Shadowing Practice: ENGLISH SPEECH | EILEEN GU: Courage To Try (English Subtitles) - Learn English Speaking with Video
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100 sentences
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Stiglish heads of government, young thought leaders, ladies and gentlemen, 大家好!
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It's an honor and privilege to speak to you today at the World Development Forum as you've dealt it.
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Too often, the notion of being a young person in today's world is associated with the multitude of issues
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that we have inherited.
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Devastating wars, catastrophic climate crisis, and inequality due to race, gender, or religion.
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It's an option to feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of circumstances
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that we find ourselves in and to grow cynical in the face or appearance and significance.
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After all, we're only young.
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What can we possibly do?
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My response to this quantity is simple.
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We must recognize our youth not as a hindrance but as a strength.
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Today, with the resources we have at our disposal, being young no longer means being by ease.
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But it does mean being in turn and on curiosity.
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It means that all of our youthful energy and zeal can positively reinforce itself as we discover the world around us.
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It means we are invigorated to ask new questions, to connect with different cultures, and to inspire change in the communities that we inhabit.
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This is why I've always been an outspoken advocate for education and remain two full-time school.
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Now, I balance classes at Stanford with being a program with sorority, founding a basketball team, at a board club, and taking part in other student-led groups.
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I'm often asked why I choose to remain
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so engaged in campus life despite balancing training as a professional athlete and also work in the fashion industry.
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The truth is that breathing through the backstage butterflies of a fashion show, attending world-view expanded, literally, astrophysics lectures,
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and performing double-corks on skis all in the same week,
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brought into my respect team and allows me to wield a diverse array of experience when it comes to confronting new situations.
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The truly exciting part of this is that students, is that as students, young people get to experience the very same phenomenon right on their own campus,
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in their own microcosms.
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By communicating with people who are different from themselves, students can cultivate a wealth of knowledge that extends far beyond the confines of the classroom.
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One particularly valuable skill that I've learned
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and have come to treasure in the process of campus learning is that which I call critical curiosity.
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This is the practice of approaching dissonant conversations with both an educated mind and an open heart.
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An important distinction to be made here is between being wide-eyed and gullible and being critically curious.
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Armed with both unprecedented access to information and digital citizenship skills,
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modern young people are uniquely positioned to be both inquisitive and discerning.
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A second key component of critical curiosity is the expulsion of the ego from the learning process.
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To be curious is to be humble, and to be humble is to be willing to be well.
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Skiyus taught me to appreciate the value of resilience
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when it comes to modifying my approach after my original ideas were just proven.
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I have I have been wrong.
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A lot.
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I've sustained injuries, lost a four-year win streak after a contest was cancelled, and I predicted the weather wrong of things.
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And I'm also reminded to stubborn mental barriers that made me want to bang my metastorical head and implement metastorical nulls.
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The important decision in these moments of misjudgment, though, was to consult my repository of knowledge and formulate a new plan on the spot.
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Yip Yong does not make me a bad skier, but it does make me human.
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I believe that school gave me the true locks to learn more effectively, while training taught me how to continue that learning in my world, the broader scope of my life,
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and in the world beyond it, even if I fail the first, second, or the third time.
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Combining these skills has allowed me to ask hard questions with
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a true willingness to learn rather than sheltering behind what is familiar to me.
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In short, being a young person balancing school with sport encouraged me to be critically curious, and that allowed me to be a student of the world.
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Critical curiosity is especially salient in the context of modern misinformation.
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Closed-likeliness is corrosive.
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It degrades the fabrics of domestic social, economic, and political spheres, breaks down international dialogue and exchange,
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and is ultimately harmful for global development.
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As individuals or nations, we will not always agree on the specifics of every issue.
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But when we approach collaboration the right way, our differences are not our weakness.
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They are our strength.
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No matter how well-equipped we may be in our own fields, there's always something to be learned from the individual sitting right next to us.
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We can't overcome the forces that divide us and pin us against one another.
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All we have to do is be critically curious.
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And so I implore you, no matter your age, to keep
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that seed of youthful curiosity in the back of your mind and to let it see the sunlight often.
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If curiosity shows you the world, then courage to share it with others.
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I'm privileged and grateful to have the platform that I do, and I consider it both an honor and a duty to use it to enact positive change in the world.
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I gave my first speech on equality in women's sports in Title IX when I was in the seventh grade, and since then I've made it my mission to encourage young people, particularly girls, to participate in sports.
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This cause is what gave me the courage to do the brightest thing I've ever done.
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At the 2022 Beijing Olympics, I've stood at the top of the big air.
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On my last run in the finals, I'd already completed my two best tricks in the two runs prior, and I'm sitting in third place,
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which was a respectable position for my first event at my first Olympics at the age of 18.
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But I had something else in mind.
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I wanted to try an unnatural dump cork 1620.
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Now this is a trick that no woman before me, myself included, had ever attempted during training.
