Shadowing Practice: What science can’t answer, according to physicist Jim Al-Khalili | Big Think - Learn English Speaking with Video
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A lot of people think that somehow gaining knowledge about the world and how the world works detracts from its mystery, detracts from its beauty.
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Ignorance is bliss.
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Quite the opposite.
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The more we understand, the more we can appreciate, the more we can find wonder.
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Whereas remaining in ignorance, that's just darkness, that's just confusion.
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Knowledge, understanding, enlightenment are always better than ignorance.
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My name's Jim Al -Khalili, I'm a professor of physics at the University of Surrey.
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My most recent book is called The World According to Physics.
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I tend to think of our knowledge of the universe and of reality like an island.
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The interior of the island is the well -established science that we know very well.
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The shoreline around the island, that's the limits of our understanding.
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And beyond it is the ocean of the unknown.
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Of course, we don't know whether that ocean goes on forever.
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As we gain in our knowledge and our understanding, the island is growing in size, so we're reaching out.
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We can take a paddle out into the water to see some of the mysteries
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that we're trying to tackle now that we still don't understand.
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But we don't know how much further our understanding needs to go.
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There are certain questions that we have always asked about ourselves, about the world, that transcend science.
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They're certainly the big questions in science today, but they've been questions we've been asking for millennia.
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Who am I?
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Where is my place in the universe?
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What is the nature of self?
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Where did we come from?
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There may be questions that we'll never find answers to, but that is the nature of humanity,
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the nature of humankind, that we want the answers to some of these deep questions.
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There's this notion that somehow scientists have this sterile,
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clinical, logical, rational view of the world that leaves no room for mystery and awe and magic and wonder.
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On the contrary, Everything I learn about how the world is tells me it's full of magic and wonder.
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The idea that Newton discovered
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that the invisible force pulling the apple down to the ground
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is exactly the same force keeping the moon in orbit around the Earth is utterly profound.
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It's utterly awe -inspiring.
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I remember as a student sitting in a lecture being told about the equations of electromagnetism.
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The professor wrote down equations on the board he went through lines of algebra
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and arrived at a new equation and in that equation was a number and he said, and that is the speed of light.
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And that tells you that light is an electromagnetic wave.
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I remember sitting there and, you know, even as I'm telling you this now, I have that same shiver going down my spine.
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There's wonder wherever we look.
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It's the opposite of sterile, rational, cold, analytical thinking.
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It's often said that the more we know about the workings of the universe, the more we don't know.
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So our growing understanding really tells us about our growing ignorance.
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That is not to say that we haven't come a long way.
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We do know a lot about the building blocks of matter, about the nature of space and time.
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We now know how many elements there are
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that make up the world we have the periodic table of
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elements we now know why those elements are classified the way they are
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because of the way electrons arrange themselves around atoms the rest
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you could argue is down in the fine nitty -gritty detail and it may well be that
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some of the ideas we have today turn out to be
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wrong 10 20 years from now i probably wouldn't be saying something too different to what i'm saying today
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but 100 years from now
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and certainly a thousand years from now I may look back on the gym of the early 21st century
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and think that I was just as naive as as the medieval scholars who thought the sun orbited the earth.
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I think a lot of scientists are realizing
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that having this silo mentality of having expertise in one field to address some of the big questions simply isn't enough.
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We're getting ever more interdisciplinary.
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I'm a physicist, so I would argue that physics is of course the best way of learning about the world.
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It's an arrogant view and I think it's not exactly true.
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It's not going to address questions like complex human behavior in society or psychology or the workings of the human brain,
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but it addresses these fundamental questions.
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What everything is made of, how everything works.
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We don't know whether we will ever, one day, know everything about the nature of reality.
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And in a way, that's nice, that's exciting.
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It's frustrating, yet beautiful, that we may never have all the answers.
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There's this wonderful quote by Douglas Adams, I take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day.
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Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 66 sentences and 828 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:24. The speaker talks at a natural 154 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ignorance noun | /ˈɪɡ.nɚ.əns/ | The condition of being uninformed or uneducated; lack of knowledge or information. |
| equation noun | /ɪˈkweɪ.ʒən/ | The act or process of equating two or more things, or the state of those things being equal (that is, identical). |
| element noun | /ˈɛləmənt/ | One of the simplest or essential parts or principles of which anything consists, or upon which the constitution or fundamental powers of anything are based. |
| mystery noun | /ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/ | Something secret or unexplainable; an unknown. |
| physics noun | /ˈfɪz.ɪks/ | The branch of science concerned with the study of the properties and interactions of space, time, matter and energy. |
| argue verb | /ˈɑɹ.ɡju/ | To show grounds for concluding (that); to indicate, imply. |
| scientist noun | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | One whose activities make use of the scientific method to answer questions regarding the measurable universe. A scientist may be involved in original research… |
| rational adjective | /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/ | Capable of reasoning. |
| orbit noun | /ˈɔɹ.bɪt/ | An elliptical movement of an object about a celestial object or Lagrange point, especially a periodic elliptical revolution. |
| utterly adverb | /ˈʌtɚli/ | Completely; entirely; to the fullest extent. |
| establish verb | /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/ | To make stable or firm; to confirm. |
| whereas | /(h)wɛɹˈæz/ | In contrast; whilst on the contrary; although. |
| discover verb | /dɪˈskʌvə/ | To find or learn something for the first time. |
| arrive verb | /əˈɹaɪv/ | To reach; to get to a certain place. |
| fundamental adjective | /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/ | Related to a foundation, base, or basis; serving as a foundation. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| go down verb | To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one. | |
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. | |
| make up verb | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | To constitute, to compose. |
| reach out verb | To extend one's hand(s) forward; to reach for something. | |
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 19 contractions and reduced forms, such as don't, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: equation /ɪˈkweɪ.ʒən/, rational /ˈɹæʃ(ə)nəl/, establish /ɪˈstæb.lɪʃ/, confusion /kənˈfjuːʒən/, notion /ˈnoʊʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: fundamental /ˌfʌn.dəˈmɛn.təl/, humanity /hjuˈmænɪti/, psychology /saɪˈkɑ.lə.d͡ʒi/, invisible /ɪnˈvɪzəb(ə)l/, mentality /mɛnˈtæləti/
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 ignorance, equation, element.
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is called · being told · are classified |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have always asked · they've been · haven't come |
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.