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Wednesday 23 Nov 2011
Leonardo DiCaprio Devotes Off-Screen Time to Saving Planet
Level: average
Category: Environment
Before you listen
Today's report is about the film star Leonardo DiCaprio. What does he do when he is not making films? Why does he do it? What has he achieved? To help you understand the report, this first activity asks you to find words defined below, in the Wordsearch. They are all connected to animals and used in the report. Use the hints to help you.
The type or class to which an animal belongs is its species.

Boxes made of metal bars and often used to contain animals are called cages.

A large fish which has the reputation of attacking people is a shark.

When animals look for and kill other animals for their food in the wild, they hunt them.

The general word for animals living in their natural environment is wildlife.

A person who studies living things which exist in water is a marine biologist.

A large black and white bear which lives in China is a panda.

Large, wild cats which have striped bodies and are found in Asia, are called tigers.

A large tropical forest is called a jungle.

Groups of the same types of animals that live together in a specific place are called populations.

While you listen
Read the statements below, then listen to the report and click on the correct ending for each.
The title of DiCaprio's new film is...
- J. Edgar Hoover.
- J. Edgar.
- Hoover's FBI.

J. Edgar Hoover...
- would not be able to do what he did today.
- was against using wiretapping for espionage.
- has been the subject of articles on Wikileaks.

Over ten years ago DiCaprio...
- made his first film about environmental issues.
- began to drive an environmentally friendly car.
- stopped making his films in Hollywood.

One of the advantages of a hybrid car, according to DiCaprio, is that...
- they are cheap to manufacture.
- you can go far on very little gasoline.
- the U.S. can export them to foreign markets.

When he was young, DiCaprio wanted to...
- live in Los Angeles.
- be a movie star.
- study animals which live in the sea.

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation...
- started eight years ago.
- has supported sharks.
- uses grocery bags to advertise itself.

In Texas...
- DiCaprio announced he was giving a million dollars to save tigers.
- there are more tigers than in the wild.
- there was a recent tiger summit.

DiCaprio says that to save the tiger...
- its land has to be preserved.
- hunting must be stopped soon.
- will be much easier than saving the panda.

Being a movie star helps DiCaprio to...
- learn more about the environment and animals.
- make many people aware of environmental issues.
- pay for the people's environmental movement.

DiCaprio insists that...
- his film projects are environmentally aware.
- the resources used are from the third world.
- the actors who work with him drive hybrid cars.

After you have listened
Read the summary of the report below. The gaps are all adjectives. Use one adjective from the list for each blank in the summary, and validate your answers. Six adjectives are not used. All the adjectives in the list come from the report. Make full use of the hints to help you!
active brutal committed disposable
green fascinated fuel-efficientencyclopedic
hybrid iconic infamous smog-choked
steep sustainable vocal unbelievable

Leonardo DiCaprio's Life outside of Movies.

The iconic movie star Leonardo DiCaprio has a new film out this month, called J.Edgar. It is the story of the infamous J. Edgar Hoover, a former head of the FBI.

However, DiCaprio has another life away from Hollywood and making films, that of a committed environmental activist. Indeed DiCaprio has been fascinated by animals and wildlife since he was very young and growing up in the polluted city of Los Angeles.

Now though, being a world-renown actor, he is able to use his status to help the environment. He is very active through making donations and raising people's awareness of a variety of environmental issues.

For example, Leonardo DiCaprio was the first Hollywood star to buy and drive a hybrid car. He set up his own foundation to support green causes way back in 1998, and this foundation has since worked on issues such shark-finning and disposable supermarket bags. Most recently DiCaprio has become vocal about the tiger, recently giving a million dollars to support "save the tiger" projects and aiming to stop the steep decline in its numbers in the wild.

active brutal committed disposable
green fascinated fuel-efficientencyclopedic
hybrid iconic infamous smog-choked
steep sustainable vocal unbelievable

