Shadowing Practice: Why We Faint (When Other Animals Don't) - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
1
The more we learn about the animal kingdom, the less unique humans seem.
2
But as far as we know, no other animal on Earth faints from fright like we do...lucky us.
3
Like lots of other animals, when we sense we’re in danger - or experience another surge of emotion - our blood pressure spikes, rushing blood to our brain and increasing our alertness.
4
But, in humans, once the threat is over, our body sometimes overcompensates, dropping our blood pressure too low and reducing the blood supply to our brain, causing us to briefly lose consciousness - in other words, we faint.
5
While a few other animals do fall over, mainly from unrelated muscle issues, we’re the only ones who lose consciousness.
6
And that’s thanks to a unique combination of two traits: an upright stance and a big brain.
7
Spending most of our time upright, with our brain above our heart, means our blood has to fight gravity to reach the brain.
8
And on top of that – or rather, below – we have big, veiny legs, which – when we stand still for too long – collect lots of blood, making it even harder to supply our brains with enough blood.
9
While there are other animals with brains high above their hearts, none of them have brains as demanding as humans’.
10
The bigger an animal’s brain, the more blood the brain needs; our big brains hog a whopping 20% of our bodies’ blood flow compared to less than 7% for our closest relatives and less than 1% in animals with even smaller brains.
11
That’s why just a slight dip in our blood pressure can interrupt the flow of blood to our brain, while even a significant drop in other animals’ blood pressure won’t stop their brains from getting enough blood to keep running or hopping.
12
Our unique combination of traits means that even something as silly as a...
13
JUMP! SCARE in a horror film or simply the sight of blood can cause our blood pressure to drop enough for us to, well, drop.
14
The good news is that falling puts our head and heart at the same level, allowing blood to quickly reach our brain again.
15
The bad news is that fainting can also lead to sometimes serious injuries, accounting for about a million hospital visits each year.
16
But the upright stance and big brain that make humans the only animals to faint from fright are the same traits that have allowed us to thrive and spread all over the globe.
17
So, I guess you could say world domination is for the faint of heart.
📺 Same Channel
B29
Why Do India And China Have So Many People?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B21
Why Haven't We Domesticated Monkeys?
University StudentsWorking Adults
B22
Where Did Earth's Water Come From?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B29
The Heaviest Part of a Forest Is NOT What You Think
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C19
Why Don't Blue Whales Eat Fish?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C13
How To Kill A Volcano
University StudentsWorking Adults
C13
Three Specific Ways AI Could Kill Us All
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C168
Why is it Hot Underground?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C12
MinuteEarth Explains: Cats vs Dogs
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C16
The Best Dragon (According to Science)
University StudentsWorking Adults
C18
How High Can Birds Fly?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C13
Why Do Rivers Curve?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B2Why Do We Have More Boys Than Girls?
University Students
B2MinuteEarth Explains: Microbes
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B2Why Don't Our Bones Keep Growing Forever?
TOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B2Could This Thing *Really* Fly?
University Students
C1There’s Really Only One Way To Die
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B2You've Been Misled About The Water Cycle
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2What I Learned on Monkey Island
University StudentsWorking Adults
✨ Recommend Video
B23
155 sentences
Why Ancient Humans Were The Most TERRIFYING Animal Alive
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C1757
15 sentences
How Stress Changes Your Brain
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B22
28 sentences
Responses to Stimuli
TOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C11
380 sentences
A man hiked in the woods. Every brain cell got cooked.
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C14
72 sentences
The Heart, Part 1 - Under Pressure: Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology #25
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C17
13 sentences
Our Brains Are Not Special. But Why Are We?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C11
391 sentences
Why does every mammal get 1 billion heartbeats in their life?
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B1167
23 sentences
Phát âm chuẩn cùng VOA - Anh ngữ đặc biệt: Sleep Brain (VOA)
American AccentIELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B26
35 sentences
What is Inattentional Blindness? (Easiest Explanation)
Daily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C15
75 sentences
Why do we get Thirsty? | #aumsum #kids #education #science
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why We Faint”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: brain, blood, animal, pressure, faint. This video has 17 sentences and 426 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:22. The speaker talks fast, about 180 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 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
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| faint adjective | /feɪnt/ | Lacking strength; weak; languid; inclined to lose consciousness |
| trait noun | /tɹeɪt/ | An identifying characteristic, habit or trend. |
| upright adjective | /ˈʌpɹaɪt/ | Vertical; erect. |
| fright noun | /fɹaɪt/ | A state of terror excited by the sudden appearance of danger; sudden and violent fear, usually of short duration; a sudden alarm. |
| stance noun | /stæns/ | The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands. |
| consciousness noun | /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/ | The state of being conscious or aware; awareness. |
| alertness noun | /əˈlɝt.nəs/ | The quality of being alert or on the alert. |
| overcompensate verb | To do an excessive amount in one area in an effort to overcome a perceived lack in another area. | |
| whopping adjective | /ˈ(h)wɑpɪŋ/ | Exceptionally great or large. |
| interrupt verb | /ˌɪntəˈɹʌpt/ | To disturb or halt (an ongoing process or action, or the person performing it) by interfering suddenly, especially by speaking. |
| domination noun | /ˌdɑːməˈneɪʃən/ | Control by means of superior ability, influence, position, or resources; prevailing force. |
| thrive verb | /θɹajv/ | To grow or increase stature; to grow vigorously or luxuriantly; to enjoy a state of excellent health and well-being; to flourish. |
| unrelated adjective | Not connected or associated. | |
| surge noun | /sɝd͡ʒ/ | A sudden transient rush, flood or increase. |
| spike noun | /spaɪk/ | A sort of very large nail. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| fall over verb | To fall from an upright or standing position to a horizontal or prone position. |
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 allowed |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | ones who lose |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as we're, won't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: consciousness /ˈkɑnʃəsnəs/, domination /ˌdɑːməˈneɪʃən/, emotion /ɪˈməʊ.ʃən/
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 faint, trait, upright.
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.