Shadowing Practice: Sept. 20, 2001 - Bush Declares War on Terror - Learn English Speaking with Video
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On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country.
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Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years,
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they have been wars on foreign soil except for one Sunday in 1941 one.
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Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning.
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Americans have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of civilians.
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All of this was brought upon us in a single day, and night fell on a different world,
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a world where freedom itself is under attack.
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Americans have many questions tonight.
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Americans are asking, who attacked our country?
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The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al -Qaeda.
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They are some of the murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and responsible for bombing the USS Cole.
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Al -Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime.
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But its goal is not making money.
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Its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere.
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The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism
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that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics,
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a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teaching of Islam.
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The terrorist directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews,
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to kill all Americans, and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children.
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This group and its leader, a person named Osama bin Laden, are linked to many other organizations in different countries,
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including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
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There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries.
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They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods
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and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan where they are trained in the tactics of terror.
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They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction.
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The leadership of Al -Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country.
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In Afghanistan, we see al -Qaeda's vision for the world.
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Afghanistan's people have been brutalized.
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Many are starving, and many have fled.
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Women are not allowed to attend school.
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You can be jailed for owning a television.
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Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate.
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A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough.
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The United States respects the people of Afghanistan.
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After all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid.
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But we condemn the Taliban regime.
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It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists.
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By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder.
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And tonight, the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban.
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Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of al -Qaeda who hide in your land.
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Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens you have unjustly imprisoned.
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Protect foreign journalists, diplomats, and aid workers in your country.
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Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan
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and hand over every terrorist and every person in their support structure to appropriate authorities.
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Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps so we can make sure they are no longer operating.
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These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion.
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The Taliban must act, and act immediately.
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They will hand over the terrorists, where they will share in their fate.
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I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world.
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We respect your faith.
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It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends.
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Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah.
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The terrorists are traitors to their own faith,
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trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.
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the enemy of america is not our many muslim friends
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it is not our many arab friends our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them
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Our war on terror begins with al -Qaeda, but it does not end there.
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It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This video has 58 sentences and 722 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:51. The speaker talks slowly, about 92 words per minute, so there is time to copy every sound. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 less common words from the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
- terrorist /ˈtɛɹəɹɪst/ (noun) — A person, group, or organization that uses violent action, or the threat of violent action, to further political goals.
- commit /kəˈmɪt/ (verb) — To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto.
- regime /ɹəˈʒiːm/ (noun) — Mode of rule or management.
- terror /ˈtɛɹɚ/ (noun) — Intense dread, fright, or fear.
- radical /ˈɹædɪkəl/ (noun) — A root (of a number or quantity).
- civilians /sɪˈvɪl.jənz/ (noun) — Synonym of civvies
- fringe /fɹɪnd͡ʒ/ (noun) — A decorative border.
- vast /væst/ (adjective) — Very large or wide (literally or figuratively).
- belief /bɪˈliːf/ (noun) — Mental acceptance of a claim as true.
- worker /ˈwɝ.kɚ/ (noun) — One who works: a person who performs labor for a living; traditionally, especially, manual labor.
- soil /sɔɪl/ (noun) — A mixture of mineral particles and organic material, used to support plant growth.
- citizen /ˈsɪtɪzən/ (noun) — A resident of a city or town, especially one with legally recognized rights or duties.
- journalist /ˈd͡ʒɝnəlɪst/ (noun) — The keeper of a personal journal, who writes in it regularly.
- destruction /dɪsˈtɹʌkʃən/ (noun) — The act of destroying.
- fate /feɪt/ (noun) — The presumed cause, force, principle, or divine will that predetermines events.
Phrasal verbs you will hear
- hand over (verb) — To relinquish control or possession of something to someone.
- bring upon (verb) — To (either knowingly or unwittingly) cause to befall.
- fall on (verb) — To experience; to suffer; to fall upon.
- share in (verb) — To take a portion of something; to experience something jointly with others.
Pronunciation to watch
- The “th” sounds: gather /ˈɡæðɚ/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: regime /ɹəˈʒiːm/, destruction /dɪsˈtɹʌkʃən/, shelter /ˈʃɛltə/, distinction /dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/, negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: permanently /ˈpɜː.mə.nənt.li/, affiliate /əˈfɪl.i.eɪt/, humanitarian /hjuˌmæ.nəˈtɛ.ɹi.ən/, negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/, casualty /ˈkæʒu.əlti/
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 terrorist, commit, regime.
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 | was brought · has been rejected · are linked |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have known · have been · have gathered |
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.