Shadowing Practice: Cambridge 17 listening test 4 part 3 - Learn English Speaking with Video

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96 sentences
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1
First you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.
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Now listen and answer questions 21 to 24.
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Hi Thomas, how are you enjoying the course so far?
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Yeah, I think it's good.
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Remind me, why did you decide to study sports science?
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Didn't you want to be a professional athlete when you were at school?
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Yeah, that was my goal, and all my classmates assumed I would achieve it.
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They thought I was brilliant.
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That must have been a nice feeling.
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Hmm, I thought I could win anything.
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There was no one who could run faster than me.
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Exactly.
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Okay.
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So what happened?
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Did your mum and dad want you to be more academic?
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Not at all.
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Perhaps they should have pushed me harder, though.
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What do you mean?
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I think I should have practised more.
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What makes you say that?
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Well, I went out to Kenya for a couple of weeks to train.
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Really?
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I didn't know that.
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I was chosen to go there out of loads of kids
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and run with some of the top teenage athletes in the world.
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And I was so calm about it.
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I just kept thinking how fortunate I was, what a great chance this was.
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Everyone back home was so proud of me.
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But once we started competing, I very quickly realised I wasn't good enough.
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That must have been a huge shock.
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I thought, this can't be happening.
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I was used to winning.
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I'm sorry to hear that.
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It's OK.
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I'm over it now, and I think it's much better to do a university course.
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And this one has such a variety of sports-related areas.
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It's going to be good.
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Oh, I agree.
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I chose it because of that.
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Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.
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Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.
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So, Jian, have you thought of any ideas for the discussion session next week on technology and sport?
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We have to cover more than one sport, don't we?
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Yeah.
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You know, we always think technology is about the future, but we could gather some ideas about past developments in sport.
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Look at early types of equipment, perhaps.
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Er...
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I remember reading something about table tennis bats once, how they ended up being covered with pimpled rubber.
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Cos they were just wooden at first, I'd imagine.
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Yeah.
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In about the 1920s, a factory was making rolls of the rubber in bulk for something like horse harnesses.
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Really?
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Yeah, and someone realised that it would make a perfect covering for the wooden bats.
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So, what about cricket?
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That's had a few innovative changes.
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Maybe the pads they wear on their legs?
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I don't think they've changed much, but I'm just looking on the internet.
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And it says that when the first cricket helmet came in,
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in 1978, the Australian batsman who first wore it was booed and jeered by people watching because it was so ugly.
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Oh, wow!
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Players have to protect themselves from getting hurt.
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I mean, everyone wears one now.
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Hmm, unlike the cycle helmet.
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Well, unless you're a professional.
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But you're right, many ordinary bikers don't wear a helmet.
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Hey, look at these pictures of original helmet designs.
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This one looks like an upside-down bowl.
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Yet the woman's laughing.
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She's so proud to be wearing it.
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It says serious cyclists ended up with wet hair from all the hard exercise.
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I guess that's why they have large air vents in them now, so that their skin can breathe more easily.
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OK, so we've done helmets.
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What about golf balls?
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Or better still, golf clubs?
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They've changed a lot.
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Yeah.
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I remember my great-grandfather telling me that because a club was made entirely of wood, it would easily break and players had to get another.
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There's no wood at all in them now, is there?
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No, they're much more powerful.
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The same must be true of hockey sticks.
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I don't think so, because players still use wooden sticks today.
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What it does say here, though, is that when the game started, you had to produce a stick yourself.
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I guess they just weren't being manufactured. So, one more perhaps?
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What about football?
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Well, I know the first balls were made of animal skin.
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Yeah, they covered them with pieces of leather that were stitched together.
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But the balls let in water when it rained.
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Oh, that would have made them much heavier.
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That's right.
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You can imagine the damage to players' necks when the ball was headed.
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Oh, how painful that must have been.
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Yeah.
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Well, I think we can put together some useful ideas...
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That is the end of part three.
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You now have half a minute to check your answers.
96
Thank you.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 96 sentences and 796 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:02. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 84% 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

15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

  • helmet /ˈhɛlmɪt/ (noun) — A hard, protective head covering, typically part of armour.
  • wooden /ˈwʊdn̩/ (adjective) — Made of wood.
  • cricket /ˈkɹɪkɪt/ (noun) — An insect in the order Orthoptera, especially family Gryllidae, that makes a chirping sound by rubbing its wing casings against combs on its hind legs.
  • realise (verb) — Non-Oxford British standard spelling of realize.
  • rubber /ˈɹʌbɚ/ (noun) — Pliable material derived from the sap of the rubber tree; a hydrocarbon biopolymer of isoprene.
  • athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/ (noun) — A participant in any of a group of sporting activities including track and field, road running, cross country running and racewalking.
  • shock /ʃɔk/ (noun) — A sudden, heavy impact.
  • hockey /ˈhɑ.ki/ (noun) — Any of a family of sports in which hockey sticks are used to move a ball or puck into a goal.
  • ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/ (adjective) — Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases.
  • ugly /ˈʌɡli/ (adjective) — Displeasing to the eye; aesthetically unpleasing.
  • compete /kəmˈpiːt/ (verb) — To be in battle or in a rivalry with another for the same thing, position, or reward; to contend.
  • remind /ɹəˈmaɪnd/ (verb) — To cause one to experience a memory (of someone or something); to bring to the notice or consideration (of a person).
  • leather /ˈlɛðɚ/ (noun) — A tough material produced from the skin of animals, by tanning or similar process, used e.g. for clothing; often denotes leather from cattle when no qualifier…
  • tennis /ˈtɛnɪs/ (noun) — A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
  • painful /ˈpeɪn.fl̩/ (adjective) — Causing pain or distress, either physical or mental.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

  • look at (verb) — To observe or watch.
  • come in /ˌkʌm ˈɪn/ (verb) — To enter.
  • end up (verb) — To bring to a conclusion.
  • let in (verb) — To let someone or something come in; to admit someone or something in.
  • look on (verb) — To watch; to observe without participating.
  • put together (verb) — To assemble, construct, build, or formulate.
  • run with (verb) — To be streaming with a fluid.
  • wear on (verb) — To irritate.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

  • The “th” sounds: athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, leather /ˈlɛðɚ/, breathe /bɹiːð/, gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, grandfather /ˈɡɹæn(d)ˌfɑðɚ/
  • Long words — get the stress right: ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, innovative /ˈɪn.əˌveɪtɪv/

How to practise with this video

  1. Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
  2. Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
  3. Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like helmet, wooden, cricket.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

StructureIn the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does itwas chosen · being covered · was booed
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters nowthey've changed · we've done

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →