if we go to BBC News website, The headline is, Exercise keeps the mind sharp in over 50s study finds.
27
Sharp meaning mentally quick and intelligent.
28
And Catherine, I don't think I'm very sharp because as you know, I often get confused.
29
I thought that sharp was used to describe a knife.
30
You're right, Neil, and you're clearly not very sharp in your mind because if you were, you would know that the word sharp often describes the way people think.
31
If you have a sharp mind, you have a lot of intelligence and you can cut away unnecessary information and you can cut straight to the most important point of a situation.
32
You can find the solution very quickly.
33
So a sharp mind means one that cuts away all the unimportant stuff.
34
It means you're intelligent and you're a really quick thinker.
35
OK, well we can use sharp not just with mind, we can also use it with wit, for example.
36
Yeah, if you have a sharp wit, it means you're really quick thinking and quick talking, often quite funny and comic and the things that you say.
37
And we can talk about a sharp intellect.
38
If you have a sharp intellect, it means that you're quite academic, you can understand complex problems and situations very easily and you're good at studying academia.
39
OK.
40
Well, we do need to be careful of opposites here because there's a direct opposite of sharp, which is...
41
Well, for a knife, yeah.
42
If you have a sharp...
43
if your knife isn't sharp, it's blunt.
44
Yeah.
45
But we don't use blunt to describe someone who is the opposite of intelligent.
46
I'd like to, but no, you can't.
47
Not usually, no.
48
You can't say that the opposite of a sharp mind is a blunt mind.
49
We don't usually say that.
50
OK.
51
OK, moving on to your next headline.
52
OK, so now we're looking at the Daily Express.
53
Exercise keeps dementia at bay.
54
Running and walking significantly boosts brain power.
55
So, to keep something at bay is to prevent something from happening.
56
Quite a strange little expression, but very common.
57
It is very common.
58
It's used in everyday English.
59
We see it in this headline, but you'll hear it all over the place.
60
And the origin of this one is quite interesting.
61
it's actually an animal idiom.
62
Right.
63
Yeah.
64
So, going back to days when people did a lot of hunting with dogs.
65
Yeah.
66
You use a dog to help you catch and hunt another animal.
67
The dogs are excited, they can smell the animal, they're barking, they're making lots of noise.
68
Another word for barking in a dog is bay.
69
And if a dog is baying, it's howling and it's on the lead, you're holding it back.
70
it wants to go, it wants to attack, it wants to run.
71
If you keep the dog at bay, you make it stay away from the thing it wants to catch.
72
It's not something you want to be on the other side of it.
73
No, no, no, not at all.
74
So if you keep something at bay, you mean that the thing that wants to get you or cause some damage or difficulty, you stay away from it.
75
You make it stay away from you.
76
So can you give me an example?
77
Well, I actually have a bit of, what do you call it?
78
Hay fever.
79
Hay fever, yes.
80
Bad time of year.
81
It's awful.
82
The pollen and I'm sneezing and sniffing and I take an antihistamine tablet every day to keep my hay fever at bay.
83
Ah, yeah.
84
In the winter I get cold all the time.
85
You do.
86
So, to try and keep the colds at bay, I take something called echinacea.
87
Yes, and it helps to stop this horrible thing happening.
88
That's right.
89
horrible things.
90
You have another example?
91
Yeah, so, the boss.
92
The boss.
93
He wanted me to do this project.
94
He's after you.
95
He is, yeah.
96
He wants you to do, yeah, he does.
97
But you know what?
98
I haven't done it.
99
You haven't.
100
So how are you going to keep him at bay?
101
Well, I kept him at bay.
102
I dumped a big load of papers on his desk and I said, I've got some stuff for you to look at.
103
And then I left.
104
And I think that will keep him at bay for a while.
105
Well, I hope you're right.
106
OK, moving on to our last headline.
107
OK, so let's go to the Yorkshire Post.
108
Stints of exercise can boost brain power in over 50s, say experts.
109
So, stints.
110
Limited periods of time spent doing an activity.
111
Yes.
112
Yeah.
113
Very colloquial.
114
It is, yes.
115
Very common.
116
Yep.
117
And the important thing about this one is that the time, it's a limited amount of time doing a particular activity but it can be a very short time or it can actually be quite a long time.
118
So you can have a stint as a presenter, it could be a five minute stint in a studio, or you could have a long stint working somewhere.
119
I believe you had a stint working in Japan, didn't you?
120
I did.
121
I had a stint working in Japan.
122
I had a longer stint working in the Czech Republic.
123
Right.
124
So you can have a stint or you can do a stint.
125
Do a stint.
126
And how long was a Czech Republic job?
127
Three years.
128
Right.
129
So not short at all?
130
No.
131
So yes, it's relative, isn't it?
132
Absolutely.
133
My life is quite long.
134
That's true.
135
Hopefully.
136
And this stint is a relatively short period of time.
137
Yes.
138
Now, stint can be followed by either a verb ing, so you can have a stint working somewhere, or you can have a stint at something.
139
Yeah.
140
Or a stint as something, even if I had a stint as a deep sea diver.
141
Did you?
142
I didn't, no.
143
Can you tell?
144
Yes, I can actually.
145
OK, well, before we recap on the vocabulary we have looked at today, We of course have our Facebook challenge.
146
Now, we've been talking about exercise and there's a verb we use to mean start doing exercise.
147
And we asked, is it a take up, b take on or c take over?
148
And how was our response?
149
Very good response.
150
Very few people said take over.
151
We had quite a few people saying take on but actually when you start doing a sport or activity, you take it up.
152
So, well done, Annoid UNAB, Kabir Omar Ibrahim and Naz Sumru, who all said take up.
153
Well, they obviously all have a sharp mind.
154
Can you please now recap the vocab?
155
I can.
156
We had sharp, which means mentally quick and intelligent, keep something at bay, meaning prevent something from happening, and stint, which means limited period of time spent doing an activity.
157
Well, if you would like to test yourself on today's vocabulary, there's a quiz you can take on our website, bbclearningenglish.com, where you can find all sorts of other videos and activities to help you improve your English.
158
Thanks for joining us and goodbye!
159
Goodbye!
📱

