Shadowing Practice: C2 Proficiency (CPE) Listening Test 33 with answers - Learn English Speaking with Video
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384 sentences
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1
Now open your question paper and look at part one.
2
You will hear three different extracts.
3
For questions one to six, choose the answer A, B or C which fits best according to what you hear.
4
There are two questions for each extract.
5
Extract 1 do you freak
6
when the car won't start are you tired of having to turn to your boyfriend every time the engine splutters.
7
Then the car maintenance course for women at Bromley Adult Education Centre is a must.
8
It promises to equip you, after one term, to carry out basic car maintenance and give your car a regular servicing.
9
Not only will it give you independence, but it could save you a few quid too.
10
Eighteen -year -old Helen Dank signed up after buying a cheap second -hand car.
11
I didn't have a clue about cars, and I thought it might help if I ever broke down on the motorway.
12
I found out that my car was rattling at speed because the tyres needed balancing.
13
My car had always done that, and I thought it was because it was old.
14
I took it straight down the garage and told them what was wrong.
15
The mechanic looked at me as if to say, you don't know what you're talking about.
16
But I explained to him about the course, and he admitted he was quite impressed.
17
And they can't rip me off now either.
18
Do you freak when the car won't start?
19
Are you tired of having to turn to your boyfriend every time the engine splutters?
20
Then the car maintenance course for women at Bromley Adult Education Centre is a must.
21
It promises to equip you, after one term, to carry out basic car maintenance and give your car a regular servicing.
22
Not only will it give you independence, but it could save you a few quid too.
23
Eighteen -year -old Helen Dank signed up after buying a cheap second -hand car.
24
I didn't have a clue about cars, and I thought it might help if I ever broke down on the motorway.
25
I found out that my car was rattling at speed because the tyres needed balancing.
26
My car had always done that, and I thought it was because it was old.
27
I took it straight down the garage and told them what was wrong.
28
The mechanic looked at me as if to say, You don't know what you're talking about.
29
But I explained to him about the course, and he admitted he was quite impressed.
30
And they can't rip me off now either.
31
Extract two.
32
Well, there are people who say, oh, hello, I don't think you'll be able to help me, but I suppose it's worth a try.
33
To this, I reply with heavy sarcasm, Yes, well, we are fairly useless, but you never know.
34
It's a long shot, but give it a whirl, we might surprise you.
35
Then there are people who carry on a conversation after you've answered.
36
You start off, hello, inquiries, can I help you?
37
A distant voice says something like, and then he just left me standing there like an idiot with just one shoe on.
38
You say, hello, inquiries, can I help you?
39
They say something like, well, I couldn't just leave him, oh, hello, sorry, yes, um, oh, oh, I can't remember who I called now.
40
The polite thing to do is wait until they've got a grip.
41
The far more satisfying thing to do is ring off, just as they remember what they wanted to ask.
42
well there are people who say oh hello i don't think you'll be able to help me
43
but i suppose it's worth a try to this i reply with heavy sarcasm yes well we are fairly useless
44
but you never know it's a long shot
45
but give it a whirl we might surprise you then there
46
are people who carry on a conversation after you've answered you
47
start off hello inquiries can i help you a distant voice says something like
48
and then he just left me standing there like an idiot with just one shoe on.
49
You say, hello, inquiries, can I help you?
50
They say something like, well, I couldn't just leave him.
51
Oh, hello, sorry, yes, oh, I can't remember who I called now.
52
The polite thing to do is wait until they've got a grip.
53
The far more satisfying thing to do is ring off, just as they remember what they wanted to ask.
54
Extract 3
55
Apart from good food and drink, the main requisite for a successful picnic is, of course, delightful surroundings.
56
Some people ignore this rule completely and get out their folding tables
57
and wrapped -up sandwiches on grotty grass verges by the side of major roads and busy car parks.
58
It is a particularly English folly to want to eat out of doors on high days and holidays, whatever the weather.
