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  • Hi! I'm Rachel from Rachel's English and  today I'm going to teach you some of the  

  • more advanced vocabulary and idioms that were  used in an interview early this year. Anderson  

  • Cooper interviewing Bill Gates on innovation and  global warming. Some pretty interesting phrases  

  • came up. As a non-native speaker, learning  these words, phrases and idioms will help  

  • you sound more sophisticated in your everyday  English. We'll help you express yourself better.  

  • So helpful in English conversations but also  preparing to take the IELTS or TOEFL exam.  

  • Let's learn these vocabulary  words and phrases together today.

  • To start, Bill Gates is talking about what  needs to happen to stop global warming.  

  • You'll see on-screen texts like this:

  • This will highlight words or phrases that we'll  learn about at the end of this 13-second clip.

  • And it needs a level of cooperation  that would be unprecedented.

  • That doesn't sound feasible.

  • No, it's not easy but hey,

  • That sounds impossible.

  • In 30 years, we have more  educated people than ever,  

  • we have a generation that's  speaking out on this topic.

  • Unprecedented is a great vocabulary word.  

  • It's an adjective and it means never done  before, never known before. Gates thinks to  

  • stop global warming it's about cooperationAnd a level of cooperation around the world  

  • that we've never seen before that's never  happen before. Unprecedented cooperation.

  • And it needs a level of cooperation  that would be unprecedented.

  • That doesn't sound feasible.

  • No, that's not easy.

  • That doesn't sound feasible. What do you  think this word means? It's another adjective  

  • and it means possible to do easily  or conveniently, likely or probable.

  • Anderson Cooper doesn't think this  kind of cooperation will be easy  

  • and he's right. I mean we just heard Bill Gates  describe it as unprecedented. But not feasible  

  • doesn't necessarily mean it  can't happen. It just means  

  • very hard to make happenWill we be able to do it?

  • That doesn't sound feasible.

  • No, it's not easy.

  • We'll, Gates points out that we havegeneration that's speaking out on this  

  • topic. Speaking out is a phrasal verb and  it means to express your feelings or opinion  

  • usually publicly. If you don't like  to policies of government, speak out.  

  • This is similar to speak up. Speak up has  2 different definitions and one of them  

  • is this one. Just like speak out. To express one's  opinions frankly and openly. But more frequently,  

  • we use speak up to mean speak louder. Speak up.  I can't hear you. The opposite of that is not  

  • speak down, it's quiet down. Quiet down, you're  being way too loud. Gates said a generation is  

  • speaking out, is voicing their opinions that  we need to do more to address global warming.

  • We have more educated people than ever, we have  a generation that's speaking out on this topic.

  • Let's keep going.

  • You know I got to participate in the miracle  of the personal computer and the internet.

  • Participate in the miracle. I love  this way of describing his life.  

  • He's not taking credit. He's saying  he participated in what happened.  

  • He's saying he got to take part in it. In  the amazing creation. The miracle of personal  

  • computers and the internet. 2 things that  absolutely changed, transformed human life.

  • You know I got to participate in the miracle of  the personal computer and the internet and so  

  • yes, I have a bias to believe  innovation can do these things.

  • Bias has a couple of different definitionsHere it means prejudiced. In favor of or  

  • against something usually considered to be  unfair. For example, as a parent I have a  

  • bias to think of my kids are the cutest kids  on Earth. I'm not neutral. I have a bias. Bill  

  • Gates has a bias to believe that innovation  is the answer because of his background.

  • So I have a bias to believe  innovation can do these things.

  • Now we'll skip ahead in the  interview. To see the whole interview,  

  • see the link in the video description.

  • This next clip we'll study is 15 seconds long.

  • He supports President Biden's decision  to rejoin the Paris climate agreement  

  • but is asking the administration to  massively increase the budget for  

  • climate and clean energy research  to 35 billion dollars a year.

  • You've said that government need to do the hard  stuff but not just go after the low-hanging  

  • fruit. Massively is an adverb and it means on  a vast scale, a very great extent extremely.  

  • Massively increase the budget. This  means you can't just add a little bit  

  • more money to this project. It has  to be greatly, extremely increased.

