Shadowing Practice: IELTS Cambridge 10 test 1 section 4 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Section 4.
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You will hear a university lecture about an endangered bear in British Columbia, Canada, known as the Spirit Bear.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 31 to 40.
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Thank you.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 31 to 40.
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series on ecology and conservation with a look at a particularly endangered member of the black bear family.
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One in ten black bears is actually born with a white coat,
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which is the result of a special gene that surfaces in a few.
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Local people have named it the spirit bear, and according to the legends of these communities,
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its snowy fur brings with it a special power.
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Because of this, it has always been highly regarded by them,
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so much that they do not speak of seeing it to anyone else.
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It is their way of protecting it when strangers visit the area.
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The white bear's habitat is quite interesting.
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The bear's strong relationship with the old growth rainforest is a complex one.
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The white bear relies on the huge, centuries-old trees in the forest in many ways.
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For example, the old-growth trees have extremely long roots
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that help prevent erosion of the soil along the banks of the many fish streams.
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Keeping these banks intact is important because these streams are home to salmon, which are the bear's main food source.
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In return, the bear's feeding habits nurture the forest.
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As the bears eat the salmon, they discard the skin and bones in great amounts on the forest floor, which provide vital nutrients.
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These produce lush vegetation that sustains thousands of other types of life forms, from birds to insects and more.
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Today, the spirit bear lives off the coast of the province of British Columbia on a few islands.
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There is great concern for their survival, since it is estimated that less than 200 of these white bears remain.
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The best way to protect them is to make every effort to preserve the delicate balance of their forest environment,
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in other words, their ecosystem.
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The greatest threat to the bear's existence is the loss of its habitat.
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Over many years, logging companies have stripped the land by cutting down a large number of trees.
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In addition, they have built roads which have fractured the areas where the bear usually feeds,
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and many hibernation sites have also been lost.
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The logging of the trees along the streams has damaged the places where the bears fish.
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To make matters worse, the number of salmon in those streams is declining, because there is no legal limit on fishing at the moment.
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All these influences have a negative impact on the spirit bear's very existence,
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which is made all the more fragile by the fact that reproduction among these bears has always been disappointingly low.
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And so, what's the situation going forward?
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Community organizations, environmental groups, and the British Columbia government are now working together on the problem.
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The government is now requiring logging companies to adopt a better logging method, which is a positive step.
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However, these measures alone may not be sufficient to ensure a healthy population of the spirit bear in the future.
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Other steps also need to be taken.
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While it is important to maintain the spirit bear's habitat, there also needs to be more emphasis on its expansion.
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The move is justified, as it will also create space for other bears that are losing their homes to...
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That is the end of Section 4.
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You now have half a minute to check your answers.
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Thank you.
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IELTS test, you would now have 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “IELTS Cambridge 10 test 1 section 4”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: bear, spirit, logging, streams, trees. This video has 45 sentences and 604 words to shadow. The speech runs for 6:36. The speaker talks slowly, about 91 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| habitat noun | /ˈhæb.ɪ.tæt/ | Conditions suitable for an organism or population of organisms to live. |
| salmon noun | /ˈsæmən/ | One of several species of fish, typically of the Salmoninae subfamily, brownish above with silvery sides and delicate pinkish-orange flesh; they ascend rivers… |
| endangered adjective | /ɪnˈdeɪn.d͡ʒɚd/ | in danger, at risk, said of something where there is a strong possibility something bad will happen to it (for example, a species in danger of going extinct) |
| disappointingly adverb | In a disappointing manner. | |
| discard verb | /dɪsˈkɑɹd/ | To throw away, to reject. |
| hibernation noun | /ˌhaɪ.bəɹˈneɪ.ʃən/ | A state of minimum power consumption, inactivity and metabolic depression in some animals during winter. |
| nurture noun | /ˈnɜːɹ.t͡ʃəɹ/ | The act of nourishing or nursing; tender care |
| rainforest noun | /ˈɹeɪn.fɔɹ.ɪst/ | A forest in a climate with high annual rainfall and no dry season. |
| nutrient noun | /ˈnuː.tɹi.ənt/ | A source of nourishment, such as food, that can be metabolized by an organism to give energy and build tissue. |
| erosion noun | /ɪˈɹəʊʒən/ | The result of having been worn away or eroded, as by a glacier on rock or the sea on a cliff face. |
| fracture noun | /ˈfɹæk.t͡ʃʰəː/ | An instance of breaking, a place where something has broken. |
| ecology noun | /ɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/ | The branch of biology dealing with the relationships of organisms with their environment and with each other. |
| insect noun | /ˈɪn.sɛkt/ | An arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton. |
| vegetation noun | /ˌvɛd͡ʒəˈteɪʃən/ | Plants, taken collectively. |
| ecosystem noun | /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/ | A system formed by an ecological community and its environment that functions as a unit. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| cut down verb | To cut downward. |
| going forward adverb | In the immediate future and beyond. |
| live off verb | To depend on financially. |
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 | have named · has always been · have stripped |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is actually born · is estimated · been lost |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | salmon, which are · roads which have · method, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: hibernation /ˌhaɪ.bəɹˈneɪ.ʃən/, erosion /ɪˈɹəʊʒən/, vegetation /ˌvɛd͡ʒəˈteɪʃən/, reproduction /ˌɹiːpɹəˈdʌkʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: hibernation /ˌhaɪ.bəɹˈneɪ.ʃən/, ecology /ɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, vegetation /ˌvɛd͡ʒəˈteɪʃən/, ecosystem /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/, reproduction /ˌɹiːpɹəˈdʌkʃən/
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 habitat, salmon, endangered.
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.