59
Who has not seen people in macks sitting bizarrely under dripping trees in parks, glumly handing round the flask of tea and cheese and onion crisps?
60
The obsessive picnic tradition probably originated in medieval times,
61
with pilgrims' wayside meals, as well as the gargantuan outdoor feasts held before hunting parties.
62
By the 17th century, it was common entertainment for the gentry to eat out of doors in the rustic manner.
63
However, so worried were they that inclement weather might spoil their great hooped dresses and satin breeches,
64
that they dotted little Arcadian pavilions around their grounds as a precautionary measure, to dive into if it rained.
65
It was not until the 18th century that the essential picnic staple was invented by John Montagu, the fourth Earl of Sandwich,
66
that evocative and much maligned British food icon that took his name.
67
Apart from good food and drink, the main requisite for a successful picnic is, of course, delightful surroundings.
68
Some people ignore this rule completely and get out their folding tables
69
and wrapped up sandwiches on grotty grass verges by the side of major roads and busy car parks.
70
It is a particularly English folly to want to eat out of doors on high days and holidays, whatever the weather.
71
Who has not seen people in macks sitting bizarrely under dripping trees in parks, glumly handing round the flask of tea and cheese and onion crisps.
72
The obsessive picnic tradition probably originated in medieval times,
73
with pilgrims' wayside meals, as well as the gargantuan outdoor feasts held before hunting parties.
74
By the 17th century, it was common entertainment for the gentry to eat out of doors in the rustic manner.
75
However, so worried were they that inclement weather might spoil their great hooped dresses and satin breeches,
76
that they dotted little Arcadian pavilions around their grounds as a precautionary measure to dive into
77
if it rained it was not until the 18th century
78
that the essential picnic staple was invented by john montagu the fourth earl of sandwich
79
that evocative and much maligned british food icon that took his name
80
that is the end of part one now turn to part two
81
You will hear part of a radio interview with a diver.
82
For questions 7 to 15, complete the sentences with a word or short phrase.
83
You now have 45 seconds in which to look at part 2.
84
Thank you.
85
John, how did you become interested in diving?
86
I always had a great interest in underwater adventure.
87
When I was about 13, I experimented with a friend by converting some submarine escape apparatus we found.
88
I tied a sack of bricks around my waist and was lowered into about 15 feet of water in the harbour.
89
When I jerked the rope to signal that I had had enough, I saw the rope snaking down towards me.
90
I had to haul myself up the harbour wall with the bricks weighing me down and surfaced completely blue in the face.
91
I then joined the local sub aqua club the first in the british isles
92
but it wasn't until i joined the royal engineers
93
that i was trained properly what was
94
so appealing it was a new frontier in those days people
95
didn't go underwater going into a different environment was a challenge
96
like going to the moon being able to move with a mere flick of a hand
97
or foot is like flying has the equipment changed much since you started?
98
In the army we used modified firefighting apparatus
99
and we wore cumbersome rubber dry suits over a corduroy undersuit and were completely encased.
100
The mind boggles when you look at the advances made since then.
101
Is there anything you don't like underwater?
102
I've always felt uneasy around sharks.
103
You hear of ploys to chase them off but if a great white is heading for you at 80 miles per hour, you don't stand a chance.
104
Luckily, I've never been attacked by one, but some have come very close, and I saw one go for a cameraman once.
105
Have you ever made any serious mistakes?
106
The worst was when I got carried away during an archaeological search off Pathos in Cyprus.
107
I saw an ancient marble slab and was determined to bring it to the surface.
108
As I was struggling to bring it up, I suddenly realised I was running out of air.
109
I had to drop the slab and surface too fast.
110
I was swallowing water and I could hear rattling in my lungs.
111
My limbs stopped working and I was being swept by a powerful current towards some jagged rocks.
112
It was terrifying because it happened so slowly and I knew it was all my fault.
