【英语听和读】莱昂纳多

 Callum: Hello, I'm Callum Robertson and this is Entertainment. Dominating 1 the movie

scene at the moment is the upcoming Oscars. In the programme today we
feature one of the Oscar nominees 2, Leonardo DiCaprio who has been
nominated 3 for his role in the film Blood Diamond.
In the programme we'll hear part of an interview with Leonardo DiCaprio. We
hear him describing how he prepared for the role and also we take a close look
at the language he uses. But first a little bit about the background to the film
'Blood Diamond.'
In a number of civil wars in Africa the sale of diamonds has been used to pay
for the conflict. These diamonds are known as Conflict diamonds, war
diamonds or blood diamonds and this is where the film gets its name.
 
The film is about the attempts of the character played by DiCaprio, to find a
particular diamond during the civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s.
DiCaprio's character is not a hero or a good guy; he's involved in trading
conflict diamonds, he's a mercenary, or a soldier for hire, also known as a
soldier of fortune. His character comes from a country which is now known as
Zimbabwe and he has a very distinct 4 accent. It was not only the accent that
DiCaprio had to learn about, but also the attitude, how did he learn about the
kind of person his character was and firstly, how did he feel about the accent? 
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Leonardo DiCaprio
It was definitely 6 the most difficult that I've ever had to take on, extremely foreign to me, not
only the accent but you know, the slang 7, the attitude of some of these South African
mercenaries in particular, soldiers of fortune. I got to meet some of these real guys and got to
go to Africa and hear first hand accounts of what they've seen in battle and politically their
attitudes about Africa. That's why it was fundamentally important for me to go to Africa as
early as I possibly could, because I couldn't have done that research at home just by reading or
by, you know, surfing the net, you know, you have to kind of immerse 8 yourself in that
environment.
Callum: The accent he said was the most difficult that he's ever had to do and he
learned 9 about his character by going to Africa and meeting mercenaries.
Now let's listen again to Leonardo DiCaprio talking about his research for his
role in Blood Diamond. This time I'll break it down and look in more details at
some of the language he uses.
Leonardo DiCaprio
It was definitely the most difficult that I've ever had to take on,
Callum: The accent was difficult to take on, to take on, something that you take on is a
responsibility or job you accept.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Extremely foreign to me
Callum: If something is 'foreign' to you it means that it is not something that you are
familiar with, it's very different from the things that you experience in
everyday life. Apart from the accent, what else did DiCaprio find foreign? 
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Leonardo DiCaprio
not only the accent but you know, the slang, the attitude of some of these South African
mercenaries in particular, soldiers of fortune.
Callum: As well as the accent he found the slang and the attitude of the mercenaries
foreign. The way they view life and world was completely different from his
views.
Leonardo DiCaprio
I got to meet some of these real guys and got to go to Africa and hear first hand accounts of
what they've seen in battle and politically their attitudes about Africa.
Callum: In this section he uses the same structure twice, got to, he got to meet some
mercenaries and he got to go to Africa. Get has many many meanings and here,
to get to do something means to have the opportunity to do something. He was
able to hear first-hand accounts of their experiences. A first hand account is
information about something that has happened which you hear directly from
someone who was actually there.
Leonardo DiCaprio
That's why it was fundamentally important for me to go to Africa as early as I possibly could,
Callum: It was fundamentally important. Fundamentally – he uses this adverb to
emphasise 10 just how important it was to go to Africa, it was very very important.
Why was it so important?
Leonardo DiCaprio
because I couldn't have done that research at home just by reading or by, you know, searching
the net, you know, you have to kind of immerse yourself in that environment. 
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Callum: It was important because he learnt things that he couldn't have learnt by
reading or looking on the internet. He had to immerse himself in that
environment, immerse himself. If you immerse yourself in something you
become completely involved in it, you live it and breathe it.
Well, we'll find out on February 25th
whether Leonardo DiCaprio's research has
paid off when the Oscar awards are announced.
That's all from this edition of Entertainment.