Shadowing Practice: Cambridge Ielts 16 Reading test 2 Passage 3 - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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of microbes so that babies get the best start in life.
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Passage 3.
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How to make wise decisions.
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Across cultures, wisdom has been considered one of the most revered human qualities.
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Although the truly wise may seem few and far between, empirical research examining wisdom suggests
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that it isn't an exceptional trait possessed by a small handful of bearded philosophers after all in fact, the latest studies suggest that most of us have the ability to make wise decisions,
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given the right context.
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It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors are even more powerful in shaping wisdom than previously imagined,
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says Associate Professor Igor Grossman of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada.
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Recent empirical findings from cognitive,
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developmental, social, and personality psychology cumulatively suggest that people's ability to reason wisely varies dramatically across experiential and situational contexts.
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Understanding the role of such contextual factors offers unique insights into understanding wisdom in daily life, as well as how it can be enhanced and taught.
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It seems that it's not so much that some people simply possess wisdom and others lack it, but that our ability to reason wisely depends on a variety of external factors.
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It is impossible to characterize thought processes attributed to wisdom without considering the role of contextual factors, explains Grossman.
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In other words, wisdom is not solely an inner quality, but rather unfolds as a function of situations people happen to be in.
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Some situations are more likely to promote wisdom than others.
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Coming up with a definition of wisdom is challenging, but Grossman and his colleagues have identified four key characteristics as part of a framework of wise reasoning.
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One is intellectual humility or recognition of the limits of our own knowledge, and another is appreciation of perspectives wider than the issue at hand.
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Sensitivity to the possibility of change in social relations is also key, along with compromise or integration of different attitudes and beliefs.
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Grossman and his colleagues have also found
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that one of the most reliable ways to support wisdom in
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our own day-to-day decisions is to look at scenarios from a third-party perspective, as though giving advice to a friend.
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Research suggests that when adopting a first-person viewpoint we focus on the focal features of the environment
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and when we adopt a third person observer viewpoint we reason more broadly
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and focus more on interpersonal and moral ideals such as justice and impartiality.
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Looking at problems from this more expansive viewpoint appears to foster cognitive processes related to wise decisions.
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What are we to do then
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when confronted with situations like a disagreement with a spouse or negotiating a contract at work
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that require us to take a personal stake?
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Grossman argues that even when we aren't able to change the situation, we can still evaluate these experiences from different perspectives.
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For example, in one experiment that took place during the peak of a recent economic recession, graduating college seniors were asked to reflect on their job prospects.
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The students were instructed to imagine their career either, as if you were a distant observer, or, before your own eyes as if you were right there.
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Participants in the group assigned to the distant observer role displayed more wisdom-related reasoning, intellectual humility and recognition of change,
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than did participants in the control group.
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In another study, couples in long-term romantic relationships were instructed to visualize an unresolved relationship conflict either through the eyes of an outsider
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or from their own perspective.
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Participants then discussed the incident with their partner for 10 minutes, after which they wrote down their thoughts about it.
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Couples in the others' eyes condition were significantly more likely to rely on wise reasoning,
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recognizing others' perspectives and searching for a compromise compared to the couples in the egocentric condition.
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Ego decentering promotes greater focus on others and enables a bigger picture, conceptual view of the experience, affording recognition of intellectual humility and change, says Grossman.
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We might associate wisdom with intelligence or particular personality traits,
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but research shows only a small positive relationship between wise thinking and crystallized intelligence and the personality traits of openness and agreeableness.
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It is remarkable how much people can vary in their wisdom from one situation to the next,
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and how much stronger such contextual effects are for understanding the relationship between wise judgment
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and its social and effective outcomes as compared to the generalized traits grossman explains
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that is knowing how wisely a person behaves in a given situation is more informative for understanding their emotions
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or likelihood to forgive or retaliate as compared to knowing whether the person may be wise in general
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Cambridge Ielts 16 Reading test 2 Passage 3”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: wisdom, wise, grossman, situation, perspective. This video has 47 sentences and 776 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:40. The speaker talks at a natural 167 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 74% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| trait noun | /tɹeɪt/ | An identifying characteristic, habit or trend. |
| contextual adjective | Of, pertaining to, or depending on the context of information; relating to the situation or location in which the information was found. | |
| humility noun | /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/ | The characteristic of being humble; humbleness in character and behavior. |
| wisely adverb | /ˈwaɪzli/ | In a wise manner; using good judgement. |
| viewpoint noun | /ˈvjuː.pɔɪnt/ | The position from which something is observed or considered |
| participant noun | /pɑːɹˈtɪsəpənt/ | One who participates. |
| observer noun | /əbˈzɝvɚ/ | One who makes observations, monitors or takes notice. |
| experiential adjective | /ɪkˌspɪɹiˈɛnʃəl/ | Of, related to, encountered in, or derived from experience. |
| instruct verb | /ɪnˈstɹʌkt/ | To teach by giving instructions. |
| situational adjective | /sɪtjuːˈeɪʃənəl/ | Of or pertaining to a particular situation or situations in general. |
| empirical adjective | /ɪmˈpɪɹɪkəl/ | Pertaining to or based on experience, as opposed to theory. |
| colleague noun | /ˈkɒliːɡ/ | A fellow member of a profession, staff, academic faculty or other organization; an associate, a workmate. |
| possess verb | /pəˈzɛs/ | To have (something) as, or as if as, an owner; to have, to own. |
| agreeableness noun | The quality of being agreeable or pleasing; that quality which gives satisfaction or moderate pleasure to the mind or senses. | |
| characterize verb | /ˈkɛɹəktəɹaɪz/ | To depict someone or something a particular way (often negative). |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
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 | has been considered · can be enhanced · were asked |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been considered · have identified · have also found |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: experiential /ɪkˌspɪɹiˈɛnʃəl/, situational /sɪtjuːˈeɪʃənəl/, visualize /ˈvɪʒuəˌlaɪz/, recession /ɹɪˈsɛʃn̩/, negotiate /nəˈɡəʊ.ʃi.eɪt/
- Long words — get the stress right: humility /hjuːˈmɪlɪti/, participant /pɑːɹˈtɪsəpənt/, experiential /ɪkˌspɪɹiˈɛnʃəl/, situational /sɪtjuːˈeɪʃənəl/, empirical /ɪmˈpɪɹɪkəl/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like trait, contextual, humility.
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.