Shadowing Practice: How Vietnamese Tunnels Outsmarted the U.S. Military - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Vietnam, January 1967.
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The U.S and its allies have dropped more bombs on this region
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than they did on Germany and Japan combined during World War II.
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But the Viet Cong are safe.
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Hidden beneath the ground is a tunnel network that spans over 100 kilometers.
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At the entrance is Tommy Rivera.
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His mission is to avoid the deadly traps and enemy soldiers, locate the control room, and gather intel to stop the Viet Cong's next major attack.
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If he fails, hundreds of American soldiers will die.
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Tommy climbs into the tunnel, covers the trapdoor with leaves, and closes himself inside.
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With a casualty rate of over 30%, most tunnel rats don't survive their second mission.
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Tommy is equipped with the standard issue M1911.
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But in these tunnels, it's more of a liability than a weapon.
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A single shot could alert the enemy.
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Instead, he trusts his father's old World War II knife.
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Quiet, reliable, and deadly in close combat.
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Tommy doesn't know it yet, although he is getting very close to the first chamber.
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Based on Tommy's previous missions, he is expecting a similar layout.
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Connecting to the entrance, there are three levels of tunnels.
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Tommy is in the first level, the entrance is where the Viet Cong can quickly hide away in case they are being attacked.
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The deeper he goes, the closer he gets to the main living and operations hub.
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This includes hospitals, sleeping chambers, and his target, the command center.
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At the very bottom is the Viet Cong's safest area built for emergency situations.
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Bomb shelters, evacuation tunnels, interrogation rooms, and water wells.
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Tommy creeps forward, taking short, shallow breaths to keep as silent as possible.
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His nose picks up a faint smell of rusty metal.
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The first room is near.
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Suddenly, he spots something ahead.
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A thin bamboo trigger.
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Above in the ceiling is a small camouflaged panel.
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Something's moving behind it.
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Its heart races.
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Vietnam Pit Vipers.
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Each tunnel system can hold more than 50 unique traps.
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Some explode.
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Some impale.
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Some release toxic gas.
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This one is designed to cause organ failure and internal bleeding from the venom.
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If Tommy touches the bamboo, it will send a signal by pulling out the toggle, causing the wooden panel above his head to swing open and the snakes will be released.
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Most soldiers turn back when they see what lies ahead, but Tommy can't.
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Thousands of lives depend on him finding the Viet Cong attack plans.
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He grips the dirt and starts to move.
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One elbow forward, then the next.
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He slides above the trigger.
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Three, two, one.
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And he's clear.
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But these traps only get more deadly the deeper he goes.
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This is just the beginning.
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The more Tommy crawls, the stronger the smell becomes.
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The narrow, dirt tunnel curves slightly to the left, then opens.
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He's reached the first chamber.
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Just four feet wide and five feet tall.
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This cramped design is not by accident.
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Viet Cong soldiers averaged just five feet three inches tall, while American soldiers Stood around 5'9".
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That height difference made it nearly impossible for most Americans to fit inside.
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But standing at 5'1", Tommy is perfect.
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Low wooden crates stacked against the wall holding ammunition, medical gear, and rice.
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Storage was frequently placed near the entrances allowing the Viet Cong to restock or retreat faster during battle.
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He listens for a moment to hear if anyone might be nearby.
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Silence.
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Tommy pushes forward.
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The soil down here contains high levels of clay and iron.
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When it dries, it develops concrete-like properties, stopping the tunnel from collapsing.
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However, while it's raining, there's still a risk.
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After several more minutes of crawling, he reaches the entrance.
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This chamber is larger.
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The far end is a shallow pit.
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It's a huang kham stove.
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This is where they cook.
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Unlike the Americans who had supply chains stretching from aircraft carriers to jungle outposts, the Viet Cong had to scavenge, barter, or steal their food.
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To cook and breathe, they built ventilation shafts from the tunnel ceilings to the jungle floor, disguising them as termite mounds.
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But cooking releases smoke.
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If the Americans saw it rising from the ground, their location would be compromised.
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Stay hidden.
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They only cooked meals during the morning or when it's raining, so the natural fog would Tommy squats down.
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A few pieces of rice still cling to a crusted pot.
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The embers are still warm.
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Someone was just here.
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His pulse quickens.
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Back home, on the news, Tommy constantly heard about America's success, high body counts, and tactical victories.
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But when he arrived in Vietnam, the reality felt completely different.
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Everything seems stuck with no real progress.
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That's because he had only been told one side of the story.
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The kind of bias you won't fall for if you read ground news.
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They pull data from over 50,000 sources worldwide, letting you see how different outlets frame the same story, so you can compare perspectives, form your own opinion.
