Shadowing Practice: C1 T2 TEST1 PART4 - Learn English Speaking with Video
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81 sentences
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1
In December 2015, China issued a red alert warning for their capital Beijing.
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Smog and air particle levels were ten times higher than the World Health Organization's safety standards.
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The alert shut down schools and stopped construction, reflecting China's ongoing issues with pollution. At
4
that same time, the rest of the world was meeting in Paris for the
5
United Nations Climate Change Convention in an attempt to tackle growing environmental concerns.
6
So while Beijing is covered in smog, we wanted to know, what are the cleanest cities in the world?
7
A 2012 Green City Index reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit examined each major world region to determine
8
which global factors contribute to cleanliness.
9
In Europe, many of the top spots were captured by Nordic countries, with Copenhagen and Denmark as the cleanest city overall.
10
Zurich in Switzerland also received high points for lowest CO2 emissions.
11
Both countries have strict limits on high -polluting vehicles, but there is also a societal push to use public transit, bicycling, and walking.
12
Even the 2009 Copenhagen Accord saw the world's major economies come together for the first time to lower global emissions.
13
In Latin America, a clear and repeat winner for the cleanest city has been Curitiba in Brazil.
14
The city was the first to introduce bus rapid transit in 1974
15
and has continued the trend of working with its citizens to provide environmental benefits.
16
A recycling program called Garbage has led to about three -quarter of the city's trash to be recycled by residents.
17
Other programs like one which trades bus tokens for recycling shows how effective communal and governmental efforts can be.
18
Another top recycler, this time in Asia, is the city -state of Singapore.
19
On average, they generate less trash per person than the rest of the continent,
20
but they also keep the city clean through high -density planning and infrastructure investment.
21
Recycling and water treatment plants are state of the art and designed around supplying the uniquely compact city.
22
With so many people living so close together, it is very important to produce as little waste as possible.
23
Over in North America, it's health -conscious
24
San Francisco that takes the lead.
25
According to the GCI, San Francisco recycles as much as 77 % of their waste, which is more than any European city besides Leipzig in Germany.
26
Another reason is that SF requires commercial building owners to submit regular energy usage reports, leading to considerably lower usage overall.
27
This coupled with a high -sharing economy, high -quality public transit, and marginal environmental tax benefits makes SF incredibly clean.
28
Lastly and unfortunately, no cities score well above average in Africa.
29
The highest ranked, Accra, in Ghana is not necessarily the cleanest,
30
but they get major points for having a direct bureaucratic link with the national government concerning the environment.
31
This helps not only in monitoring, but also action, and is found lacking in most African cities' profile.
32
Overall, the most consistent aspect of environmental friendliness seemed to be based on society's willingness to take part.
33
Mass transit and recycling help bring down emissions,
34
as does efficient city planning and government policy but it should come as no surprise that without the support of the people,
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there is little that can be done to save the Earth.
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While it is nice to live in a city with no pollution, much of the world does not have that luxury.
37
Now listen to part four again. In December 2015,
38
China issued a red alert warning for their capital, Beijing smog
39
and air particle levels were 10 times higher than the World Health Organization's safety standards.
40
The alert shut down schools and stopped construction, reflecting China's ongoing issues with pollution. At
41
that same time, the rest of the world was meeting in Paris for the
42
United Nations Climate Change Convention in an attempt to tackle growing environmental concerns.
43
So while Beijing is covered in smog, we wanted to know, what are the cleanest cities in the world?
44
A 2012 Green City Index reported by the Economist Intelligence Unit examined each major world region to determine
45
which global factors contribute to cleanliness.
46
In Europe, many of the top spots were captured by Nordic countries, with Copenhagen and Denmark as the cleanest city overall.
47
Zurich in Switzerland also received high points for lowest CO2 emissions.
48
Both countries have strict limits on high -polluting vehicles, but there is also a societal push to use public transit, bicycling, and walking.
49
Even the 2009 Copenhagen Accord saw the world's major economies come together for the first time to lower global emissions.
50
In Latin America, a clear and repeat winner for the cleanest city has been Curitiba in Brazil.
51
The city was the first to introduce bus rapid transit in 1974
52
and has continued the trend of working with its citizens to provide environmental benefits.
53
A recycling program called Garbage, that's not garbage, has led to about three -quarter of the city's trash to be recycled by residents.
