Shadowing Practice: RE3 Unit 8B - Learn English Speaking with Video

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Track 16, Reading 8B, Highway of Dreams

A new road that connects the Pacific with the Atlantic could bring riches and environmental ruin.

Marylou's Gueira remembers a trip she took in 2003 from the city of Cusco, high in the Peruvian Andes,

to her home in Puerto Maldonado, a city in the Amazon rainforest.

By plane, this 320 -kilometer journey would have taken only 37 minutes,

but Mary had traveled by truck along narrow mountain roads, across rushing rivers, and through dense jungle.

It took her three days to reach home.

During the long trip, she remembers thinking, I can't wait till they build that highway.

Almost ten years after that long journey, Mary's wish came true.

Bridging a Continent In early 2012, the Transoceanic Highway opened to public vehicles for the first time.

A dream of Peru's political leaders since the 1950s,

work on the vast network of roads and bridges began in 2006 and was completed in 2011.

Today, the East -West Passageway spans 2 ,600 kilometers.

From Peru's Pacific Ocean coastline, it continues across the Andes Mountains and through a large part of Peru's Amazon rainforest.

It then travels into Brazil, where it connects with a network of existing highways to the Atlantic.

The trans -oceanic highway has been celebrated as one of South America's greatest engineering feats,

and supporters say it will greatly improve people's lives.

Until recently, travel between the cities of Cusco and Puerto Maldonado in Peru took days by bus or truck,

as Mary's story illustrates, and drivers had to use narrow, partially unpaved mountain roads.

Now, the trip only takes a few hours and is much safer.

Improving people's lives

In addition to making travel faster and easier, supporters say the highway will be good for business.

There is enormous demand in North America and Asia for Brazilian and Peruvian products, including soybeans, beef, and gold.

A number of companies in Cusco and Puerto Maldonado also sell wood to different corners of the world.

Many of these companies transport their lumber to the Pacific, where it travels by ship to other countries.

Thanks to the highway, wood can now reach the Pacific in days.

In the past, it could take a week or more.

This lowers costs and allows the wood to reach customers sooner and in better condition.

In the long run, say many business owners, this will mean more profit.

The highway will also open up areas of the Peruvian Amazon that were not accessible just a few years ago.

This may increase activity in these areas and give people new places to live in and travel to.

This, in turn, could mean more jobs and money for Peruvians.

Environmental Challenges Despite the highway's many potential benefits, environmentalists are concerned.

The trans -oceanic passes directly through a large part of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Madre de Dios in Peru.

According to a Peruvian government study, the forested area in the western mountains of this state has the greatest biodiversity of any place on earth.

And until recently, large parts of the forest were in pristine condition.

As more people move into the region, environmentalists worry about the impact this will have on the Amazon's plants and animals,

many of which are found nowhere else.

Shortly after the highway opened, large numbers of people began coming into Puerto Maldonado from all over Peru and the world to mine gold.

There's a lot of money to be made in mining as well as in farming, says environmental photographer Gabby Salazar.

I think we're going to see a big increase in farming, she says.

Right across the border in Brazil, you see soybean farms all over the place.

Studies show that 95 % of the deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon occurs within 50 kilometers of a highway,

and environmentalists like Salazar are concerned that the same thing is happening in Peru.

It's having an impact on the environment, she explains.

It's having an impact on the people as well.

Faced with these risks, many Peruvians talk about the importance of being practical.

In rural Peru, a lot of people are living in poverty, so it's very difficult to say, don't build the highway, explains

Roger Mastalish, president of the Amazon Center for Environmental Education and Research.

But every time you see a road like this going through, you soon see major changes.

Will these changes be mostly positive or negative?

Many Peruvians are hopeful, but only time will tell.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

The speaker keeps coming back to these words: highway, Peruvian, Amazon, Peru, travel. This video has 52 sentences and 737 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:46. The speaker talks at a steady 128 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
narrow adjective	/ˈnæɹəʊ/	Having a small width; not wide; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
translation noun	/tɹænzˈleɪʃən/	The conversion of text from one language to another.
connect verb	/kəˈnɛkt/	To join (to another object): to attach, or to be intended to attach or capable of attaching, to another object.
supporter noun	/səˈpɔɹ.tɚ/	A person who supports, promotes, advocates or champions a cause, movement, or political party; an adherent.
vast adjective	/væst/	Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).
practical adjective	/ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/	Relating to, or based on, practice or action rather than theory or hypothesis.
rush verb	/ɹʌʃ/	To hurry; to perform a task with great haste, often not properly or without thinking carefully.
occur verb	/əˈkɜː/	To happen or take place.
shortly adverb	/ˈʃɔɹtli/	In a short or brief time or manner; quickly.
poverty noun	/ˈpɑːvɚti/	The quality or state of being poor; lack of money
nowhere adverb	/ˈnoʊ.(h)wɛɹ/	In no place.
greatly adverb	/ˈɡɹeɪ̯t.li/	To a great extent or degree.
ruin noun	/ˈɹuː.ɪn/	The remains of a destroyed or dilapidated construction, such as a house or castle.
beef noun	/bif/	The meat from cattle or other bovines; especially, that from adults.
photographer noun	/fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fɚ/	One who takes photographs, typically as an occupation.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Meaning
go through verb	To travel from one end of something to the other.
open up verb	To open.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as can't, don't, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: translation /tɹænzˈleɪʃən/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, shortly /ˈʃɔɹtli/, partially /ˈpɑɹʃəli/, oceanic /ˌəʊʃiˈænɪk/
Long words — get the stress right: photographer /fəˈtɑ.ɡɹə.fɚ/, accessible /əkˈsɛs.ɪ.bəl/, oceanic /ˌəʊʃiˈænɪk/, biodiversity /ˌbaɪoʊdəˈvɚsəti/, deforestation /dɪˌfɒɹɪsˈteɪʃən/

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 narrow, translation, connect.

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.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: RE3 Unit 8B - Learn English Speaking with Video

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