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It was 50% orientation than the hardest trick that I could do, and to boot it was a very unnatural direction, which is kind of like right in with your left hand.
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I had one chance to land the two flips and four
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and a half spins with the pressure of millions and millions of people watching on my shoulders.
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So I did the normal thing and I called my mom.
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She asked what I was going to do.
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I told her.
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And she told me not to do it.
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She said that it was too dangerous, that I had two ornaments after Big Air, one of which I was the favorite to win, and so all in all the decision was far too risky.
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I'm remiss, of course, but I also need the help
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that I felt in that moment as a young woman in a male-dominated sport.
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I had the opportunity to send a profound message to all the whole girls watching at home.
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I have maintained that the confidence,
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creativity, and passion that sports endow in young athletes allow them to empower them to step outside their comfort zones,
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to break their boundaries, and become pioneers in their own right.
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But sometimes it just takes a tiny external impetus for someone to close the gap between theory and practice.
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This is where representation comes in.
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I knew that in that moment it was my turn to practice what I preached
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and to demonstrate that I was a young woman just like them, and that if I could be unafraid to try, then they could too.
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The most important decision is the one to believe in yourself, to choose to believe that things are only impossible until then done,
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and that there is no one better than you to step up to the challenge.
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What followed was the most intense flow state of my life, culminating in my two feet on the ground and the realization that my life would never be the same.
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Now, over 346 million people in China have started Snow Sports,
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and I feel more proud and more confident using my voice as a force for good every day.
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A curious and empowering young person who has both the skills and vision to share a message is a formidable force, and I'd encourage all who do to speak proudly.
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We do not have to wait until we are older to change the mold.
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We can do it right now, aided by the qualities that are native and familiar to us.
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As I've illustrated, meaningful impact is not limited to words.
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We can achieve cultural communication and connection through various other human avenues, such as sports, art, music, food, or fashion.
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World development needs uplifting others, and so to the young leaders in this room, I hope
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that you will join me doing our part to make the world a better place in our own We are very appreciative.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 100 sentences and 1538 words to shadow. The speech runs for 9:34. The speaker talks at a natural 161 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- curiosity /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/ (noun) — Inquisitiveness; the tendency to ask and learn about things by asking questions, investigating, or exploring.
- curious /ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/ (adjective) — Tending to ask questions, or to want to explore or investigate; inquisitive; (with a negative connotation) nosy, prying.
- trick /ˈtɹɪk/ (noun) — Something designed to fool, dupe, outsmart, mislead or swindle.
- encourage /ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/ (verb) — To mentally support; to motivate, give courage, hope or spirit.
- critically /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kə.li/ (adverb) — In a critical manner; with, or in terms of, criticism.
- courage /ˈkʌ.ɹɪd͡ʒ/ (noun) — The quality of being confident, not afraid or easily intimidated, but without being incautious or inconsiderate.
- privilege /ˈpɹɪv.(ɪ.)lɪd͡ʒ/ (noun) — A particular benefit, advantage, or favor; a right or immunity enjoyed by some but not others; a prerogative, preferential treatment.
- 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.
- humble /ˈhʌmbəl/ (adjective) — Not pretentious or magnificent; unpretending; unassuming.
- cork /kɔɹk/ (noun) — The dead protective tissue between the bark and cambium in woody plants, with suberin deposits making it impervious to gasses and water.
- youthful /ˈjuθfəl/ (adjective) — Young or seeming young.
- empower /ɪmˈpaʊ.ə/ (verb) — To give permission, power, or the legal right to do something.
- passion /ˈpæʃən/ (noun) — A true desire sustained or prolonged.
- avenue /ˈæv.əˌn(j)u/ (noun) — A broad street, especially one bordered by trees or, in cities laid out in a grid pattern, one that is on a particular side of the city or that runs in a…
- participate /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/ (verb) — To join in, to take part, to involve oneself (in something).
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- break down (verb) — To stop functioning.
- come in /ˌkʌm ˈɪn/ (verb) — To enter.
- have at (verb) — To take on; to begin dealing with.
- plan on (verb) — To expect; to anticipate future actions based on.
- sit in (verb) — To attend a class, educational presentation, meeting, etc. for one time, as a visitor.
- work in (verb) — To find time or space for, amid other things.
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 17 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, I'm, I'd. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: athlete /ˈæθ.liːt/, youthful /ˈjuθfəl/, breathe /bɹiːð/, seventh /ˈsɛvənθ/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: passion /ˈpæʃən/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈɹeɪʃən/, shelter /ˈʃɛltə/, notion /ˈnoʊʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: curiosity /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/, critically /ˈkɹɪt.ɪ.kə.li/, participate /pɑːˈtɪs.ɪ.peɪt/, representation /ˌɹɛp.ɹə.zɛnˈteɪ.ʃən/, collaboration /kəˌlæbəˈɹeɪʃən/
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 curiosity, curious, trick.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | you've dealt · have inherited · I've always been |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is associated · are invigorated · be made |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | people who are · direction, which is · person who has |
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.