113
Luckily, a chap taking photos drew alongside in a boat, said, everything all right, and dragged me out was
114
that your most frightening experience i think so although i had another bad moment
115
while trying to raise a crane
116
that had sunk in the mud of a harbor two of us were tunnelling through the mud underneath it
117
when i felt a pressure change in my ears
118
and realized it was sinking on top of us we eased back through the mud unable to see a thing
119
and said a few well chosen words to each other what is the most beautiful place you have dived roatan
120
which is part of honduras the bay is secluded
121
and full of wrecks from aircraft to boats dating back almost
122
to the times of columbus the layers of marine life go on
123
and on into the void
124
and the colors are more vivid than any i have seen
125
have you ever really hurt yourself i smashed three front teeth that while testing a human torpedo device in Florida.
126
I hit the wrong controls by mistake and shot into the roof of a cave.
127
Have your attitudes or preferences changed?
128
I enjoy watching fish more now I've had my share of adventure.
129
I'm also particularly interested in the conservation side.
130
It didn't take long to realise that killing fish was a bit pointless and that if everyone did it, stocks would be depleted.
131
What is the most important lesson
132
that you have learned you can never be too careful familiarity breeds contempt
133
and it's easy to forget safety checks if you're going to learn join a good club and learn with trained instructors
134
buy the best equipment and don't dive alone it could be your life john thanks for talking to me today
135
Now you'll hear part two again.
136
John, how did you become interested in diving?
137
I always had a great interest in underwater adventure.
138
When I was about 13, I experimented with a friend by converting some submarine escape apparatus we found.
139
I tied a sack of bricks around my waist and was lowered into about 15 feet of water in the harbour.
140
When I jerked the rope to signal that I had had enough, I saw the rope snaking down towards me.
141
I had to haul myself up the harbour wall with the bricks weighing me down, and surfaced completely blue in the face.
142
I then joined the local sub -aqua club, the first in the British Isles, but it wasn't until I joined the Royal Engineers that I was trained properly.
143
What was so appealing?
144
It was a new frontier.
145
In those days, people didn't go underwater.
146
Going into a different environment was a challenge, like going to the moon.
147
Being able to move with a mere flick of a hand or foot is like flying.
148
Has the equipment changed much since you started?
149
In the army, we used modified firefighting apparatus.
150
We wore cumbersome rubber dry suits over a corduroy undersuit and were completely encased.
151
The mind boggles when you look at the advances made since then.
152
Is there anything you don't like underwater?
153
I've always felt uneasy around sharks.
154
You hear of ploys to chase them off, but if a great white is heading for you at 80 miles per hour, you don't stand a chance.
155
Luckily, I've never been attacked by one, but some have come very close, and I saw one go for a cameraman once.
156
Have you ever made any serious mistakes?
157
The worst was when I got carried away during an archaeological search off Paphos, in Cyprus.
158
I saw an ancient marble slab and was determined to bring it to the surface.
159
As I was struggling to bring it up, I suddenly realised I was running out of air.
160
I had to drop the slab and surface too fast.
161
I was swallowing water and I could hear rattling in my lungs.
162
My limbs stopped working and I was being swept by a powerful current towards some jagged rocks.
163
It was terrifying because it happened so slowly and I knew it was all my fault.
164
Luckily, a chap taking photos drew alongside in a boat, said, everything all right, and dragged me out.
165
Was that your most frightening experience?
166
I think so, although I had another bad moment while trying to raise a crane that had sunk in the mud of a harbour.
167
Two of us were tunnelling through the mud underneath it
168
when I felt a pressure change in my ears and realised it was sinking on top of us.
169
We eased back through the mud, unable to see a thing, and said a few well -chosen words to each other.
170
What is the most beautiful place you have dived?
171
Roatan, which is part of Honduras.
172
The bay is secluded and full of wrecks from aircraft to boats dating back almost to the times of Columbus.
173
The layers of marine life go on and on into the void, and the colours are more vivid than any I have seen.
174
Have you ever really hurt yourself?
175
I smashed three front teeth out while testing a human torpedo device in Florida.
