Shadowing Practice: Leonardo DiCaprio (UN Messenger of Peace) at the opening of Climate Summit 2014 - Learn English Speaking with YouTube

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Please welcome newly appointed United Nations Messenger of Peace, Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Please welcome newly appointed United Nations Messenger of Peace, Mr. Leonardo DiCaprio.
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Thank you, Mr. Secretary General, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, and distinguished guests.
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I am honored to be here today.
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I stand before you not as an expert, but as a concerned citizen, one of the 400,000 people who marched in the streets of New York on Sunday
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and the billions of others around the world who want to solve our climate crisis.
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As an actor, I pretend for a living.
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I play fictitious characters, often solving fictitious problems.
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I believe that mankind has looked at climate change in that same way, as if it were a fiction,
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as if pretending that climate change wasn't real would somehow make it go away.
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But I think we all know better than that now.
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Every week we're seeing new and undeniable climate events, evidence that accelerated climate change is here right now.
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Droughts are intensifying, our oceans are acidifying, with methane plumes rising up from the ocean floor,
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we are seeing extreme weather events and the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melting at unprecedented rates, decades ahead of scientific projections.
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None of this is rhetoric, and none of it is hysteria.
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It is fact.
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The scientific community knows it.
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Industry knows it.
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Governments know it.
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Even the United States military knows it.
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The Chief of the U.S.
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Navy's Pacific Command, Admiral Samuel Locklear, recently he said that climate change is our single greatest security threat.
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My friends, this body, perhaps more than any other gathering in human history,
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now faces this difficult but achievable task.
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You can make history or you will be vilified by it.
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To be clear, this is not about just telling people to change their light bulbs or to buy a hybrid car.
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This disaster has grown beyond the choices that individuals make.
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This is now about our industries and our governments around the world taking decisive, large-scale action.
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Now must be our moment for action.
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We need to put a price tag on carbon emissions and eliminate government subsidies for oil, coal, and gas companies.
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We need to end the free ride that industrial polluters have been given in the name of a free market economy.
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They do not deserve our tax dollars.
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They deserve our scrutiny.
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for the economy itself will die if our ecosystems collapse.
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The good news is that renewable energy is not only achievable, but good economic policy.
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This is not a partisan debate.
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It is a human one.
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Clean air and a livable climate are inalienable human rights.
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And solving this crisis is not a question of politics.
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It is a question of our own survival.
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This is the most urgent of times and the most urgent of messages.
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Honored delegates, leaders of the world, I pretend for a living, but you do not.
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The people made their voices heard on Sunday around the world, and the momentum will not stop.
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But now it is your turn.
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The time to answer humankind's greatest challenge is now.
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We beg of you to face it with courage and honesty.
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Thank you.

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About This Lesson

You're practicing English with "Leonardo DiCaprio (UN Messenger of Peace) at the opening of Climate Summit 2014" using the Shadowing technique — a method originally developed for professional interpreter training.

Focus on sounding like the speaker — not just repeating words. With 15–30 minutes of daily practice, you'll build real-world speaking confidence.

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.