Pratica di Shadowing: VOA Learning English Technology Report #1 - Impara a parlare inglese con YouTube

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This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
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This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
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Smartphones, tablet computers, and e-readers have become a part of everyday life for many people.
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They have also led to an explosion in the number of mobile applications.
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There is an app for just about anything you can think of of,
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and more and more apps are being created every day.
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Robert DeNazi is a Hollywood movie producer.
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He is perhaps best well known as the executive producer of Flight Plan,
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the 2005 movie starring actress Jodie Foster.
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His most recent claim to fame is as co-developer of a new app called VoiceCal.
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It is a mobile calendar app that uses voice recognition software.
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Users are able to enter appointments into their iPhone calendar without having to type in the information.
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He said although he has a mobile phone,
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he had to stop what he was doing to put things in his calendar.
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In his words, it got to the point where I just wasn't using the calendar on my iPhone,
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and neither was anybody else that I knew.
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Robert DeNazi decided there had to be a better way.
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So he teamed up with a friend who is a developer.
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The two used voice recognition software from a company called Nuance to build VoiceCal.
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He says when you use VoiceCal,
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you can say any event you want to put into your calendar and it will appear there.
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If you have two or more events to add to the calendar,
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you separate them by using the word also.
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Mr. DeNazi says all of this can be done hands-free.
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In settings, you can make it fully automatic,
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so I don't have to touch anything, he says.
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Robert DeNazi says there is a great need for an app like VoiceCal among busy businessmen like himself.
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He hopes the app will be successful over the long term.
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He says, in the movie business,
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you can do all the advertising in the world,
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and that can get you a great opening weekend.
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But if the movie's not good, it will die off.
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So really, what supports a film,
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just like what supports an app, is word of mouth.
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Matt Kozlov is the head of a startup technology company called Moonshark in Los Angeles, California.
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The company makes game apps for mobile devices.
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It's an exploding marketplace right now, he says.
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There are hundreds of millions of devices out there right now that we can reach.
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Jennifer Lopez is helping Moonshark with a finger breakdancing game called DancePad.
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The company is also working with film director John Woo on
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an action game expected to be released at the end of this year.
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For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villareal.
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This is the VOA Special English Development Report.
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Member countries of the International Criminal Court met in June in Kampala, Uganda.
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They were there to examine the court's progress for the first time.
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Observers, human rights activists, and civil society groups also attended the two-week review conference.
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A treaty called the Rome Statute established the court in The Hague in the Netherlands in 2002.
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The court can try people for genocide,
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war crimes, and crimes against humanity when their own countries are unwilling or unable to.
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The court was also given the right to try crimes of aggression,
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although it never has.
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This is partly because ICC members could not agree on how to define aggression.
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In Kampala, they agreed on a compromise resolution.
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It defines the crime in terms of acts by a political
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or military leader against another state in violation of the United Nations Charter.
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Invasions, attacks, and blockades could all be tried as acts of aggression.
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So could letting another country use a state's territory for aggressive acts against a third state state.
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The United Nations Security Council has the lead responsibility for deciding that an act of aggression has taken place.
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But if the Council takes no action within six months,
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the court might still be able to carry out an investigation.
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pointed out that the agreement does not permit the court to punish aggression by non-member countries or their nationals.
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Also, members could refuse to accept the court's right to try crimes of aggression.
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ICC countries also agree to delay any action by the court on aggression until they re-examine the issue in seven years.
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The International Criminal Court has yet to complete its first case involving any crime.
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Eleven cases are currently before the court.
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They include the case against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
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He is the first head of state to be charged by the ICC while in office.
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Two years ago, the court found him guilty of war crimes in Darfur.
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Last year, it ordered his arrest.
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But Sudan rejects the ruling.
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The ICC Review Conference took place even as the president was just sworn in for a new term.
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111 countries are parties to the Rome Statute.
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The United States is not among them,
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but took part in Kampala as an observer.
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Other countries that have not joined the court include China and Russia.
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And that's the VOA Special English Development Group.
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This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
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A few degrees can make a big difference when it comes to food storage.
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Foods can go bad if they get too warm.
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But for many of the world's poor,
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finding a good way to keep food cool is difficult.
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Refrigerators are costly and they need electricity.
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spoiled food not only creates health risks but also economic losses.
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Farmers lose money when they have to throw away products that they cannot sell quickly.
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But in 1995, a teacher in northern Nigeria named Mohamed Baaba found a solution.
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He developed the Pot in Pot Conservation Cooling System.
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It uses two round containers made of clay.
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A smaller pot is placed inside a larger one.
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The space between the two pots is filled with wet sand.
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The inner pot can be filled with fruit, vegetables, or drinks.
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A wet cloth covers the whole cooling system.
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Food stored in the smaller pot is kept from spoiling through a simple evaporation process.
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Water in the sand between the two pots evaporates through the surface of the larger pot where drier outside air is moving.
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The evaporation process creates a drop in temperature of several degrees.
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This cools the inner pot and and helps keep food safe from harmful bacteria.
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Some foods can be kept fresh this way for several weeks.
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People throughout Nigeria began using the invention,
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and it became popular with farmers in other African countries.
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Mohamed Baaba personally financed the first 5,000 pot-in-pot systems for his own community and five villages nearby.
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In 2000, the Rolex Watch Company of Switzerland honored him with the Rolex Award for Enterprise.
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This award recognizes people trying to develop projects aimed at improving human knowledge and well-being.
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A committee considers projects in science and medicine
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technology exploration and discovery the environment
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and cultural history winners receive financial assistance to help developed
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and extend their projects the awards are given every two years the next awards will be presented in late
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2012. Last year, Rolex launched the Young Laureates program for the younger generation.
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For VOA Special English, I'm Carolyn Prasuti.
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We have more programs at voaspecialenglish.com where people can read,
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listen, and learn English with texts, MP3s, and activities.
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We also offer English lessons at the VOA Learning English page on Facebook.
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From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.
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High-tech companies are developing the next generation of products that will help us drive cars,
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do our shopping, and even care for our children.
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The technology company Intel recently held a demonstration of some of its new devices in San Francisco.
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One device measured how alert a driver was.
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Sensors connected to the driver's head measured brain activity.
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Cameras placed on the car's dashboard measured eye movement.
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Justin Ratner works at Intel Labs.
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He says the devices measure how much of the brain is occupied while the person is driving.
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Devices like these, he says, will make driving safer.
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Another experimental intel technology links cars electronically to help prevent crashes.
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When the driver of the car in front signals a turn or slows down,
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an alert message is sent to the car in back.
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There was also a demonstration of a virtual computer.
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The computer was projected onto the table from a controller hidden in a flower pot.
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Sensors read the movements of the user's hands,
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so there was no need for a mouse or other handheld device.
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This technology could be used in everyday situations.
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At a market, sensors and computer chips placed in products could help shoppers find the items they want to buy.
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For example, the technology could help them avoid foods that could cause an allergic reaction.
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Cameras and sensors are already available to help parents watch their children.
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In the future, other equipment will monitor a baby's health and mood.
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And security systems are being improved and simplified with face recognition software instead of complicated passwords.
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For VOA Learning English, I'm Alex Villarreal.
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This is the VOA Special English Technology Report.
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Sony officials held a news conference in early May in Tokyo.
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They apologized for the theft of personal information from millions of users of the company's online services.
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targeted Sony's PlayStation Network, Sony Online Entertainment, and Curiosity Music Systems.
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In all, Sony says information may have been stolen from more than 100 million accounts.
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The data includes information like names,
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addresses, phone numbers, and birthdates.
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In some cases, even credit and debit card numbers may have been stolen.
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The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into the cyber attacks.
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Sony shut down its PlayStation network on April 20th.
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The company is being criticized for not telling its users about the stolen information until a week later.
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Sony has also been criticized for not making its accounts more secure by encrypting the data.
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Sony officials say they have now taken steps to improve security.
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Peter Warren is chairman of the Cybersecurity Research Institute in London.
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His group studies technology crimes and their effects on our computer-dependent world.
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Mr. Warren points out that what happened at Sony is not rare.
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We've seen a number of very large companies that have suffered some tremendously embarrassing losses of data.
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The problem, he says, is that there is far more interest in developing technology than in keeping it safe.
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As he puts it, lots
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and lots of people are being allowed to connect a lot of technology up before it's really been particularly well tested.
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Peter Warren also points out that many people have a false sense of security online.
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On the Internet, he says,
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they seem to be so blindly trusting of anybody and of any website,
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no matter how suspicious it may look.
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His message to users is simple.
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Try to be more careful on websites.
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He says, the internet is just like any other street,
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and there are some twists and turns that can take you into some very, very unsavory places.
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For VOA Special English, I'm Alex Villarreal.
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To read and listen to more technology news and for English teaching activities, go to voaspecialenglish.com.
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You can also follow us on Twitter and like us on Facebook at VOA Learning English.