Shadowing English

Ora disponibile sui dispositivi mobili, scaricalo ora!

5.0
Download on theApp Store
GET IT ONGoogle Play

Informazioni su questa lezione

In questa lezione, analizzeremo l'importanza dell'esercizio fisico non solo per il corpo, ma anche per la mente, come evidenziato nel video della BBC. Impareremo parole e frasi chiave relative a questo argomento e discuteremo delle loro applicazioni pratiche per migliorare le abilità linguistiche in inglese. Utilizzando tecniche di shadowing, avrai l'opportunità di perfezionare la tua pronuncia e rendere il tuo inglese più fluido e naturale.

Vocabolario e frasi chiave

  • Sharp - acuto, rapido di intelletto.
  • Keep something at bay - mantenere qualcosa a distanza.
  • Stint - periodo di tempo limitato.
  • Memory loss - perdita di memoria.
  • Dementia - demenza.
  • Aerobic activities - attività aerobiche.
  • Muscle-strengthening exercises - esercizi per rafforzare i muscoli.
  • Over-50s - persone sopra i 50 anni.

Consigli per la pratica

Per trarre il massimo da questo esercizio, ti consigliamo di adottare una tecnica di shadow speaking. Ascolta attentamente il video a un ritmo che ti sia comodo. Inizia ripetendo frasi brevi e aumenta gradualmente la lunghezza delle frasi man mano che ti senti più sicuro. Tieni presente che i relatori nel video parlano con un tono chiaro e moderato, il che facilita la comprensione. Prenditi del tempo per ripetere ogni frase dopo averla ascoltata, cercando di imitare non solo le parole, ma anche l'intonazione e l'energia. Questo approccio ti aiuterà a migliorare la tua pronuncia inglese e a rendere il tuo parlato più naturale.

Ricorda che imparare l'inglese con YouTube può essere un modo molto efficace per apprendere una lingua. Usa queste strategie con il video e visita i shadowing site per ulteriori risorse. Buona pratica!

Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?

Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.

☕ Offrici un caffè