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In Taiwan, news broke that the country is updating its air raid protocols, drawing lessons from Ukraine and Israel to protect civilians in the event of a Chinese invasion.
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Over 20 outlets have covered this story, with coverage split evenly across the political spectrum.
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But side by side, the contrast is clear.
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The left-leaning headline focuses simply on what Taiwan can learn from Israel, while the right-leaning one digs into how the new protocols will be implemented with its citizens.
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If you want to take back control and see what everyone else can't, Ground News is giving you the tools.
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Right now, they have a huge 40% off the Unlimited Access Vantage plan.
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But the sale is ending soon, so go to ground.news.atrium or scan the QR code before it goes.
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The enemy is nearby.
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There is no time to waste.
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Tommy hopes that this next room will be the command center, so he can get back to base and sit by the warm fire.
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He keeps crawling.
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Then, the ground begins to slope downward.
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He pauses.
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He knows exactly what that means.
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He's entering level two.
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The deepest levels are where the real secrets are hidden.
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Surgery bays, weapons workshops, supply caches, and his target, the command center.
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The air becomes thicker but sterile in a way that's unnatural for a tunnel.
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Then he hears it.
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Movement, soft and muffled.
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Tommy freezes.
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The sound echoes faintly down a tunnel to his right, shuffling.
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A whisper of voices too quiet to make out.
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They don't know he's here.
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Tommy clutches his knife.
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He waits and listens intensely, but the sound starts to fade.
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False alarm.
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As he approaches the next room, he sees a glow of light.
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A bed is pressed against the wall.
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Next to it, a stack of blood-stained bandages and scissors.
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Glass jars lined along a dugout shelf.
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In the corner is a bicycle-powered generator.
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This is a quiet way to generate electricity to light this hospital room during surgery and charge their radio equipment.
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Only found in the more developed systems, a faint tapping sound echoes through the chamber.
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Tommy goes still.
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He knows that sound.
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They are digging.
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At the start of the war, the Viet Cong would dig during the day, making it easier for Americans to locate them.
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However, now they only do it while raining or at night when the jungle sounds overpower their own.
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Others would be nearby, hauling dirt in baskets up to the surface.
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Every handful is carried far from the tunnels, scattered across fields, buried in bomb craters or dumbs into rivers into rivers.
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The surface will be crawling with Viet Cong.
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Tommy hopes the rain stops soon, otherwise his escape just got a lot harder.
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Still, not all news is bad.
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Medical rooms like this one are almost always placed on the second level, the same level as the command center.
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He's close.
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Very close.
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The tunnel tightens again.
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Tommy claws forward, the walls pressing in, his nails scratching in the dirt, until the path opens.
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He stops.
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This isn't a storage room.
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It's something else.
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He tries to see what's inside, but it's too dark.
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He knows using his flashlight could expose him, but staying blind could kill him.
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He has no choice.
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He flicks it on.
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What he sees makes his blood run cold.
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It's the trap room.
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Most designs weren't meant to kill.
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They were made for one purpose only, to make soldiers like Tommy hesitate.
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To make them afraid of the floor, the walls, everything.
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11% of combat deaths are caused by the tens of thousands of booby traps deployed by the Viet Cong soldiers.
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In the corner, a pile of bamboo, each stake sharpened to a deadly point.
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Tommy remembers the last time he saw one above ground.
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A fellow The soldier stepped on a false floor.
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The scream was brief.
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The pit was full of spikes.
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Sometimes the tips are even smeared with feces.
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Not to kill instantly, but to infect, to rot from within.
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He turns.
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In another area, a stack of tin cans.
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But it's not harmless junk.
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Inside are grenades, rigged with trip wires.
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Pull the wire, the pin yanks free.
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Boom.
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Through decades of fighting off foreign powers, the Vietnamese have learned to use the land to kill any invader.
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With a reminder of death, Tommy cuts his light and presses forward into the dark.
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He hears a faint sound and freezes.
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It's coming from ahead where the tunnel forks.
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On his left is a subtle echo of voices.
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Viet Cong, at least two, maybe more.
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To his right, silence.
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But Tommy knows what silence can mean down here.
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A dead end, or worse, a trap.
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His heart thuds.
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The left tunnel could put him face to face with the enemy.
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The right could be a trap, ending his life and the mission.
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He waits, motionless, counting his breaths.
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The voices grow clearer.
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Calm, casual, too calm.
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That's what scares him.
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He shifts his body toward the right tunnel, elbows dragging through the dirt, hips twisting.
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Each breath he takes could be his last.
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No wire, no pressure plate.
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Not yet.
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Five feet in, still nothing.
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Then the tunnel opens slightly, just enough for him to kneel.
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He is safe, for now.
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It's the second time luck is on Tommy's side.
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Deep down, he knows it won't last forever.