176
I hit the wrong controls by mistake and shot into the roof of a cave.
177
Have your attitudes or preferences changed?
178
I enjoy watching fish more now I've had my share of adventure.
179
I'm also particularly interested in the conservation side.
180
It didn't take long to realise that killing fish was a bit pointless and that if everyone did it, stocks would be depleted.
181
what is the most important lesson that you have learned you can never be too careful
182
familiarity breeds contempt and it's easy to forget safety checks
183
if you're going to learn join a good club
184
and learn with trained instructors buy the best equipment
185
and don't dive alone it could be your life john thanks for talking to me today
186
that's the end of part two now turn to part three
187
you will hear part of a radio phone -in program about consumer competitions
188
that appear in magazines or are run by shops in which advice is given to people who regularly enter them
189
For questions 16 to 20, choose the answer A, B,
190
C or D, which fits best according to what you hear.
191
You now have one minute in which to look at part 3.
192
Thank you.
193
Thank you.
194
OK, today I have with me Cathy Ford, winner of more than £500 ,000 worth of prizes in all sorts of consumer competitions,
195
and dubbed the Queen of Competitions by the British Press.
196
She's now editor of Competitors World magazine, and as an expert on competitions, has appeared regularly on TV.
197
Cathy, let's go straight to our first caller, and that's Diana.
198
Diana, what's your query?
199
Yes.
200
Hello, Cathy.
201
Well, in order to send in two entries to a competition where only one entry per person was allowed, I asked my best friend if I could submit an entry in her name.
202
She agreed, and the understanding was that if her entry won, I would receive the prize, but I would buy her a small gift for allowing me to use her name.
203
Well, the inevitable has happened.
204
I've won a much -needed new washing machine, but in my friend's name, and she has now refused point -blank to hand the machine over.
205
If I went to a lawyer, would I have any hope of getting my prize from her?
206
Not even the faintest chance.
207
I'm afraid that your efforts to evade the rules have not only cost you the prize, but also your best friend as well, and legally you just don't have a leg to stand on.
208
Even if you'd drawn up some sort of legal agreement with your erstwhile friend, I think you'd find that the law would still take a very dim view of your case,
209
since it was obviously done with premeditated fraudulent intent.
210
It's not worth trying to evade the rules, as you've just found out the hard way.
211
Next, it's Ron.
212
Ron, go ahead.
213
You're through to Cathy.
214
Someone told me that some firms that run competitions keep a blacklist of frequent prize winners, and that I should use a lot of different aliases in order to avoid being put on such a list.
215
Is this true?
216
No. Competitors can sometimes get a little paranoid annoyed, and if they start going through a winless spell, and we all get them from time to time,
217
they start to imagine that they've been blacklisted.
218
No reputable firm would even contemplate such a measure, and the only time there's even a faint risk of this sort of thing happening is with in -store competitions,
219
where an individual store manager might just conceivably think, oh no, not him again, and deliberately disregard your entry.
220
For mainstream competitions, however, such worries are groundless, and the use of aliases is not only unnecessary,
221
but can even prove to be pretty stupid.
222
Think about it for a moment.
223
What would happen if you won a holiday under a phony name, or were asked to prove your identity to collect a prize at a presentation ceremony?
224
My advice is to stick with your own name, and if prizes stop arriving, take a long, close look at the quality of your entries,
225
rather than trying to blame it on blacklists.
226
OK, next it's Stan.
227
Stan, what can Cathy help you with?
228
Well, Cathy, I recently entered a competition
229
which asked you to estimate the distance between a store in Newcastle and its London head office using the shortest route.
230
In order to make my entry as accurate as possible, I used a Routemaster computer programme to determine the shortest possible way and calculate the distance,
231
quite literally, from door to door.
232
Imagine my astonishment, therefore, when I sent for the result
233
and found that the answer they had given as being correct was fully 73 miles longer than mine.
234
I know my answer was correct, so do I have grounds to make a formal objection?
