Pratica di Shadowing: The Plastic Problem | practice English with Spotlight - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

Creazione lezione...
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Welcome to Spotlight.
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I'm Gillian Woodward.
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I'm Rob Queering.
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Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting.
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It is easier for people to understand no matter where in the world they live.
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In March of 2019, scientists found a dying whale in the Davao Gulf in the Philippines.
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The large sea creature was thin and bleeding.
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When it died, experts opened its stomach.
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They found 36 kilograms or 88 pounds of plastic.
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The animal had eaten so much that it could not eat real food.
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It starved, though its stomach was full.
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Plastic waste is everywhere on Earth.
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It is in the oceans, in the cities, and in some of the most remote areas in the world.
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Experts have found microplastics, pieces of plastic less than five millimeters long on the tallest mountains on Earth.
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Japanese scientists once examined water in the clouds above Mount Fuji.
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Their findings suggest that there is plastic in the air we breathe.
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Microplastics are probably in all of us.
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We eat and drink them, just like the whale that died in Davao Gulf.
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None of us eat plastic bags.
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But the microplastics that we do take in are of growing concern to experts.
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We do not yet know how much,
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or how little, these small pollutants will change our lives.
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But doctors are already coming to understand their negative influence on our health.
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Today's Spotlight discusses the plastic problem.
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Plastic is a new substance on Earth.
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Alexander Parks was a British inventor.
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He created the first man -made plastic in 1862, less than three centuries ago.
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Today, industries use plastic almost everywhere.
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It helped create modern medicine and computer technology.
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Ian Jamie is a manager at Steger Clear Packaging, a company in the United Kingdom.
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He told the British Broadcasting Corporation,
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Plastic is an amazing substance, an amazing invention.
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It is lightweight.
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It is strong.
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You can see through it.
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But plastic's success is also part of the problem.
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The world creates about 450 million tonnes of plastic every year.
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Most people do not recycle their plastic or save it for other uses.
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1 million to 2 million tonnes of plastic enter the ocean every year.
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Much more goes to landfills, large mountains of waste far away from where humans live.
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Most other materials decay over time, but not plastic.
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It just breaks down into smaller parts.
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A plastic bottle will take 450 years to decay.
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A plastic toothbrush may take over 500.
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Even when plastic disappears, it is not fully gone.
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Most plastics just turn into smaller microplastics.
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Experts have found microplastics all over the Earth.
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But they have also found these in our bodies.
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Experts have found microplastics in different organs, such as the liver, kidneys, and the brain.
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Scientists in China even found microplastics inside human bones.
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The amount of microplastics in human bodies is also increasing over time.
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Microplastics in the brain are particularly concerning.
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Experts say that patients who die from brain diseases seem to have more microplastics in their brains than others.
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Experts do not know if microplastics cause diseases of the mind but most are concerned.
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Matthew Campen studies poisons at the University of New Mexico.
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He told Smithsonian Magazine, I have yet to find a single human being who says,
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There is a lot of plastic in my brain.
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I am totally fine with that.
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Plastics are not usually harmful to people outside of the body,
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but experts still do not know what plastic does inside the human body.
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Many plastics are made from dangerous chemicals.
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Some are like chemicals found in motor oil.
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These chemicals may leak from plastics in some environments.
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Many are poisonous to humans.
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A small amount of chemicals may add up, harming people.
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One area where experts can show a health connection to microplastics is heart disease.
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People who have heart disease often have blocked arteries,
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which bring blood to different parts of the body.
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Substances can be built in these arteries over time.
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These cause inflammation, making the arteries shrink even more.
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Microplastics seem to cause both inflammation and blockage in arteries.
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Microplastics may also hurt other areas of the body.
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Over time, layers of these materials may block an organ from working correctly.
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They may cause cancer and other diseases.
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But microplastics may also be dangerous for another reason.
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Faye Caucero is a teacher of environmental science at the University of Portsmouth.
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She told the BBC, Microplastics are not going to immediately cause harm.
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But it is more likely that they are going to damage your cells.
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They will create a problem with your overall wellbeing.
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This makes you more likely to get illnesses.
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The problem with microplastics may seem overwhelming.
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There is already so much plastic in the environment, it is difficult to avoid.
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There are microplastics in even the cleanest places in the world.
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How can you avoid them?
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Sadly, there is no good answer to this question.
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Microplastics have been in our bodies longer than we know.
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Experts think that most of us have enough plastic in our brains to equal the amount in a plastic spoon.
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We do not know what this will do.
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It will be a problem many of us will have to face in the future.
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However, there are ways that you can reduce the number of microplastics in your environment.
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One of the best ways is to use less plastic yourself.
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Eating and drinking from plastic containers means more microplastics in your body.
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Eating less meat may also reduce your exposure to microplastics.
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Animals eat microplastics just like humans do.
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Animals get these from the plants and animals they eat.
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Vegetables, fruits and grains do not contain as many.
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Reducing the amount of plastic you use is another way of reducing microplastics.
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This may not affect you directly,
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but it will reduce the overall level of microplastics in the environment.
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Efforts like recycling and reusing plastic also reduce the need for new plastic.
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Finally, you can talk to your government about the plastic problem.
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These issues affect people everywhere on earth.
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Speaking up may encourage governments to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment.
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Today, microplastics are unavoidable.
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All we can do is reduce our exposure and reduce plastic in the environment.
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While these issues issues may seem impossible to deal with, they are not.
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Together we can make our world a better one for every person. Do you fear microplastics?
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Do you think this kind of fear is helpful?
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How would you deal with the plastic problem?
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You can leave a comment on our website at www .spotlightenglish .com.
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You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and X.
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You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight English app.
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The writer of this programme was Dan Christman.
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The producer was Michio Ozaki.
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All quotes were adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight.
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No AI or artificial intelligence was used in this episode.
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Spotlight episodes are written, voiced and produced by real people for real people,
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no matter where in the world they live.
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This episode is called The Plastic Problem.
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We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight episode.
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Goodbye!

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Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?

Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.

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