Shadowing Practice: IELTS English Podcast - Speaking Topic: Work-Life Balance - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Welcome to the final episode of Season 2 of the IELTS Plus English podcast, where today we're going to talk about work-life balance.
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Welcome to the final episode of Season 2 of the IELTS Plus English podcast, where today we're going to talk about work-life balance.
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Now, I'm making a big deal about this being the final episode, of course, but this isn't the final episode forever.
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You know, I'm not wrapping up the entire project.
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I am just saying that season two is coming to an end.
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I do have lots of plans after that.
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And next week, I'm going to do an extra episode just to explain some of my thoughts and ask you a few questions.
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So there will be an extra episode next week to talk about that.
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But for this week, we are going to do the final episode, Work-Life Balance.
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Now, starting off, we've got some lovely language today, as I always say, and there's some really nice stuff here.
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It's not too hard.
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Workaholic.
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Sabbatical.
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That's a popular concept nowadays, sabbatical.
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Downtime.
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Overtime.
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So really great words related to work-life balance.
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I hope you are finding your work-life balance.
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And that's, of course, available in the ALTS plus Total Speaking textbook, which is 80 topics in there which follows everything from the past few years.
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So you can go back over 80 episodes and follow it and learn language, answer the questions.
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Lots to do in there.
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And that's available on www.britplus.net.
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I'm not going to give you any extra tips today.
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It's the final episode of the season.
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So my concept is going to be super clean structures.
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That's what I'm going for.
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You are going to hear me today.
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This is not scripted, of course.
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It never is.
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But you're going to hear me go through part one, part two, part three as cleanly as I can, showing you the structures that are in my textbook and trying to keep to the time guidelines
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that I told you about in, was it episode 78 time?
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So that's what we're going to do today.
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And I'll give you a student question, your final one of the season.
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Today's student question is, do you think you have a good work-life balance?
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Now, this is an important one because of course this is a yes, no answer, right?
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It's a yes, no question.
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If I ask you that question, The answer is either yes or no.
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But what I'd like from you is to make sure you say yes or no and then give a nice detail.
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That's up to you.
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So do you think you have a good work-life balance?
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That's your question for today.
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And that is my first question.
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So let's do it.
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Do you think you have a good work-life balance?
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I do nowadays, certainly.
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I think so.
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I've really taken control of my workload here with my online and offline business.
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And I've set a very clear boundary between work and life, my life outside of work.
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So overall, I'm very happy with my work-life balance.
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Did you hear that?
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Very clean.
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No mumbling, no extra.
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That's what I'm going for today.
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what activities help you relax after a long day at work
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well um the gym comes to mind it's not necessarily after a long day at work but during the work day i
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like to go to the gym maybe three or four times a week and i find that weight training is very invigorating um i also love at the weekends to go hiking
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because just being out in nature, walking among the trees and in the mountains helps me recharge.
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Excellent, what a clean start.
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Let's go to our part two.
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Now, part two today, I'm just preparing two minutes, is describe a time when you struggled to achieve work-life balance.
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Okay, now, let me see.
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We did the episode, it rings up, this.
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Ah, we did stress about four or five weeks ago.
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And I talked about probably this.
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It was work life balance and managing stress.
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So I will try to talk about a bit of a different case this time.
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So let's give it a go.
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Two minutes are on the clock.
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My time starts now.
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I'd like to tell you about when I first opened my business.
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I opened my business as an office and as a proper business in 2016.
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And at that time, I was really desperate to make it grow and to create something good and to have more and more students.
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It was a desperation, definitely.
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And to the point that I worked every single day, including Sundays, and it was really, really unhealthy.
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I was doing a really bad job of juggling the work, the lessons, creating lessons, and then having downtime, you know, spending time at home, spending time with my wife and friends.
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So it was really unbalanced at that time.
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so let me tell you a little more about this time I would go to work every
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single day around 6 30 and I would get home at 10 p.m sometimes I remember I accepted a student who wanted 9 p.m lessons which means I would get home at 10 45 p.m
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and it just spiraled out of control.
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As I said, I had no downtime.
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I don't think I was ever a workaholic, but I just had a desperation to fill my schedule and to make money.
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For me personally, I think although that this was a very hard time and I got sick sometimes,
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it was a good opportunity to push my limits and to see how to do it badly, how to manage my schedule poorly so that now I have that perspective and I have a good healthy balance.
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There you go.
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Okay, pretty good.
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I'm fairly happy with that.
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You know, nice diversity and tenses.
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I've got some of the language in there.
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So that's it.
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I will go straight on to part three.
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I thought that was okay.
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Now here's where I really want to demonstrate clean answers.
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Part three, and by the way, it's okay.
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You don't need to be super clean yourself.
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I just want to show you strategy, my strategy.
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and part three we sometimes have a tendency to sort of say too much go down a
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rabbit hole of some topic that's not quite connected I sometimes do it as well so let's stay really
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on topic and clean my first question is what are the main reasons people struggle to achieve a good work-life balance?
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I would say the main reason people struggle to keep a work-life balance is doing too much overtime.
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As soon as you start to accept overtime, it can feel manageable, but it starts to eat into the free time that you should be spending at home.
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And that can affect the way you eat, how much you exercise, how much time you spend with friends and family.
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So it has all of these knock-on effects that are detrimental to your health.
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In Korea, there is a real culture of working overtime and there's a lot of pressure that comes from companies.
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One of the most notorious companies for that is Samsung, where there's a real expectation that you work beyond your stated work hours.
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And nowadays, a lot of people, especially at the executive level, have to come in at the weekend.
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So it's a great example of the boundaries and overstepping the boundaries of life.
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Excellent.
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Okay, you heard there.
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I introduced my answer, who's the main answer.
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I gave detail.
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I gave a specific example, which was Samsung.
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And then I did a little conclusion at the end.
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That's what I want.
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Next one.
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Do you think work-life balance is more important now than it was in the past?
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No, I wouldn't say so.
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I think that it's always been important.
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i suppose it depends which country you're in but from what i have observed there was more
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of a tendency to work in the past whereas now it's not more important but there's more
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of a trend towards taking care of work-life balance this i believe has come a lot from social media
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You can see nowadays on Instagram and various platforms, TikTok, where people are showing their lifestyle and the things that they do outside of work.
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And I think that when you see that on social media, you have more of a desire to get the balance right.
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Good.
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Wow, this is going great.
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I'm happy.
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let's do the last question and the last question of the season how can individuals take responsibility for
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maintaining their own work-life balance there are so many ways that you can take care of your work-life
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balance but the most extreme one that I find interesting I've never done it but it's
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a sabbatical now of course this is a fairly temporary measure but
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if you are really overworked overwhelmed stressed or maybe you just want to explore new areas of life you
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can take a sabbatical it could be a month it could be six months it could be a year depending
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on your company this can be paid semi-paid or unpaid and maybe they'll just hold your position
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but if you're lucky enough to get this opportunity i think that's a great way of experiencing life fully for an extended period
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in korea it's quite rare but in the uk you do hear it happen and my sister was an example she took a I think it was a six-month sabbatical to travel Asia.
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And she had a wonderful time, lots of experiences, and felt fully recharged at the end of it.
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Well, what a clean episode.
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I'm really happy about that.
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I hope that that came across to you.
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Maybe it's quite a normal episode, but that is the last one.
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So all I will say for now, because there's one more, I'm going to do another episode next week to wrap things up.
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But what I will say is, if you did make it to here, thank you so much.
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Thank you to everyone who comments.
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I do notice you.
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I noticed similar people popping up.
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And sometimes I just get very nice comments in YouTube or on Spotify.
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And I appreciate it so much.
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So to all of the listeners, thank you.
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I hope you enjoyed season two.
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and more broadly all 80 episodes which follow the textbook and um this is not the end that's the
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important point it is not the end i do have plans and i will be back so anyway i will see you next week don't go
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anywhere because i've got a few announcements and uh so have a nice week as i always say study super hard it is not over and i'll see you next monday to just share a few thoughts See you then.
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Why practice speaking with this video?

