Shadowing Practice: Ronald Reagan Jokes about Communism - Learn English Speaking with Video
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39 sentences
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1
I have a new hobby.
2
I am collecting stories that I can actually prove are told among the Russian people.
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They make them up themselves, they tell them between themselves, reveals they've got a great sense of humor, and they've also got a little cynical attitude about things in their country.
4
The story was an American and a Russian arguing about their two countries, and the American said, look, in my country I can walk into the Oval Office, I can pound the President's desk and say,
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Mr. President, I don't like the way you're running our country.
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And the Russians said, I can do that.
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The Americans said, you can?
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He says, yes, I can go into the Kremlin, to the General Secretary's office, pound his desk and say, Mr. General Secretary, I don't like the way President Reagan's running his country.
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I didn't tell this one to Gorbachev.
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you know there's a 10 year delay delay in the soviet union of delivery of an automobile
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and you go through a quite a process when you're ready to buy
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and then you put up the money in advance this man he laid down his money
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and then the fellow he was in
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that was in charge said to him okay come back in 10 years
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and get your car and he said morning or afternoon And the fellow behind the counter said,
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Well, ten years from now, what difference does it make?
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And he said, well, the plumber's coming in the morning.
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Less than one family out of seven in the Soviet Union owns an automobile.
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Most of the automobiles are driven by the bureaucrats.
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So an order went out one day to the police that anyone caught speeding.
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Anyone, no matter who, gets a ticket.
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Well, Gorbachev came out of his country home, his dacha.
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He was late getting to the Kremlin.
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There was his limousine and driver waiting.
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He told the driver to get in the back seat he'd drive, and down the road he went.
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They passed two motorcycle cops.
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One took out after him.
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And pretty soon he's back with his buddy, and his buddy says, Well, did you give him a ticket?
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And he said, No. Well, he said, Why not?
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Oh, he said, Too important.
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Well, he said, we're told to give anybody a ticket, no matter who it is.
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Oh, he said, no, no, this one was, I could, well, he said, who was it?
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He said, I couldn't recognize him, but his driver was Gorbachev.
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One of the heads of state
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that I met with on this visit told me the story about the two fellows in the Soviet Union
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that were walking down the street, and one of them says, have we really achieved full communism?
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Is this it?
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Is this now full communism?
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And the other one said, oh, hell no, things are going to get a lot worse.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 39 sentences and 488 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:45. The speaker talks at a natural 177 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| automobile noun | /ˈɔː.tə.məˌbil/ | A type of motor vehicle designed to move on the ground under its own stored power and intended to carry a driver, a small number of additional passengers, and… |
| desk noun | /dɛsk/ | A table, frame, or case, in past centuries usually with a sloping top but now usually with a flat top, for the use of writers and readers. It often has a… |
| buddy | /ˈbʌdi/ | A person far removed from the conversation. |
| delay noun | /dɪˈleɪ̯/ | A period of time before an event occurs; the act of delaying; procrastination; lingering inactivity. |
| pound noun | /ˈpaʊ̯nd/ | A unit of weight in various measurement systems. |
| communism noun | /ˈkɒmjᵿnɪz(ə)m/ | Any far-left political ideology or philosophy advocating holding the production of resources collectively, especially by seizing it through revolution. |
| argue verb | /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ | To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply. |
| reveal verb | /ɹɪˈviːl/ | To uncover; to show and display that which was hidden. |
| collect verb | /ˈkɑlɪkt/ | To gather together; amass. |
| cop noun | /kɑp/ | A police officer or prison guard. |
| motorcycle noun | /ˈmoʊtɚˌsaɪkəl/ | An open-seated motor vehicle with handlebars instead of a steering wheel, and having two (or sometimes three) wheels. |
| hobby noun | /ˈhɑ.bi/ | An activity that one enjoys doing in one's spare time. |
| humour noun | /ˈhjuːmɚ/ | The quality of being amusing, comical, funny. |
| cynical adjective | /ˈsɪnɪkəl/ | Of or relating to the belief that human actions are motivated only or primarily by base desires or selfishness. |
| bureaucrat noun | /ˈbjʊɹəkɹæt/ | An official who is part of a bureaucracy. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go out verb | To leave, especially a building. |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| lay down verb | To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually by placing it on the ground. |
| put up verb | To place in a high location. |
| take out verb | To remove. |
| walk down verb | To continually advance (on an opponent) and punch (the opponent) in order to control the fight and dominate the opponent, while shrugging off the opponent's… |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 10 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, they've, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: automobile /ˈɔː.tə.məˌbil/, motorcycle /ˈmoʊtɚˌsaɪkəl/
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 automobile, desk, buddy.
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.