Shadowing Practice: Cambridge Ielts 16 Reading test 3 Passage 1 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Cambridge IELTS 16, Reading Test 3.
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Passage 1.
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Roman Shipbuilding and Navigation.
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Shipbuilding today is based on science and ships are built using computers and sophisticated tools.
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Shipbuilding in ancient Rome, however, was more of an art relying on estimation, inherited techniques and personal experience.
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The Romans were not traditionally sailors, but mostly land-based people, who learned to build ships from the people that they conquered,
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namely the Greeks and the Egyptians.
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There are a few surviving written documents that give descriptions and representations of ancient Roman ships, including the sails and rigging.
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Excavated vessels also provide some clues about ancient shipbuilding techniques.
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Studies of these have taught us that ancient Roman shipbuilders built the outer hull first, then proceeded with the frame and the rest of the ship.
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Planks used to build the outer hull were initially sewn together.
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Starting from the 6th century BCE, they were fixed using a method called mortise and tenon,
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whereby one plank locked into another without the need for stitching.
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Then in the first centuries of the current era, Mediterranean shipbuilders shifted to another shipbuilding method, still in use today, which consisted of building the frame first
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and then proceeding with the hull and the other components of the ship.
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This method was more systematic and dramatically shortened ship construction times.
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The ancient Romans built large merchant ships and warships whose size and technology were unequaled until the 16th century CE.
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Warships were built to be lightweight and very speedy.
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They had to be able to sail near the coast, which is why they had no ballast or excess load and were built with a long, narrow hull.
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They did not sink when damaged and often would lie crippled on the sea's surface following naval battles.
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They had a bronze battering ram, which was used to pierce the timber hulls or break the oars of enemy vessels.
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Warships used both wind, sails, and human power and were therefore very fast.
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Eventually, Rome's navy became the largest and most powerful in the Mediterranean, and the Romans had control over what they therefore called mer nostrum meaning a sea.
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There were many kinds of warship.
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The Trireme was the dominant warship from the 7th to 4th century BCE.
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It had roars in the top, middle and lower levels, and approximately 50 roars in each bank.
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The roars at the bottom had the most uncomfortable position as they were under the other rowers
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and were exposed to the water entering through the oar holes.
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It is worth noting that contrary to popular perception, rowers were not slaves but mostly Roman citizens enrolled in the military.
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The trireme was superseded by larger ships with even more rowers.
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Merchant ships were built to transport lots of cargo over long distances and at a reasonable cost.
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They had a wider hull, double planking and a solid interior for added stability.
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Unlike warships, their V-shaped hull was deep underwater, meaning that they could not sail too close to the coast.
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They usually had two huge side rudders located off the stern
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and controlled by a small tiller bar connected to a system of cables.
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They had from one to three masts with large square sails and a small triangular sail at the bow.
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Just like warships, merchant ships used oarsmen, but coordinating the hundreds of rowers in both types of ship was not an easy task.
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In order to assist them, music would be played on an instrument, and oars would then keep time with this.
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The cargo on merchant ships included raw materials, for example iron bars, copper, marble and granite, and agricultural products,
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for example grain from Egypt's Nile Valley.
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During the Empire, Rome was a huge city by ancient standards of about 1 million inhabitants.
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Goods from all over the world would come to the city
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through the port of Popeswoli situated west of the Bay of Naples in Italy
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and through the gigantic port of Ostia situated at the mouth of the Tiber River.
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Large merchant ships would approach the destination port and, just like today, be intercepted by a number of towboats that would drag them to the quay.
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The time of travel along the many sailing routes could vary widely.
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Navigation in ancient Rome did not rely on sophisticated instruments such as compasses but on experience,
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local knowledge and observation of natural phenomena.
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In conditions of good visibility, seaman in the Mediterranean often had the mainland or islands in sight, which greatly facilitated navigation.
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They sailed by noting their position relative to a succession of recognizable landmarks.
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When weather conditions were not good or where land was no longer visible, Roman mariners estimated directions from the pole star or,
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with less accuracy, from the sun at noon.
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They also estimated directions relative to the wind and swell.
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Overall, shipping in ancient Roman times resembled shipping today with large vessels regularly crossing the seas and bringing supplies from their empire.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Cambridge Ielts 16 Reading test 3 Passage 1”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: ship, Roman, ancient, warship, hull. This video has 54 sentences and 822 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:44. The speaker talks at a steady 144 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. Only 73% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| sail noun | /seɪl/ | A piece of fabric attached to a boat and arranged such that it causes the wind to drive the boat along. The sail may be attached to the boat via a combination… |
| warship noun | /ˈwɔɹˌʃɪp/ | Any ship built or armed for naval combat. |
| hull noun | /hʌl/ | The outer covering of a fruit or seed. |
| shipbuilding noun | The construction of ships. | |
| merchant noun | /ˈmɝt͡ʃənt/ | A person who traffics in commodities for profit. |
| rower noun | /ˈɹəʊ.ə(ɹ)/ | One who rows. |
| plank noun | /ˈplæŋk/ | A flat piece of wood on which to cook fish, so that the wood provides flavor and helps to produce a pleasing texture. |
| roar verb | /ˈɹoɹ/ | To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion. |
| navigation noun | /nævɪˈɡeɪʃən/ | The theory, practice and technology of charting a course for a road vehicle, ship, aircraft, or spaceship. |
| oar noun | /oɹ/ | A type of lever used to propel a boat, having a flat blade at one end and a handle at the other, and pivoted in a rowlock atop the gunwale, whereby a rower… |
| shipbuilder noun | A person who builds vessels such as ships and boats. | |
| sophisticated adjective | Of a person: having obtained worldly experience, and lacking naiveté; cosmopolitan, worldly-wise. | |
| proceed verb | /pɹəˈsid/ | To move, pass, or go forward or onward; to advance; to carry on. |
| situated adjective | /ˈsɪt͡ʃueɪtɪd/ | Located in a specific place. |
| cargo noun | /ˈkɑɹɡoʊ/ | Freight carried by a ship, aircraft, or motor vehicle. |
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 | is based · were fixed · were unequaled |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | coast, which is · ram, which was |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: warship /ˈwɔɹˌʃɪp/, navigation /nævɪˈɡeɪʃən/, estimation /ˌɛs.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/, shorten /ˈʃɔɹtn̩/, succession /səkˈsɛʃ.ən/
- Long words — get the stress right: navigation /nævɪˈɡeɪʃən/, estimation /ˌɛs.təˈmeɪ.ʃən/, inhabitant /ɪnˈhæb.ɪ.tənt/, triangular /tɹaɪˈæŋ.ɡjə.lɚ/, visibility /ˌvɪz.əˈbɪl.ɪ.ti/
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 sail, warship, hull.
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.