Shadowing Practice: Don't Despair - Learn English Speaking with Video
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34 sentences
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1
The difficult thing about being in despair is that we feel we know exactly what the future's going to bring.
2
More darkness, more misery, more sadness.
3
But in our worst moods, we should answer our tragic sense with a simple question.
4
How can we know?
5
On what basis has this dark certainty of ongoing damnation be formed?
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How can we, from our vantage point under the bedclothes, tell what the rest of our lives will be like.
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Have we got a crane from which to inspect the recesses of next summer?
8
Can we from here meet everyone we're going to be introduced to in the next 18 months?
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Have we become clairvoyants as well?
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We can't be sure that things are going to improve from here.
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That would be naivety.
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But it's equally naive to imagine that we know they're going to stay appalling too.
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We haven't got the necessary information.
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glancing at the horizon with a hood covering most of our eyes.
15
We didn't see the last disaster coming, we certainly don't know much about the future.
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There's a famous saying attributed to Zhu Enlai, the first premier of Communist China, when he was asked what he thought about the French Revolution.
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It's too early to tell, he replied, of an event that had occurred nearly two centuries before.
18
We should want to imitate the modesty in our lives.
19
Maybe that our partner left us is a disaster, or one of the most strangely fruitful things that will ever have happened to us.
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That they aren't answering our calls could be a calamity, or five years from now an immense stroke of luck.
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It's too early to tell.
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How was today?
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It may have been an ordinary, gentle day of no consequence whatsoever, or the moment when, without our noticing,
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a thread was caught that will eventually unravel our lives.
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It's too early to tell.
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We say everything's lost, but we haven't got the right to speak for everything.
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Maybe a betrayal opens us to the greatest love story we're ever going to experience.
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Maybe their sudden change of mind has saved us from a danger we can't yet see.
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we did lose the only person who can understand us.
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It's too early to tell.
31
At the close of Sophocles' Oedipus the King, the chorus warns, call no man happy till he dies.
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And we might add, call no man unhappy till he dies either.
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We just don't know how large a hole we are in.
34
All we have a right to is a modest, sceptical awe at the mystery of everything.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 34 sentences and 432 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:41. The speaker talks at a natural 161 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% 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 |
|---|---|---|
| disaster noun | /dɪˈzɑːs.təː/ | An unexpected natural or man-made catastrophe of substantial extent causing significant physical damage or destruction, loss of life or sometimes permanent… |
| occur verb | /əˈkɜː/ | To happen or take place. |
| mystery noun | /ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/ | Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown. |
| mood noun | /muːd/ | A mental or emotional state, composure. |
| thread noun | /ˈθɹɛd/ | A cord formed by spinning or twisting together textile fibers or filaments into one or more continuous strands, typically used in needlework. |
| ordinary adjective | /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/ | Having regular jurisdiction; now only used in certain phrases. |
| sudden adjective | /ˈsʌd.ən/ | Occurring quickly with little or no warning or expectation; instantly. |
| equally adverb | /ˈiːkwəli/ | In an equal manner; in equal shares or proportion; with equal and impartial justice; evenly |
| introduce verb | /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ | To cause (someone) to be acquainted (with someone else). |
| ongoing adjective | /ɒnˈɡəʊ.ɪŋ/ | Continuing, permanent, lasting. |
| darkness noun | /ˈdɑɹk.nɪs/ | The state of being dark; lack of light; the absolute or comparative absence of light. |
| gentle adjective | /ˈd͡ʒɛntl̩/ | Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition. |
| tragic adjective | /ˈtɹæd͡ʒɪk/ | Causing great sadness or suffering. |
| consequence noun | /ˈkɑn.sɪ.kwəns/ | An effect; something that follows a cause as a result. |
| horizon noun | /həˈɹaɪ.zən/ | The visible horizontal line (in all directions) where the sky appears to meet the earth in the distance. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 11 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, don't, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: thread /ˈθɹɛd/, bedclothes /ˈbɛd.kləʊðz/
- Long words — get the stress right: ordinary /ˈɔɹdɪnɛɹi/, whatsoever /ˌ(h)wʌtsoʊˈɛvɚ/, calamity /kəˈlæmɪti/
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 disaster, occur, mystery.
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 | be formed · be introduced · was asked |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | Have we become · have happened · has saved |
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.