Shadowing Practice: Sir Andrew Wiles - The 2016 Abel Prize Laureate - Learn English Speaking with Video

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37 sentences

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The World War II

It's like tennis except the ball is quite hollow.

The walls are quite complicated and I have trouble remembering them sometimes.

He gave me some tennis lessons.

Because originally that was the only kind of tennis there was.

Nowadays you say real tennis.

I think one of the things that's important in mathematics is not to have too good a memory.

And you have to keep going back trying the same thing in a slightly different way.

And if you had a really good memory you wouldn't go back and try again because you'd remember, no I've tried that, it doesn't work.

So sometimes I see numbers, so for example in Princeton,

they had this little creature bury itself in the ground, I think for 17 years, and then it would come out,

then they'd be everywhere and they'd make a huge mess of the town.

And then they'd lay their eggs and they'd fly around

and mate and then they'd go and and bury themselves in the ground for 17 years again.

And 17's a prime number.

And they do it with prime numbers, because that way predators have a much harder time in catching them.

Cicadas use different prime numbers.

I recently learned that when groups of lions meet each other and they roar, they seem to be able to count the number of roars, or at least compare the number of roars,

so if the other group has more roars than they do, then they don't attack.

So it's a way the animals know not to get into a senseless fight.

I was totally unreasonable because I just wanted to solve this particular problem.

But that's a very foolish thing to do.

You shouldn't say in advance, I've got to solve this one.

It's very reckless.

I don't know if anyone else was working on it.

Obviously if I could do it then other people presumably could have done it.

I mean the real issue

when you have a problem like this is not whether you can do it but whether anyone can do it.

Some of the artists and poets might have romanticised the idea of having a bohemian or complicated personal lifestyle dedicated personal lifestyle.

For me, having a very stable personal life, it's essential to have the calm to think in such a long period.

I do get ideas walking.

When I walk, I can

just think about something and then I drop it for a minute

and then bring it up again and I keep looking at it from different angles.

Now I certainly want to...

I want to have a last go at first finish and die.

Soon I will return to that.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Sir Andrew Wiles - The 2016 Abel Prize Laureate”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: roar, tennis, prime, personal. This video has 37 sentences and 453 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:17. The speaker talks at a steady 138 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 83% 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 13 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
roar verb	/ˈɹoɹ/	To make a loud, deep cry, especially from pain, anger, or other strong emotion.
bury verb	/ˈbɛɹi/	To outlive.
cicada noun	/sɪˈkeɪ.də/	Any of several insects in the superfamily Cicadoidea, with small eyes wide apart on the head and transparent well-veined wings.
romanticized adjective		Interpreted in an unrealistic, idealized fashion.
senseless adjective	/ˈsɛnsləs/	Without feeling or desire to work; deprived of sensation.
bohemian noun	/boʊˈhimi.ən/	A person, especially an artist or writer, who lives an unconventional or nonconformist lifestyle.
dedicate verb	/ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/	To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate.
predator noun	/ˈpɹɛd.ə.tɚ/	Any animal or other organism that hunts and kills other nonplant organisms (their prey), primarily for food.
unreasonable adjective	/ʌnˈɹiːz.(ə)nə.bl̩/	Without the ability to reason; unreasoning.
reckless adjective	/ˈɹɛkləs/	Careless or heedless; headstrong or rash.
foolish adjective	/ˈfuː.lɪʃ/	Lacking good sense or judgement as a general trait; unwise; stupid.
hollow adjective	/ˈhɑloʊ/	Having an empty space or cavity inside.
presumably adverb	/pɹɪˈzuːməbli/	Able to be sensibly presumed.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
go back verb		To return to a place or state after having been there at a previous time.
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 13 contractions and reduced forms, such as they'd, don't, I've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

Long words — get the stress right: bohemian /boʊˈhimi.ən/, unreasonable /ʌnˈɹiːz.(ə)nə.bl̩/, presumably /pɹɪˈzuːməbli/

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 roar, bury, cicada.

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: Sir Andrew Wiles - The 2016 Abel Prize Laureate - Learn English Speaking with Video

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