Shadowing Practice: Listening part three (experiment on artificial sweeteners) @ieltslisteningpro.24 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Part 3.
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Part 3.
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You will hear two food science students called Adam and Rosie starting to plan their presentation on diet and obesity.
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First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.
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Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.
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OK, Rosie, shall we try to get some ideas together for our presentation on diet and obesity?
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Sure.
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I can talk about the experiment I did to see if people can tell the difference between real sugar and artificial sweeteners.
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Where you gave people drinks with either sugar or artificial sweeteners,
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and they had to say which they thought it was?
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Yeah.
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It took me ages to decide exactly how I'd organise it,
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especially how I could make sure that people didn't know which drink I was giving them.
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It was hard to keep track of it all,
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especially as I had so many people doing it.
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I had to make sure I kept a proper record of what each person had had.
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So, could most people tell the difference?
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Yeah.
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I hadn't thought that they would be able to, but most people could.
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Then there's that experiment I did,
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measuring the fat content of nuts,
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to see if the nutritional information given on the packet was accurate.
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The one where you ground up the nuts and mixed them with a chemical to absorb the fat?
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Yes.
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My results were a bit problematic.
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The fat content for that type of nut seemed much lower than it said on the package.
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But I reckon the package information was right.
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I think I should probably have ground up the nuts more than I did.
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It's possible that the scales for weighing the fat weren't accurate enough too.
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I'd really like to try the experiment again sometime.
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Before you hear the rest of the discussion,
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you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.
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Thank you.
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So what can we say about helping people to lose weight?
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There's a lot we could say about what restaurants could do to reduce obesity.
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I read that the items at the start of a menu
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and the items at the end of a menu are much more likely to be chosen than the items in the middle.
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So if you put the low-calorie items at the beginning and end of the menu,
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people will probably go for the food with fewer calories without even realising what they're doing.
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I think food manufacturers could do more to encourage healthy eating.
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How?
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Well, when manufacturers put calorie counts of a food on the label,
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they're sometimes really confusing.
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And I suspect they do it on purpose,
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because food that's high in calories tastes better,
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and so they'll sell more.
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Yeah, so if you look at the amount of calories in a pizza,
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they'll give you the calories per quarter pizza,
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and you think, oh, that's not too bad.
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But who's going to eat a quarter pizza?
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Exactly.
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I suppose another approach to this problem is to get people to exercise more.
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Right.
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In England, the current guidelines offer at least 30 minutes of brisk walking five days a week.
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Now, when you ask them,
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about 40% of men and 30% of women say they do this.
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But when you objectively measure the amount of walking they do with motion sensors,
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you find that only 6% of men and 4% of women do the recommended amount of exercise.
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Hmm, so you can see why obesity is growing.
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So how can people be encouraged to take more exercise?
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Hmm, well, for example, think of the location of stairs in a train station.
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If people reach the stairs before they reach the escalator when they're leaving the station,
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they're more likely to take the stairs.
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And if you increase the width of the stairs,
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you'll get more people using them at the same time.
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It's an unconscious process and influenced by minor modifications in their environment.
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Right.
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Great.
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And it might not be a big change,
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but if it happens every day, it all adds up.
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Yes.
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But actually, I'm not sure if we should be talking about exercise in our presentation.
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Well, we've done quite a bit of reading about it.
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I know, but it's going to mean we have a very wide focus.
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And our tutor did say that we need to focus on causes and solutions in terms of nutrition.
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Oh, I suppose so.
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And we've got plenty of information about that.
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OK, well, that will be simpler.
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So, what shall we do now?
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We've still got half an hour before our next lecture.
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Let's think about what we're going to include and what we'll go where.
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Then we can decide what slides we need.
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OK, fine.
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That is the end of part three.
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You now have half a minute to check your answers to part three.
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Thank you.

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Why practice speaking with this video?

This video features a conversation between two food science students, Adam and Rosie, who discuss their research on diet and obesity. By practicing speaking with this video, you will immerse yourself in a real-life academic context where students collaborate to present their findings. This setting not only enhances your understanding of the subject matter but also improves your speaking skills as you hear how ideas are expressed naturally. Engaging with this material allows you to learn English with YouTube while developing the ability to articulate thoughts clearly in discussions about complex topics.

Grammar & Expressions in Context

In their conversation, Adam and Rosie use several useful grammatical structures and expressions that you can incorporate into your own speaking practice:

  • “I can talk about…” - This phrase is a great way to introduce a topic you are familiar with. It sets a clear expectation for the listener on what to anticipate.
  • “I reckon…” - This informal expression indicates an opinion or belief and reflects how native speakers often structure their thoughts in conversation.
  • “I hadn’t thought that they would be able to…” - A useful way to express surprise or an unexpected result, demonstrating versatility in verb forms and tenses.
  • “It seems much lower than…” - This construction helps in making comparisons, which is essential for discussing research findings or data analysis.

Practicing these structures can greatly enhance your speaking abilities, especially in academic and informal settings.

Common Pronunciation Traps

When listening to Adam and Rosie, pay attention to some tricky words and phrasing that can challenge English learners:

  • “artificial sweeteners” - The combination of sounds in this term can be difficult. Focus on the soft 't' at the start of "sweeteners" and practice breaking the word down.
  • “measure the fat content” - The phrase flows quickly, so it's essential to practice pronouncing it smoothly to maintain clarity.
  • “confusing” - This word can be pronounced incorrectly if not practiced. The 'u' should sound like 'you,' and not like a short 'u' in "cup."

By shadowing their speech, you can significantly improve English pronunciation and become more comfortable with everyday academic conversations. Utilizing a shadowing app or a dedicated shadowing site can further enhance your practice, especially when you focus on mimicking their intonation and pacing.

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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