Listen and write
Click on the arrow symbol to listen to the sentence, then click in the empty window and type what you hear.
Sometimes you need to bend the rules a little.
Listen and write
Click on the arrow symbol to listen to the sentence, then click in the empty window and type what you hear.
More than a decade ago he inspired a Hollywood trend by becoming the first among his peers to start driving a fuel-efficient hybrid car.
Listen and write
Click on the arrow symbol to listen to the sentence, then click in the empty window and type what you hear.
He's been fascinated by nature ever since he was a child growing up in smog-choked Los Angeles.
Listen and write
Click on the arrow symbol to listen to the sentence, then click in the empty window and type what you hear.
There's more tigers in Texas in cages than there are tigers in the wild.
Listen and write
Click on the arrow symbol to listen to the sentence, then click in the empty window and type what you hear. The first word is "He".
He uses his movie star status to draw attention to what he considers a global concern.
Listen and look
Now listen to the whole report again and read the text below as you listen. Don't forget to write down any new words you want to remember.
In his new film J. Edgar, Leonardo DiCaprio stars as J. Edgar Hoover, famous for making the FBI into a world-renowned law enforcement agency and infamous for the files he kept on Americans both in and out of power.

"Is that legal?"

"Sometimes you need to bend the rules a little in order to keep your country safe."

"What's interesting in this day and age to do a film about political espionage and wiretapping. I don't think that those types of secrets that J. Edgar Hoover was able to obtain and keep would be possible in today's world. With the Internet, 'Wikileaks' that doesn't seem that those types of secrets can be kept for that long a period of time."

It's no secret, though, that DiCaprio is a committed and vocal environmental activist. More than a decade ago he inspired a Hollywood trend by becoming the first among his peers to start driving a fuel-efficient hybrid car.

"I think that every car should have that technology. I mean it really has dramatically less emissions and, not only that, the gas mileage is unbelievable and if we have the technology to make every car like that, and we should, we'd reduce our dependence on oil, you know, foreign and domestic."

DiCaprio says he's been fascinated by nature ever since he was a child growing up in smog-choked Los Angeles.

"I actually wanted to be a marine biologist when I was very young. That was a great passion of mine, so I suppose in the off-season when I'm not making movies, I became more and more active as an environmentalist and tried to be more vocal about issues that I felt were important."

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, that he established in 1998 to promote a sustainable future, has been active in issues ranging from eliminating disposable plastic grocery bags to ending shark-finning, the brutal practice blamed for a steep decline in shark populations around the world.

"Right now, the campaign that I'm a part of is to save the last remaining wild tigers throughout Asia. There's only thirty two hundred left in the wild. There's more tigers in Texas in cages than there are tigers in the wild and we're at risk of losing this iconic species for all time."

At an Asian tiger summit in Moscow last year, DiCaprio personally donated one million dollars to a program for protecting habitat as well as wildlife.

"Throughout Asia, a lot of countries are selling off jungle and forest rights for palm oil and for paper and pulp companies, and so it's more of a land preservation effort. Because, you know, if you can unify the public behind saving an iconic species like the tiger, like they did with the panda, that means you need to protect their habitat and everything that they hunt."

DiCaprio has won acclaim for his encyclopedic knowledge of the environment and sustainability. He says he uses his movie star status to draw attention to what he considers a global concern.

"It's important to everybody. I think that the environmental movement is the biggest people's movement in the world."

DiCaprio also brings his environmental activism into the workplace, requiring his film projects to adopt "green" practices to eliminate pollution and prevent wasting resources.

Alan Silverman for the Voice of America in Hollywood.

Glossary
The glossary aims to help you understand words and phrases from the report. It gives you an alternative word or a paraphrase in the context of the report. If you want a more general dictionary definition of the word, use the English Addicts dictionary.
acclaim (n)
very high praise.

active (adj)
busy.

adopt (v)
accept and start using it.

at risk of (phrase)
in danger of.

bend the rules (phrase)
do something illegal, but which the speaker considers as minor.

blamed for (v)
"to blame" - hold someone or something responsible.

brutal (adj)
violent.

cages (n)
boxes made of metal bars to contain animals.

campaign (n)
series of actions designed to bring about change.

committed (adj)
dedicated.

concern (n)
worry.

decade (n)
ten years.

decline (n)
decrease, fall.

dependence on (n)
need for.

disposable (adj)
which is thrown away after use.

donated (v)
gave.

dramatically (adv)
here, significantly, greatly.

draw attention to (expression)
make people aware of.

eliminate (v)
remove.

emissions (n)
gases or other substances released into the atmosphere.

encyclopedic (adj)
very large amount of knowledge, as contained in an encyclopedia.

environmental (adj)
related to protection of the natural world.

environmentalist (n)
person who works actively to protect the natural world.

espionage (n)
spying on others.

established (v)
here, founded.

ever since (phrase)
from that time until now.

fascinated by (adj)
very interested in.

