쉐도잉 연습: Why We Faint (When Other Animals Don't) - 영상으로 영어 말하기 배우기

레슨 만드는 중...
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The more we learn about the animal kingdom, the less unique humans seem.
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But as far as we know, no other animal on Earth faints from fright like we do...lucky us.
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Like lots of other animals, when we sense we’re in danger - or experience another surge of emotion - our blood pressure spikes, rushing blood to our brain and increasing our alertness.
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But, in humans, once the threat is over, our body sometimes overcompensates, dropping our blood pressure too low and reducing the blood supply to our brain, causing us to briefly lose consciousness - in other words, we faint.
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While a few other animals do fall over, mainly from unrelated muscle issues, we’re the only ones who lose consciousness.
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And that’s thanks to a unique combination of two traits: an upright stance and a big brain.
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Spending most of our time upright, with our brain above our heart, means our blood has to fight gravity to reach the brain.
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And on top of that – or rather, below – we have big, veiny legs, which – when we stand still for too long – collect lots of blood, making it even harder to supply our brains with enough blood.
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While there are other animals with brains high above their hearts, none of them have brains as demanding as humans’.
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The bigger an animal’s brain, the more blood the brain needs; our big brains hog a whopping 20% of our bodies’ blood flow compared to less than 7% for our closest relatives and less than 1% in animals with even smaller brains.
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That’s why just a slight dip in our blood pressure can interrupt the flow of blood to our brain, while even a significant drop in other animals’ blood pressure won’t stop their brains from getting enough blood to keep running or hopping.
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Our unique combination of traits means that even something as silly as a...
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JUMP! SCARE in a horror film or simply the sight of blood can cause our blood pressure to drop enough for us to, well, drop.
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The good news is that falling puts our head and heart at the same level, allowing blood to quickly reach our brain again.
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The bad news is that fainting can also lead to sometimes serious injuries, accounting for about a million hospital visits each year.
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But the upright stance and big brain that make humans the only animals to faint from fright are the same traits that have allowed us to thrive and spread all over the globe.
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So, I guess you could say world domination is for the faint of heart.

Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why We Faint”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: brain, blood, animal, pressure, faint. This video has 17 sentences and 426 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:22. The speaker talks fast, about 180 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

WordPronunciationMeaning
faint adjective/feɪnt/Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness
trait noun/tɹeɪt/An identifying characteristic, habit or trend.
upright adjective/ˈʌpɹaɪt/Vertical; erect.
fright noun/fɹaɪt/A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm.
stance noun/stæns/The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.
consciousness noun/ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/The state of being conscious or aware; awareness.
alertness noun/əˈlɝt.nəs/The quality of being alert or on the alert.
overcompensate verbTo do an excessive amount in one area in an effort to overcome a perceived lack in another area.
whopping adjective/ˈ(h)wɑpɪŋ/Exceptionally great or large.
interrupt verb/ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/To disturb or halt (an ongoing process or action, or the person performing it) by interfering suddenly, especially by speaking.
domination noun/ˌdɑːməˈneɪʃən/Control by means of superior ability, influence, position, or resources; prevailing force.
thrive verb/θɹajv/To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish.
unrelated adjectiveNot connected or associated.
surge noun/sɝd͡ʒ/A sudden transient rush, flood or increase.
spike noun/spaɪk/A sort of very large nail.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

WordMeaning
fall over verbTo fall from an upright or standing position to a horizontal or prone position.

이 영상의 문법

화자가 가장 많이 쓰는 문형을 영상 속 실제 표현과 함께 정리했습니다.

문형영상 속 표현
현재완료 have/has + 과거분사 — 과거의 일이 지금도 관련이 있을 때have allowed
관계절 who / which + 절 — 사람이나 사물에 대한 추가 정보ones who lose

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, won't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “sh” and “zh” sounds: consciousness /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/, domination /ˌdɑːməˈneɪʃən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like faint, trait, upright.

쉐도잉이란? 영어 실력을 빠르게 키우는 과학적 방법

쉐도잉(Shadowing)은 원래 전문 통역사 훈련을 위해 개발된 언어 학습 기법으로, 다언어 학자인 Dr. Alexander Arguelles에 의해 대중화된 방법입니다. 핵심 원리는 간단하지만 매우 강력합니다: 원어민의 영어를 들으면서 1~2초의 짧은 지연으로 즉시 소리 내어 따라 말하는 것——마치 '그림자(shadow)'처럼 화자를 따라가는 것입니다. 문법 공부나 수동적인 청취와 달리, 쉐도잉은 뇌와 입 근육이 동시에 실시간으로 영어를 처리하고 재현하도록 훈련합니다. 연구에 따르면 이 방법은 발음 정확도, 억양, 리듬, 연음, 청취력, 말하기 유창성을 크게 향상시킵니다. IELTS 스피킹 준비와 자연스러운 영어 소통을 원하는 분들에게 특히 효과적입니다.

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