The final episode of the IELTS Plus English podcast delves into the essential topic of work-life balance, making it a highly relevant choice for English learners. Engaging with this episode enhances your familiarity with commonly used phrases and vocabulary associated with work-life discussions, such as workaholic, sabbatical, and downtime. Practicing speaking in this context allows you to relate your personal experiences to broader societal themes, making your language use more natural and relatable.

Incorporating this shadow speech technique helps you not only improve your fluency but also enhance your ability to formulate structured answers, especially in the IELTS Speaking section, which examines your coherence and lexical resource. By responding to the presenter’s questions and mirroring their tone and pace, you develop greater confidence in your speaking abilities while discussing complex ideas.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

Throughout the podcast, the speaker employs clean and clear structures that can benefit learners aiming to improve their speaking skills. Here are a few notable expressions:

  • “Do you think you have a good work-life balance?” - This question structure invites direct responses and requires elaboration, essential for IELTS speaking responses.
  • “I opened my business in 2016.” - Using the past simple tense clearly establishes a timeline, which is crucial for narrating experiences.
  • “I think that it’s always been important.” - This phrase demonstrates the use of modal verbs for expressing opinions and certainty.
  • “There are so many ways that you can take care of your work-life balance.” - This introduces the concept of multiple options, a great way to showcase your range of vocabulary and grammatical structures.

Practicing these structures through shadowing can significantly enhance your ability to express similar ideas in conversations.

Common Pronunciation Traps

As you practice with this podcast, pay close attention to specific words and phrases that may present pronunciation challenges:

  • Workaholic - The stress on the second syllable can be tricky; practice saying it slowly at first, then gradually increase your speed.
  • Sabbatical - This word can often be mispronounced; break it down into syllables: sab-bat-i-cal, and focus on the 'bat' sound.
  • Overtime - Make sure to articulate clearly, as slurring can lead to misunderstandings.

By focusing on these challenging words, you can significantly enhance your overall spoken English skills, making your shadow speech practice more effective and satisfying.

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.

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