235
I'm sorry, but no, you haven't.
236
As far as the promoter is concerned, the key word in the instructions here is Estimate.
237
They expect you to guess, not measure the distance accurately, and it's likely that their own answer will also be based purely on an estimate.
238
As a result, judges will always be right, even when they are wrong, as in a case like this, and in entering the competition at all,
239
you have agreed to abide by the rule that states the judge's decision is final.
240
Distance estimation competitions have always given rise to this sort of controversy, and although court cases have been brought,
241
the entrant very seldom succeeds in having the decision changed.
242
You have only to check the distance charts in road atlases to see how this type of problem occurs.
243
No two ever agree, yet as far as I know, towns simply don't move around very much.
244
OK, and now on to our next caller, who is...
245
Now you'll hear part 3 again.
246
OK.
247
Today I have with me Cathy Ford, winner of more than £500 ,000 worth of prizes in all sorts of consumer competitions,
248
and dubbed the Queen of Competitions by the British Press.
249
She's now editor of Competitors World magazine, and as an expert on competitions, has appeared regularly on TV.
250
Cathy, let's go straight to our first caller, and that's Diana.
251
Diana, what's your query?
252
Yes.
253
Hello, Cathy.
254
Well, in order to send in two entries to a competition where only one entry per person was allowed, I asked my best friend if I could submit an entry in her name.
255
She agreed, and the understanding was that if her entry won, I would receive the prize, but I would buy her a small gift for allowing me to use her name.
256
Well, the inevitable has happened.
257
I've won a much -needed new washing machine, but in my friend's name, and she has now refused point -blank to hand the machine over.
258
If I went to a lawyer, would I have any hope of getting my prize from her?
259
Not even the faintest chance.
260
I'm afraid that your efforts to evade the rules have not only cost you the prize, but also your best friend as well, and legally you just don't have a leg to stand on.
261
Even if you'd drawn up some sort of legal agreement with your erstwhile friend, I think you'd find that the law would still take a very dim view of your case,
262
since it was obviously done with premeditated fraudulent intent.
263
It's not worth trying to evade the rules, as you've just found out the hard way.
264
Next, it's Ron.
265
Ron, go ahead, you're through to Cathy.
266
Someone told me that some firms that run competitions keep a blacklist of frequent prize winners, and that I should use a lot of different aliases in order to avoid being put on such a list.
267
Is this true?
268
No. Competitors can sometimes get a little paranoid, and if they start going through a winless spell,
269
and we all get them from time to time, they start to imagine that they've been blacklisted.
270
No reputable firm would even contemplate such a measure, and the only time there's even a faint risk of this sort of thing happening is with in -store competitions,
271
where an individual store manager might just conceivably think, oh no, not him again, and deliberately disregard your entry.
272
For mainstream competitions, however, such worries are groundless, and the use of aliases is not only unnecessary, but can even prove to be pretty stupid.
273
Think about it for a moment.
274
What would happen if you won a holiday under a phony name?
275
Or were asked to prove your identity to collect a prize at a presentation ceremony?
276
My advice is to stick with your own name, and if prizes stop arriving, take a long, close look at the quality of your entries,
277
rather than trying to blame it on blacklists.
278
OK, next it's Stan.
279
Stan, what can Cathy help you with?
280
Well, Cathy, I recently entered a competition
281
which asked you to estimate the distance between a store in Newcastle and its London head office using the shortest route.
282
In order to make my entry as accurate as possible, I used a Routemaster computer programme to determine the shortest possible way and calculate the distance,
283
quite literally, from door to door.
284
Imagine my astonishment, therefore, when I sent for the result
285
and found that the answer they had given as being correct was fully 73 miles longer than mine.
286
I know my answer was correct, so do I have grounds to make a formal objection?
287
I'm sorry, but no, you haven't.
288
As far as the promoter is concerned, the key word in the instructions here is Estimate.