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Perché praticare il parlato con questo video?

Praticare il parlato con il video "VOA Learning English Technology Report #1" offre ai learner un'opportunità concreta di ascoltare e riprodurre un linguaggio naturale e pertinente al giorno d'oggi. Le tecnologie come smartphone e applicazioni mobili sono argomenti attuali e utili, il che rende la pratica ancora più significativa. L'uso di un linguaggio specifico nel contesto di app e tecnologia aiuterà gli studenti a migliorare la loro capacità di comunicare in situazioni quotidiane e professionali. Attraverso il shadowing in inglese, gli studenti possono ricreare pronunce e intonazioni, migliorando così la loro pronuncia inglese. Inoltre, il contesto del video incoraggia un dialogo informale, permettendo di acquisire sicurezza nell'espressione orale.

Grammatica ed espressioni nel contesto

  • Uso del futuro semplice: Frasi come "He hopes the app will be successful" dimostrano come esprimere aspettative o speranze. Questo è utile per parlare di progetti futuri.
  • Frasi condizionali: L'uso di "if" in contesti come "If you have two or more events to add" offre una buona opportunità per praticare costruzioni condizionali.
  • Espressioni di necessità: "There is a great need for an app like VoiceCal" aiuta a capire come esprimere bisogni e richieste in forma chiara e diretta.

Trappole comuni di pronuncia

Durante l'ascolto, ci sono alcune parole e frasi che possono risultare difficili da pronunciare. Ad esempio, "VoiceCal" e "calendar" possono creare confusione a causa della somiglianza con altre parole. Il focus sulla pronuncia corretta di parole chiave nel video non solo migliora la fluidità, ma aiuta anche a evitare malintesi. Utilizzando tecniche di shadowspeak, gli studenti possono esercitarsi su queste parole e rafforzare la loro confidenza in situazioni comunicative. È fondamentale prestare attenzione anche all'accento che varia da esempio a esempio, per questo l'accento del narratore può fornire un modello utile per il shadowspeaking.

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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