  • He supports President Biden's decision to  rejoin the Paris climate agreement but is  

  • asking the administration to massively increase  the budget for climate and clean energy research.

  • Low-hanging fruit. This idiom  has nothing to do with fruit or  

  • food. See if its definition becomes  clearer as they discuss it further.

  • You've said that the government  need to do the hard stuff  

  • but not just go after the low hanging  fruit. What's the low-hanging fruit?

  • Passenger cars, part of the electric generation with renewables. The things that everybody knows about  

  • that's getting almost all the money not the  hard parts which is the industrial piece  

  • including the steel and cement. Those  pieces we've hardly started to work on.

  • Low-hanging fruit. The things that are the easiest  to do first. The things you'll be able to get with  

  • little effort. Gates says we have to go beyond  that. Not just do the easy things but tackle the big  

  • difficult parts of carbon emissions as well.  

  • We'll skip ahead again as they discuss  the research Gates is funding.

  • It kind of blows my mind, you know  what's the cost of making that stuff?

  • Gates regularly consults with a funds  team of top scientists and entrepreneurs  

  • which so far invested in 50 companies with  cutting edge ideas to reduce carbon emissions.

  • Blows my mind. Ouch! Do you know this  phrase? It basically means to amaze someone.  

  • If you blow someone's mind, it's like  

  • Wow! They never thought of that. They had no idea  that was possible. It's usually a good thing.

  • It kind of blows my mind, you know  what's the cost of making that stuff?

  • We also heard Gates regularly consults. To consult  is a verb. It means to ask the opinion of advice  

  • of someone usually an expert. I'm going to consult  a lawyer before I sign this contract. For example.

  • Gates regularly consults with a funds  team of top scientists and entrepreneurs  

  • which so far invested in 50 companies with  cutting edge ideas to reduce carbon emissions.

  • In the clip, we also heard the phrasecutting  edge ideas.” Cutting edge means the most advanced.  

  • Cutting edge ideas, notice that flap T in cuttingCutting, cutting edge. These are ideas that are  

  • at the forefront, ahead of everything else, the  most advanced ideas on how to solve this problem.

  • Gates regularly consults with a funds team of  top scientists and entrepreneurs which so far  

  • invested in 50 companies with cutting  edge ideas to reduce carbon emissions.

  • Cutting edge ideas. Sometimes, they are far-flung.

  • What's like to most far-flung idea you've backed?

  • Far-flung means distant or remote. He's moving to  some far-flung town and I'll never see him again.  

  • A far-flung idea is one that seems so crazy. We're  just not sure it could work. You could also say  

  • far-fetched. A far-fetched idea or an outlandish  idea. Let's see how they talk about it.

  • What's like to most far-flung idea you've backed?

  • There's one that's so crazy  it's even hard to describe.

  • (laughing) Wait a minute. It's so crazy it's hard to describe.

  • Yeah. How do you pitch that to investors?

  • How do you pitch that to investors? Pitch isword with a lot of meanings but the one that's  

  • most known is the US is probably the verbPitching a baseball to a batter. But we also  

  • use it to pitch an idea. To introduce an idea  that we hope someone will like. Let's say you're  

  • renovating your house. The contractor ran intoproblem. There was a pipe where it wasn't expected  

  • and you're trying to figure out what to do. You've  looked at a couple of options and your designer  

  • could sayLet me pitch another option to you.”  If you pitch investors that means you're telling  

  • them about a business you hope they want to invest  in. Have you ever seen the showShark Tank”? In  

  • each episode, several small business owners pitch  their businesses to a panel of investors hoping  

  • that someone will think their business is good  enough to invest in. When you invest in  

  • something, you're backing it. Listen to  how that verb, to back a company is used.

  • But forming the vegetables used to make  many meat alternatives emits gases as well.  

  • So Gates is also backing a company that's  created an entirely new food source.

  • If you back a company, you're investing in that  company. You're giving it money to help it grow  

  • and you hope to make money from that investment.

  • is also backing a company that's  created an entirely new food source.

  • So how does Gates decide what companies to backwhat companies to pitch to other investors.

  • So 15 years ago, Gates started  educating himself on climate change,  

  • bringing scientists and engineers to his office in Seattle for what he calls learning  

  • sessions. He also reads voraciously. Books  and binders full of scientific research.