289
They expect you to guess, not measure the distance accurately, and it's likely that their own answer will also be based purely on an estimate.
290
As a result, judges will always be right, even when they are wrong, as in a case like this, and in entering the competition at all,
291
you have agreed to abide by the rule that states the judge's decision is final.
292
distance estimation competitions have always given rise to this sort of controversy
293
and although court cases have been brought the entrant very seldom
294
succeeds in having the decision changed you have only to check
295
the distance charts in road atlases to see how this type
296
of problem occurs no two ever agree yet as far as
297
i know towns simply don't move around very much okay and now on to our next caller who is
298
That's the end of part 3.
299
Now turn to part 4.
300
Part 4 consists of two tasks.
301
You will hear five short extracts in which people are talking about their day at work.
302
Look at Task 1.
303
For questions 21 to 25, choose from the list A to H what happened at work.
304
Now look at Task 2.
305
For questions 26 to 30, choose from the list A to H each speaker's feeling about what happened.
306
While you listen, you must complete both tasks.
307
You now have 45 seconds in which to look at part 4.
308
Thank you.
309
Speaker 1 I didn't think there was any point doing it, but I had to just do as I was told and get on with it.
310
It took me ages, because it all had to be ready ahead of the meeting at the end of the day, and I slogged away without much of a break to get it all done.
311
And guess what?
312
They didn't have time to discuss it in the meeting, which is what I'd guessed anyway.
313
It's the sort of thing that happens quite often, but I've got used to it now.
314
In this particular case, I think that what I did might very well prove to have been worth it eventually, because I think there's a good chance they'll go ahead with the project before too long.
315
Speaker 2 Well, nobody's perfect,
316
and that includes him, so I don't know why he thinks he can tell everyone else off
317
when he's always getting things wrong himself.
318
There's no point arguing with him, though.
319
You just get in even more trouble, as some of my colleagues have found out to their cost.
320
So I just had to take it when he came and made a big thing about how badly I'd done the work.
321
In actual fact, the problem was a trivial one that took about ten seconds to fix.
322
I never let it get to me, though.
323
I know what it is like, and it doesn't bother me.
324
It's strange to suddenly find myself singled out.
325
I never thought they'd choose me for the trade fair.
326
I assumed there were far better candidates.
327
It's the sort of thing that will stand me in very good stead and might lead to other things, too.
328
I never expected such a thing to happen, and if I'm honest, I'm not sure I'm ready for it.
329
The prospect of going there and being responsible for potential deals and new business fills me with a certain amount of dread.
330
I'd hate to mess it up.
331
Speaker 4 I wasn't exactly looking forward to it,
332
as I was expecting her to be very negative about my performance in recent times.
333
I'd anticipated what she might have a go at me for, and I'd prepared my defence.
334
And indeed, she did start off by asking me how I thought I'd been doing recently,
335
but I was surprised to see that she was very much on my side.
336
It was, I thought, a very good piece of management, acknowledging that there was room for improvement, but balancing it with praise for the positives.
337
Speaker 5 I thought there would be lots of arguments, and very little would be agreed,
338
if anything, because those people simply do not get on well together, and don't have any respect for each other normally.
339
Well, that's not what happened.
340
This time, everything went through smoothly, and the whole thing was over in next to no time.
341
Quite why it all went so well is something I can't work out.
342
It doesn't make sense that they should suddenly all agree.
343
There must be some logical reason, but I can't see it.
344
Now you'll hear part four again.
345
Speaker one.
346
I didn't think there was any point doing it, but I had to just do as I was told and get on with it.
347
It took me ages, because it all had to be ready ahead of the meeting at the end of the day, and I slogged away without much of a break to get it all done.
348
And guess what?
349
They didn't have time to discuss it in the meeting, which is what I'd guessed anyway.
350
It's the sort of thing that happens quite often, but I've got used to it now.
351
In this particular case, I think that what I did might very well prove to have been worth it eventually, because I think there's a good chance they'll go ahead with the project before too long.