FBI (abbrev)
an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency (counterintelligence).

files (n)
units of information stored on a computer.

for all time (phrase)
forever.

forest (n)
large area of trees.

Foundation (n)
charitable organization.

fuel-efficient (adj)
does not use much gasoline, or uses it effectively.

gas (n) (petrol in British English)
short form of "gasoline" - the liquid used to power cars.
"gas mileage" - the distance travelled using a set amount of gasoline.

green (adj)
here, which respects the environment.
"green practices" - actions which help the environment.

grocery (n)
"grocery bags" - bags given free for customers from a shop which sells food.

growing up (phrasal verb)
"to grow up" - to become an adult.

habitat (n)
natural environment of an animal or plant.

hunt (v)
look for and kill for food in the wild.

hybrid (adj)
"hybrid cars" - vehicles which use both gasoline and electricity as sources of power.

iconic (adj)
famous and symbolic.

in order to (phrase)
so that.

in this day and age (phrase)
now, as compared to past times.

infamous (adj)
having a bad reputation.

inspired (v)
"to inspire" - to encourage or motivate.

jungle (n)
tropical forest.

law enforcement (phrase)
"law enforcement agency" - an organization which exists to make sure the law is respected.

marine biologist (phrase)
person who studies living things which exist in the sea.

nature (n)
the environment.

off-season (n)
a period of time when something does not happen.

palm oil (n)
edible oil from the fruit of certain types of palm tree.

panda (n)
a large black and white bear which lives in China.

passion (n)
enthusiasm.

peers (n)
people of the same age or situation.

pollution (n)
harmful substances, usually in the air or water.

populations (n)
here, group of animals of a particular type that live somewhere.

practice (n)
here, a way of doing something.

preservation (n)
conservation or maintaining in the state it is.

prevent (v)
stop from happening.

program (n)
course of action.

promote (v)
to publicize and encourage.

protecting (v)
defending, looking after.

pulp (n)
material made from trees and used to make paper.

reduce (v)
make smaller.

resources (n)
here, raw materials, things found in nature that can be used.

Right now (phrase)
At this moment.

rights (n)
things that you are allowed to do under the law.

secrets (n)
information which must not be passed on to another person.
"It's no secret" - everyone knows.

selling off (phrasal)
selling all of something until it is gone.

shark (n)
large fish which has the reputation of attacking people.
"shark-finning" - the practice of hunting sharks in order to remove the fin to be sold and throwing the rest of the shark back into the sea alive.

smog-choked (adj)
has a lot of harmful polluted and dirty air.

species (n)
type of animal.

stars (v)
has the leading role.

status (n)
position.

steep (adj)
here, large.

summit (n)
important meeting.

suppose (v)
think.

sustainability (n)
here, the low environmental impact of the activity and its ability to continue this way.

sustainable (adj)
having as little impact on the environment as possible.

technology (n)
here, computers and related equipment.

tigers (n)
large, wild cats which have striped bodies and are found in Asia.

trend (n)
here, development, something that people are doing more and more.

unbelievable (adj)
extraordinary, difficult to believe.

unify (v)
put things together to make just one thing.

vocal (adj)
who speaks out in public.

wasting (v)
if you waste something it is not put to good use.

Wikileaks (n)
an international self-described not-for-profit organization that publishes submissions of private, secret, and classified media from anonymous news sources, news leaks, and whistleblowers.

wildlife (n)
animals living in their natural environment.

wiretapping (v)
illegally listening in to other people's phone conversations.

world-renowned (adj)
famous all over the world.