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And that's when he sees it.
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Ahead, lit by only the faintest glow from the lantern, is a large room, reinforced with timber,
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large maps pinned to the wall, chalk markings, folded documents.
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This isn't another survival chamber.
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This is his target, the command center.
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Tommy scans the area.
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There's no one inside.
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He moves in silent and low.
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The crude table at the center holds an unfolded map.
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A red line stretches west towards Saigon.
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Circles, notes, arrows, targets, highly classified materials.
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Somehow, the Viet Cong have secured info about an upcoming offensive.
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This was more than just the attack plans he came for.
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When Tommy left the camp, they were preparing for this very operation, including some of his closest friends.
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They spoke with quiet hope, a final push that could end the war in weeks.
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But now he realizes none of them knew the truth.
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It wasn't a breakthrough at all.
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It was an ambush.
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If Command sees this, they can call off the advance and change course.
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This isn't just another mission.
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It's personal.
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Failing to get back to the base doesn't just mean helping to defend their base, it means saving his entire platoon from a certain death.
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Tommy hears noises again.
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Closer now.
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The longer he spends in here, the more likely he is to be caught.
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He needs to find the military base attack document.
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He looks over to see some rolled up papers.
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Without enough time to look inside, he straps them under his belt.
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Now, he has another problem to worry about.
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How does he get out of here?
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As Tommy turns to crawl back the way he came, he hears shuffling.
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Close.
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Tommy grabs his knife, back pressed against the wall.
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He won't use the gun, as it will alert the entire tunnel system, making his escape so much harder.
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The shuffling grows louder.
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As the Viet Cong soldier's head enters the room, Tommy strikes.
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The man collapses.
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Tommy doesn't move.
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He listens in case anyone has been alerted.
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It's a young Viet Cong soldier.
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He flips the body over, quickly patting down his vest.
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A knife, loose ammo, some rice wrapped in a banana leaf.
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A picture of the soldier and his family.
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He can't be much older than 16, although that was a couple of years ago now.
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So much has changed since then.
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Many of the Viet Cong soldiers started young, raised in the dark, trained underground, pardoned by a war that offers no childhood.
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At this point, nearly 400,000 dead.
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Many of them are civilians.
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Nobody down here really wants to fight.
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They just don't have a choice.
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Tommy finds something else.
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A folded piece of paper, wrapped in plastic to keep it dry.
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A hand-drawn map showing a rough outline of the tunnel system.
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He identifies his location.
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Then, another symbol near the way out, closer to the surface.
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With limited Vietnamese, he makes out the word prisoner.
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If someone's still alive down here, he can't leave them to die.
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Out here, the Americans have a code.
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No man gets left behind.
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Still, it could easily be a trap.
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The Viet Cong often turn this against them, turning prisoners into bait.
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Tommy tucks the map into his chest pocket, grabs the Viet Cong's body, and hides it in the corner of the room.
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The mission just got much more complicated.
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In less than 10 minutes, someone will find the body, and when they do, Tommy will still be in the tunnels.
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If he's going to free this prisoner, Tommy's going to need to fight.
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Guided by the map, he takes a hard turn down the new passage.
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The air grows colder, the floor angles sharply downward, his knees scrape and boots slip.
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The tunnel continues to twist deeper into the earth than anything he's ever encountered.
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Whoever this prisoner is, they must be important.
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No one gets buried this deep without a reason.
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As Tommy rounds the last bend, he hears something.
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voices, not footsteps, but breathing.
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That's when he feels his elbow hit a string.
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This pulls a cord directly attached to a pin.
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He closes his eyes.
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This could be the end.
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A piece of string with metal scraps is attached, which is propelled toward a metal bell, making a loud clang.
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It's a noise trap.
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His heart pounds.
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They know.
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Tommy exits the tunnel into the room.
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A figure hangs from a bamboo pole lashed into the wall.
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An American.
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The soldier's uniform is shredded, blood on his face.
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He lifts his head weakly when he sees Tommy, but doesn't react.
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He's too dehydrated and malnourished, but alive.
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Tommy moves in and quickly pulls the gag loose.
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Don't speak, he whispers.
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You're gonna be okay, but we need to leave now.
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He draws his knife and slices the rope and lowers him down.
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The soldier winces, but doesn't cry out.
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He's light.
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Tommy stops.
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Tommy checks the map again.
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There's an exit nearby, up above.
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Viet Cong soldiers will know they will be looking for the fastest way out and will be planning to intercept them.
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They know too much to be allowed to escape alive.
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Tommy tells the soldier to stay close.
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He puts the map away, tightens his grip on his knife, and starts to climb toward the surface.
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The rescued soldier stumbles behind him, barely able to keep pace.
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Tommy keeps an ear on the tunnel behind them.