352
Speaker 2 Well, nobody's perfect,
353
and that includes him, so I don't know why he thinks he can tell everyone else off
354
when he's always getting things wrong himself.
355
There's no point arguing with him, though.
356
You just get in even more trouble, as some of my colleagues have found out to their cost.
357
So I just had to take it when he came and made a big thing about how badly I'd done the work.
358
In actual fact, the problem was a trivial one that took about ten seconds to fix.
359
I never let it get to me, though.
360
I know what he's like, and it doesn't bother me.
361
It's strange to suddenly find myself singled out.
362
I never thought they'd choose me for the trade fair.
363
I assumed there were far better candidates.
364
It's the sort of thing that will stand me in very good stead and might lead to other things too.
365
I never expected such a thing to happen, and if I'm honest, I'm not sure I'm ready for it.
366
The prospect of going there and being responsible for potential deals and new business fills me with a certain amount of dread.
367
I'd hate to mess it up.
368
Speaker 4 I wasn't exactly looking forward to it,
369
as I was expecting her to be very negative about my performance in recent times.
370
I'd anticipated what she might have a go at me for, and I'd prepared my defence.
371
And indeed, she did start off by asking me how I thought I'd been doing recently.
372
But I was surprised to see that she was very much on my side.
373
It was, I thought, a very good piece of management, acknowledging that there was room for improvement, but balancing it with praise for the positives.
374
Speaker 5 I thought there would be lots of arguments, and very little would be agreed, if anything.
375
Because those people simply do not get on well together, and don't have any respect for each other normally.
376
Well, that's not what happened.
377
This time everything went through smoothly, and the whole thing was over in next to no time.
378
Quite why it all went so well is something I can't work out.
379
It doesn't make sense that they should suddenly all agree.
380
There must be some logical reason, but I can't see it.
381
That is the end of part four.
382
There will now be a pause of five minutes for you to copy your answers onto the separate answer sheet.
383
Be sure to follow the numbering of all the questions.
384
Then your supervisor will collect all the question papers and answer sheets.
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Boost Your English Skills with This C2 Proficiency Listening Clip
What You'll Learn
This video is a goldmine for building practical speaking skills. First, you’ll master confident communication in real-life scenarios—like explaining car issues to a mechanic or handling customer inquiries. You’ll also learn to navigate conversational sarcasm, as seen in the second extract where the speaker uses dry humor to respond to doubt. Plus, it’s perfect for practicing active listening—picking up details like "tyres needed balancing" or "ring off" that are key for C2-level comprehension.
Listen For These Sounds
Connected speech is everywhere in this dialogue! Notice how "give it a whirl" links smoothly, with "it a" blending into "i-ta". You’ll also hear reductions like "didn’t have a clue" becoming "din’t hav a clue" and "you don’t know" sounding more like "yuh don’t know". Pay attention to how "might help if I ever broke down" flows—"if I" connects to "if-eye" in fast speech. These nuances are crucial for understanding native speakers and sounding natural yourself.
Say It Like a Native
To mirror the speaker’s rhythm, try the shadowing technique (or "shadowspeak"): play a short clip, pause, and repeat it immediately, copying the stress and intonation. For example, in "Not only will it give you independence, but it could save you a few quid too," stress "independence" and "save" to emphasize the benefits. In the sarcastic line "Yes, well, we are fairly useless, but you never know," drag out "fairly useless" to highlight the humor. Practice this daily, and you’ll soon notice your pronunciation and fluency improving. Remember, learning English with videos like this—combined with shadow speak—makes practice fun and effective!
Whether you’re prepping for the C2 Proficiency test or just want to sound more like a native, this clip offers endless opportunities to refine your skills. Start shadowing today and watch your confidence soar!
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | if everyone did it, stocks would be · if her entry won, I would receive · If I went to a lawyer, would I |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've answered · has not seen · I've always felt |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was invented · was lowered · was trained |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who say · people who carry · Roatan, which is |
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.