54
Other programs like one which trades bus tokens for recycling shows how effective communal and governmental efforts can be.
55
Another top recycler, this time in Asia, is the city -state of Singapore.
56
On average, they generate less trash per person than the rest of the continent,
57
but they also keep the city clean through high -density planning and infrastructure investment.
58
Recycling and water treatment plants are state -of -the -art and designed around supplying the uniquely compact city.
59
With so many people living so close together, it is very important to produce as little waste as possible.
60
Over in North America, it's health -conscious
61
San Francisco that takes the lead.
62
According to the GCI, San Francisco recycles as much as 77 % of their waste, which is more than any European city besides Leipzig and Germany.
63
Another reason is that SF requires commercial building owners to submit regular energy usage reports, leading to considerably lower usage overall.
64
This coupled with a high -sharing economy, high -quality public transit, and marginal environmental tax benefits makes SF incredibly clean.
65
Lastly, and unfortunately, no cities score well above average in Africa.
66
The highest ranked, Accra, in Ghana is not necessarily the cleanest,
67
but they get major points for having a direct bureaucratic link with the national government concerning the environment.
68
This helps not only in monitoring, but also action, and is found lacking in most African cities profiled.
69
Overall, the most consistent aspect of environmental friendliness seemed to be based on society's willingness to take part.
70
Mass transit and recycling help bring down emissions as does efficient city planning and government policy
71
But it should come as no surprise that without the support of the people
72
There is little that can be done to save the earth
73
While it is nice to live in a city with no pollution, much of the world does not have that luxury
74
That's the end of part four
75
That's the end of the listening section
76
You now have two minutes to check all your answers Thank you.
77
Thank you.
78
Thank you.
79
Time's up.
80
Thank you.
81
Thank you.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “C1 T2 TEST1 PART4”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: cleanest, recycling, transit, environmental, emissions. This video has 81 sentences and 1165 words to shadow. The speech runs for 8:48. The speaker talks at a steady 132 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| transit noun | /ˈtɹæn.zɪt/ | The act of passing over, across, or through something. |
| emission noun | /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/ | Something which is emitted or sent out; issue. |
| trash noun | /tɹæʃ/ | Useless physical things to be discarded; rubbish; refuse. |
| alert adjective | /əˈlɝt/ | Attentive; awake; on guard. |
| usage noun | /ˈjuːsɪd͡ʒ/ | A custom or established practice. |
| pollution noun | /pəˈluʃən/ | Physical contamination, now especially the contamination of the environment by harmful substances, or by disruptive levels of noise, light etc. |
| garbage noun | /ˈɡɑɹ.bɪd͡ʒ/ | Food waste material of any kind. |
| consistent adjective | /kənˈsɪs.tənt/ | Of a regularly occurring, dependable nature. |
| necessarily adverb | /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/ | Inevitably; of necessity. |
| infrastructure noun | /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/ | An underlying base or foundation for a building, organization, or system. |
| rank noun | /ˈɹæŋk/ | A row of people or things organized in a grid pattern, often soldiers. |
| capture verb | /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/ | To take control of; to seize by force or stratagem. |
| efficient adjective | /ɪˈfɪʃənt/ | Making good, thorough, or careful use of resources; not consuming extra. Especially, making good use of time or energy. |
| aspect noun | /ˈæspɛkt/ | Any specific feature, part, or element of something. |
| citizen noun | /ˈsɪtɪzən/ | A resident of a city or town, especially one with legally recognized rights or duties. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| bring down verb | To make (a ruler or government) lose their position of power. |
| close together adjective | Near each other in time or space. |
| shut down verb | To close, terminate, or end; to stop operating, either permanently or temporarily. |
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 covered · were captured · be recycled |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has been · has continued · has led |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | waste, which is |
Pronunciation to watch
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: emission /ɪˈmɪʃ.ən/, trash /tɹæʃ/, pollution /pəˈluʃən/, capture /ˈkæp.(t)ʃɚ/, efficient /ɪˈfɪʃənt/
- Long words — get the stress right: necessarily /ˌnɛs.əˈsɛɹ.ə.li/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, incredibly /ɪŋˈkɹɛdɪbli/, considerably /kənˈsɪdəɹəbli/, governmental /ˌɡʌvɚnˈmɛnt(ə)l/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like transit, emission, trash.
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.