Shadowing Practice: Why Religious Beliefs Aren't Just Silly - Learn English Speaking with Video
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24 sentences
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1
From a distance, it can all seem very silly.
2
These people have gone to Lourdes, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in the hope that the Virgin Mary might cure them of cancer and heart disease.
3
These people have gone to Medjugorje in Bosnia Herzegovina to pray they might get a chance to talk to dead beloved relatives.
4
And these people are praying at the Western Wailing Wall of the old Jewish Temple in Jeruselam and leaving all sort of notes for God to read in the cracks between the stones.
5
No wonder some Atheists just think the whole of religion is ludicrous, and they aren't bothered about saying so very directly.
6
But that's the wrong way to look at religion.
7
What religion teaches us isn't about what's true, but about what many of us here on earth desperately want to be true, for some pretty understandable reasons.
8
At one point in the bible, Jesus goes into the house of a man called Jarus, whose 12-year-old daughter has just died.
9
Everyone is weeping and lamenting. But Jesus calmly says that she's not dead, she's just asleep.
10
"Little girl, I say to you get up!" He says.
11
We shouldn't laugh or dismiss the whole thing as nonsense.
12
When your child is very sick, you may well end up believing in miracles.
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Because at the end of the day, under immense psychological pressures, you love your child more than you care about the laws of physics and biology.
14
And when your loved ones do die, it can take a very robust mind indeed not to imagine, late at night when the sadness becomes overwhelming, that somehow your parent, or child, or friend, is somewhere still around and in a better place than they were.
15
And that they might be able to see us as we go about our daily lives and forgive us and understand what we, perhaps, never found a way to say to them.
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And when you're in a complete mess, and all you want to do is cry in shame, you might well start to long for someone who could understand. Someone wise and forgiving, with kindly sympathetic eyes who wont judge and will be patient and kindly, like an ideal mother.
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Science may very rightly deny the existence of the Virgin Mary, let alone paradise and miracles.
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But these beliefs shouldn't just be interpreted as pieces of stupidity.
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They are signs of extreme emotional distress and desperation, which should rightly elicit in us understanding and sympathy.
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Religious beliefs are, of course, technically false.
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But they're coming from a very tender and vulnerable place, which needs our empathy.
22
Of course Atheists are technically right. But there's no point getting maddened by the apparent irrationality of the religious.
23
We have to understand it and appreciate the intensity of the longings that lead some of us to believe in fantasies against all odds.
24
Because reality is just sometimes unbearably painful.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why Religious Beliefs Aren't Just Silly”. This video has 24 sentences and 490 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:57. The speaker talks at a natural 166 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 82% 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 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| rightly adverb | /ˈɹaɪtli/ | In a right manner; correctly, justifiably. |
| kindly adverb | /ˈkaɪn(d)li/ | In a kind manner, out of kindness. |
| technically adverb | /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/ | Based on precise facts, which, however, may be contrary to common belief or casual terminology. |
| miracle noun | /ˈmɪɹ.ə.kəl/ | An event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature and so is held to be supernatural in origin. |
| elicit verb | /ɪˈlɪsɪt/ | To evoke, educe (emotions, feelings, responses, etc.); to generate, obtain, or provoke as a response or answer. |
| foothill noun | A hill at the base of a mountain or mountain range. | |
| irrationality noun | /ɪˌɹæʃ.əˈnæl.ə.ti/ | The state of being illogical or absurd. |
| lament noun | /ləˈmɛnt/ | An expression of grief, suffering, sadness or regret. |
| ludicrous adjective | /ˈluː.dɪ.kɹəs/ | Idiotic or unthinkable, often to the point of being funny; amusing by being plainly incongruous or absurd. |
| overwhelm verb | /ˌoʊ.vɚˈwɛlm/ | To engulf, surge over and submerge. |
| unbearably adverb | In an unbearable manner, not bearably, in a way unable to be borne. | |
| longing noun | /ˈlɔːŋɪŋ/ | An earnest and deep, not greatly passionate, but rather melancholic desire. |
| madden verb | /ˈmædən/ | To make angry. |
| desperation noun | /ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/ | The act of despairing or becoming desperate; a giving up of hope. |
| calmly adverb | /ˈkɑː(ɹ)m.li/ | In a calm manner; coolly. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| end up verb | To bring to a conclusion. |
| get up verb | To move in an upward direction; to ascend or climb. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have gone |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | aren't bothered · be interpreted |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 6 contractions and reduced forms, such as shouldn't, aren't, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: empathy /ˈɛmpəθi/, sympathetic /ˌsɪm.pəˈθɛt.ɪk/, sympathy /ˈsɪm.pəθ.i/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: irrationality /ɪˌɹæʃ.əˈnæl.ə.ti/, desperation /ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: technically /ˈtɛk.nɪˌkəl.i/, irrationality /ɪˌɹæʃ.əˈnæl.ə.ti/, desperation /ˌdɛspəˈɹeɪʃən/, stupidity /stuˈpɪdɪti/, sympathetic /ˌsɪm.pəˈθɛt.ɪk/
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 rightly, kindly, technically.
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.