Shadowing Practice: 《新安江》10 生态家园:山水间的绿色乐章 勤劳与守护编织的生命赞歌!【CCTV纪录】 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “《新安江》10 生态家园:山水间的绿色乐章 勤劳与守护编织的生命赞歌!【CCTV纪录】”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: river, land, animal, tree, species. This video has 228 sentences and 2475 words to shadow. The speech runs for 24:24. The speaker talks slowly, about 101 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 92% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| shine verb | /ʃaɪn/ | To emit or reflect light so as to glow. |
| relieve verb | /ɹɪˈliːv/ | To ease (a person, person's thoughts etc.) from mental distress; to stop (someone) feeling anxious or worried, to alleviate the distress of. |
| locate verb | /ˈloʊˌkeɪt/ | To place; to set in a particular spot or position. |
| newborn noun | A recently born baby. | |
| meter noun | /ˈmitəɹ/ | A device that measures things. |
| farmer noun | /ˈfɑɹ.mɚ/ | A person who works the land and/or who keeps livestock; anyone engaged in agriculture on a farm. |
| trace noun | /tɹeɪs/ | An act of tracing. |
| invite verb | /ɪnˈvaɪt/ | To ask for the presence or participation of someone or something. |
| designate verb | /ˈdɛz.ɪɡ.neɪt/ | To mark out and make known; to point out; to indicate; to show; to distinguish by marks or description |
| prosperity noun | /pɹɑˈspɛɹ.ɪ.ti/ | The condition of being prosperous: having good fortune and a fortune. |
| cart noun | /kɑɹt/ | A small, open, wheeled vehicle, drawn or pushed by a person or animal, often with two wheels on one axle, more often used for transporting goods than… |
| leaf noun | /lif/ | The usually green and flat organ that represents the most prominent feature of most vegetative plants. |
| snake noun | /sneɪk/ | Any of the suborder Serpentes of legless reptiles with long, thin bodies and fork-shaped tongues. |
| gather verb | /ˈɡæðɚ/ | To collect normally separate things. |
| artificial adjective | /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/ | Man-made; made by humans; of artifice. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. | |
| find out verb | To discover, as by asking or investigating. | |
| look up verb | /ˌlʊk ˈʌp/ | To have better prospects. |
| put up verb | To place in a high location. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- I don't want to see.
- It's our goal in the whole community.
- After, I'm going to go to the next one.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was designated · has been awarded · is located |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has created · has been awarded · has brought |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who live · people who use |
| Superlatives the -est / the most … — the top or bottom of a group | the most important · the latest · the most honest |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 8 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, worthy /ˈwɝ.ði/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shine /ʃaɪn/, artificial /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/, shelter /ˈʃɛltə/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: prosperity /pɹɑˈspɛɹ.ɪ.ti/, artificial /ˌɑː.tɪˈfɪʃ.əl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like shine, relieve, locate.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.











