Shadowing Practice: Could Alzheimer's start in our nose? - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
38 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
There is a theory that Alzheimer's starts in the nose.
2
Now I'm not talking here about the fact that Alzheimer's patients tend to lose their sense of smell, often years before they notice any memory loss.
3
I'm talking about the idea that maybe the whole thing just starts because of your nose.
4
So the thing you've got to know is
5
that your brain is locked away from the rest of your body in like a fortress, right?
6
Even your blood can't get into your brain without going past
7
some really heavy duty bounces in the form of the blood -brain barrier
8
but one of the few areas where it has a connection
9
to the outside is through your nose right just behind your eyes sitting behind your nose
10
there is like a little bit of your skull
11
that is covered in tiny holes through
12
which your olfactory nerves will dangle to give you your sense of smell it's a bit like
13
if you squished play -doh through a colander anyway to see if
14
that was a potential route into the brain for infection a group of scientists they took a bunch of mice
15
and then squirted chlamydia up their noses um now it was chlamydia pneumonia
16
which is a sort of bacterial cousin of um if the one
17
that gives you an sti
18
but why let facts get in the way of a good
19
sentence anyway to their surprise within 72 hours these mice who just had something put into their nose
20
had an infection that traveled up into their brains
21
that had then triggered the same kind of inflammatory response and plaques that you see in brains that are riddled with alzheimer's
22
Another study was looking at stray dogs in Mexico.
23
They took some that had lived around areas with lots of really bad pollution
24
and then others that had been living in really rural locations.
25
And they found in the dogs from the cities,
26
inside of their brain were embedded really tiny little flecks of metals thought to have come from exhausts and braking of cars.
27
And each one of those fragments was then surrounded again by the same plaques, same inflammatory responses that you end up seeing in Alzheimer's.
28
The latest research has been looking at young children
29
and adults who also grew up in really heavily polluted areas and found essentially the same thing.
30
Stuff that is theorised to have got into the brain, through the nose, kind of sniffed up from the environment around,
31
that is then kind of surrounded by these plaques and inflammatory response that you end up seeing in people decades, decades, decades later who have Alzheimer's.
32
So here is the theory.
33
Maybe one, the whole thing starts way, way, way, way, way before we thought.
34
And two, maybe this isn't just something that goes wrong in your brain.
35
Maybe the plaques that cause Alzheimer's are what's left over after your brain has fought off an outside invader.
36
Interesting, isn't it?
37
Anyway, if you want the full rundown, I've done a new scientist column on it, and you can see it on their website.
38
Enjoy.
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
Same Channel
C19
Keep Calm and Carrot On - The lie about carrots and night vision
British AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C11
Very excited to share that I now have a column in New Scientist
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C114
Why birds don't crash (and what humans can learn from them)
British AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B29
An unfortunate naming accident
British AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C13
How would Alan Turing have played the Traitors?
British AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B2I'm ever so pleased to make your acquaintance
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C12
23 sentences
3-D Brain Scans | Pathways 2
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
C121 sentences
Can You Guess the Diagnosis Before I Do? 👀
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
C11
284 sentences
Why do people smoke?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B211
22 sentences
Could Bacon at Breakfast Lead to Dementia?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
239 sentences
4 How to use PCR and qPCR
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
C137 sentences
Your Brain Isn't Rotting. Here's What Doomscrolling Actually Does
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
746 sentences
Blindboy discovers the link between gut health and mental health
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C12
530 sentences
Human Immortality 4K | Can Science Defeat Aging?
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C11
380 sentences
A man hiked in the woods. Every brain cell got cooked.
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
125 sentences
The Surprising Reason Your Past Still Controls You
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C16
32 sentences
What if quantum physics could eradicate illness? | Jim Al-Khalili for Big Think
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C18
55 sentences
When AIs act emotional
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Could Alzheimer's start in our nose?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: brain, nose, plaques, inflammatory, decades. This video has 38 sentences and 522 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:33. The speaker talks fast, about 204 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| plaque noun | /plæk/ | Any flat, thin piece of clay, ivory, metal, etc., used for ornament, or for painting pictures upon, as a dish, plate, slab, etc., hung upon a wall; also, a… |
| inflammatory adjective | /ɪnˈflæmət(ə)ɹi/ | Tending to inflame or provoke somebody. |
| infection noun | /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/ | The act or process of infecting. |
| mouse noun | /maʊs/ | Any mammal of the many rodent families (especially Muridae) that have a small body and a long tail. |
| scientist noun | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research… |
| surround verb | /səˈɹaʊnd/ | To encircle something or simultaneously extend in all directions. |
| essentially adverb | /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/ | In essence: by nature. |
| cousin noun | /ˈkʌz(ə)n/ | Chiefly with a qualifying word: Any relation (especially a distant one) who is not a direct ancestor or descendant but part of a person's extended family; a… |
| column noun | /ˈkɒləm/ | A solid upright structure designed usually to support a larger structure above it, such as a roof or horizontal beam, but sometimes for decoration. |
| trigger noun | /ˈtɹɪɡɚ/ | A finger-operated lever used to fire a gun. |
| pollution noun | /pəˈluʃən/ | Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc. |
| nerve noun | /nɝv/ | A bundle of neurons with their connective tissue sheaths, blood vessels and lymphatics. |
| barrier noun | /ˈbæɹi.ə/ | A structure that bars passage. |
| bounce verb | /baʊns/ | To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle. |
| brake noun | /bɹeɪk/ | A device used to slow or stop the motion of a wheel, or of a vehicle, usually by friction (although other resistive forces, such as electromagnetic fields or… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| fight off verb | To succeed in defeating a challenge, or an attack. |
| go past verb | To elapse. (said of time) |
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 locked · is covered · are riddled |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has fought · I've done |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 7 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, isn't, can't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: infection /ɪnˈfɛkʃən/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, pollution /pəˈluʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: inflammatory /ɪnˈflæmət(ə)ɹi/, essentially /ɪˈsɛnʃəli/, chlamydia /kləˈmɪd.i.ə/, olfactory /ɑlˈfæk.təɹ.i/
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 plaque, inflammatory, infection.
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.