  • He knows by educating himself by reading  voraciously. Voracious is an adjective  

  • that means having a huge appetite. A kid going  through a growth spurt might eat voraciously.  

  • But we also use it for books. He's a voracious  reader, always in a middle of several books.

  • He also reads voraciously. Books and  binders full of scientific research.

  • He describes new technologies  that he's helping fund.  

  • Here, he's talking about a new kind of nuclear powerplant.

  • Nuclear power can be done in a way  that none of those failures of the past  

  • would recur because just the  physics of how it's built.

  • Recur is a verb that means to come up again, to  occur again in an interval of time. For example,  

  • my online school, Rachel's  English Academy is a subscription.  

  • That means every month you pay. Unless you cancel  of course. It's a recurring payment. Gates says  

  • problems of the past would not  recur, would not happen again.

  • none of those failures of the past would recur

  • In the meantime, how is Gates solving the  problem of his own gigantic carbon footprint?

  • And so I'm offsetting my personal emissions.

  • Those are called carbon offset.

  • Right. You know, so it's causing $400  a ton, it's like seven million dollars.

  • So you're paying seven million dollars  a year to offset your carbon footprint?

  • Yup.

  • Offsetting and offset. Offset has a couple  of different meanings. Here it means  

  • a counterbalance. To counteract something  with an opposing force or effect. He puts  

  • all those carbon into the atmosphere by for  example, flying in a plane and he offsets that  

  • by doing things that reduce carbon in the  atmosphere by planting trees. Offset can also mean  

  • to bring something out of lineFor example, this mark is offset.

  • So you're paying seven million dollars  a year to offset your carbon footprint?

  • Yup.

  • Of course, most people can afford to offset  their carbon footprint. Where does that leave us?

  • It just seems overwhelming if every  aspect of our daily life has to change

  • It can seem overwhelming.

  • But you were optimistic.

  • Yeah. There are days when it looks very hard.  

  • If people think it's easy, they're wrong. If  people think it's impossible, they're wrong.

  • It's possible.

  • It's possible but it'll be the most  amazing thing mankind has ever done.

  • If something is overwhelming, that means there's  so much of something, you can't really deal with it

  • There's an overwhelming amount of sick people  needing care. The hospitals are overwhelmed. That  

  • happens driving Covid-19. Many hospitals  where overwhelmed. There were more patients  

  • than the hospitals could really handle. It's used  a lot with your emotions too or state of mind.  

  • I have so much work to do, I am overwhelmed. I'm  having problems starting any of my projects.  

  • In this case, it can be overwhelming. Thinking  about all the things we needed to do to change,  

  • to reduce carbon emissions. There  are so many things to change,  

  • it can be hard taking it all in and  figuring out what specifically to do.

  • It just seems overwhelming if every  aspect of our daily life has to change

  • It can seem overwhelming.

  • But you were optimistic.

  • Yeah.

  • If you're optimistic, you're hopeful  and confident about the future.  

  • In this case, Bill Gates does think that we can  do, what we need to do to stop global warming.

  • It's possible but it'll be the most  amazing thing mankind has ever done.

  • That's what it has to be.

  • Yeah, it's an all-out effort. You know, likeworld war but it's us against greenhouse gases.  

  • All-out means using all of one's strength  or resources. In an all-out effort,  

  • you use everything you have, every resource,  

  • you don't hold anything back. You don't  save anything or reserve anything.

  • It's an all-out effort. You know, like a world  war but it's us against greenhouse gases.

  • I appreciate the optimism that Bill  Gates has and the investment he's  

  • making by researching and backing companies  who are looking into far-flung ideas that may  

  • transform our future. I hope you learn  some new vocabulary and enjoyed this lesson  

  • learning English through interviewsthrough news. This is from the news show  

  • “60 Minutesand you can find the link to  the whole interview in the video description.

  • I make new videos on the  English language every Tuesday,  

  • please subscribe and keep your learning  right now with this video, I love having  

  • you as my student. That's it and thanks so  much for using Rachel's English.

Hi! I'm Rachel from Rachel's English and  today I'm going to teach you some of the  

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