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No sound, yet.
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But it's coming.
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Every corner they turn, every shaft they crawl through, Tommy expects movement, a voice, a shot.
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Turns around and helps pull the soldier up a steep incline.
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Light leaks faintly from above.
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An exit?
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Behind them is a voice, shouting.
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They've been spotted.
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Tommy doesn't wait.
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He pulls the soldier harder and pushes forward up the slope, toward a narrow beam of light.
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Then, gunfire.
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Bullets ricochet against the walls.
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Dirt sprays behind his head.
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Another shot.
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He reaches the top.
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A bamboo hatch.
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He reaches out to open it.
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Locked.
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He slams his shoulder into it once, twice.
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It cracks.
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Sunlight floods in.
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They're not safe yet.
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He grabs the soldier under the arm.
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They start running.
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No clear direction, no cover, just raw instinct and the will to survive.
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Behind them, Viet Cong soldiers spill out from the bamboo hatch, weapons raised.
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Bullets crackle through the trees.
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Tommy doesn't look back.
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Branches slice their faces.
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Every step is a gamble.
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But every step is further from danger.
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He glances up.
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Smoke trails in the far distance.
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A campfire?
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A signal?
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Hope.
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It might just be okay.
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The Vietnam War stands as one of the most brutal and arguably most pointless conflicts in modern history, lasting over 19 years.
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The suffering it unleashed was huge, healing an estimated 5 million human lives from America, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia.
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Within war stories we find heroes, like Tommy Rivera, but a deeper question must be asked.
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What exactly is the hero fighting for?
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Throughout history, information has convinced us that heroes fight for their country and their people.
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But too often, they're fighting for something else entirely,
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a political machine, where corporations profit by selling weapons to governments under the disguise of patriotism.
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By 1968, 54% of Americans believed the Vietnam War was a mistake, yet dragged on for another seven years.
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It's not just history, it's a pattern.
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The next time you see a war taking place, take a moment to think, is this war everything it's claimed to be?
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “How Vietnamese Tunnels Outsmarted the U.S. Military”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Tommy, tunnel, Viet, soldier, Cong. This video has 332 sentences and 2982 words to shadow. The speech runs for 19:52. The speaker talks at a natural 150 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 |
|---|---|---|
| bamboo noun | /bæmˈbu/ | Any of the fast-growing grasses of the Bambusoideae subfamily, characterized by its woody, hollow, round, straight, jointed stem. |
| crawl verb | /kɹɔːl/ | To move by dragging one's body along or close to a surface, like a worm or insect, or on one's hands and knees, like a human baby. |
| deadly adjective | /ˈdɛdli/ | Causing death; lethal. |
| prisoner noun | /ˈpɹɪzənə/ | A person incarcerated in a prison, while on trial or serving a sentence. |
| shuffle verb | /ˈʃʌfəl/ | To put in a random order. |
| faint adjective | /feɪnt/ | Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness |
| echo noun | /ˈɛk.oʊ/ | A reflected sound that is heard again by its initial observer. |
| jungle noun | /ˈd͡ʒʌŋ.ɡ(ə)l/ | A large, lush, undeveloped, humid forest, especially in a tropical region, thick with vegetation and wildlife; a tropical rainforest. |
| faintly adverb | /ˈfeɪntli/ | In a faint manner; very quietly or lightly. |
| tighten verb | /ˈtaɪ.tən/ | To make tighter. |
| downward adverb | /ˈdaʊnwɚd/ | Toward a lower level, whether in physical space, in a hierarchy, or in amount or value. |
| hatch verb | /hæt͡ʃ/ | To emerge from an egg. |
| elbow noun | /ˈɛlboʊ̯/ | The joint between the upper arm and the forearm. |
| bury verb | /ˈbɛɹi/ | To outlive. |
| slope noun | /sloʊp/ | A surface that either inclines or declines in a regular manner from the perspective of an observer. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| get back to verb | Return to (an activity) | |
| make out verb | /meɪk aʊt/ | To draw up (a document etc.), to designate (a cheque). |
| call off verb | To recall; to cancel or call a halt to. | |
| fight off verb | To succeed in defeating a challenge, or an attack. | |
| get out of verb | To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of. | |
| leave behind verb | To abandon. | |
| lie ahead verb | To be going to happen in the future; to be in store. | |
| look back verb | To think of (past events) in retrospect (in hindsight). |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Conditional sentences if + clause, will/would + verb — a condition and its result | If Tommy touches the bamboo, it will send |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is equipped · being attacked · is designed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have dropped · have covered · have learned |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 28 contractions and reduced forms, such as doesn't, can't, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: shuffle /ˈʃʌfəl/, shallow /ˈʃæloʊ/
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 bamboo, crawl, deadly.
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.