美式英语正音训练第42期:Exercise 1-55~56

 　　Exercise 1-55: Crossing Out Reduced Sounds

　　Pause the CD and cross out any sound that is not clearly pronounced, including to, for, and, that, than, the, a, the soft ,

　　and unstressed syllables¹ that do not have strong vowel² sounds.

　　Exercise 1-56: Reading Reduced Sounds

　　Repeat the paragraph after me.

　　Although you're getting rid of the vowel sounds, you want to maintain a strong intonation³ and let the sounds flow together.

　　For the first reading of this paragraph, it is helpful to keep your teeth clenched⁴ together to reduce excess jaw⁵ and lip movement. Let's begin.

　　Hello, my name is '__.

　　I'm taking American Accent Training.

　　There's a lot to learn,

　　but I hope to make it as enjoyable as possible.

　　I should pick up on the American intonation pattern pretty easily,

　　although the only way to get it is to practice all of the time.

　　I use the up and down, or peaks and valleys, intonation more than I used to.

　　I've been paying attention to pitch, too.

　　It's like walking down a staircase.

　　I've been talking to a lot of Americans lately,

　　and they tell me that I'm easier to understand.

　　Anyway, I could go on and on,

　　but the important thing is

　　to listen well and sound good.

　　Well, what do you think?

　　Do I?

1 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

2 vowel   

n.元音；元音字母

参考例句：

• A long vowel is a long sound as in the word"shoe ".长元音即如“shoe” 一词中的长音。
• The vowel in words like 'my' and 'thigh' is not very difficult.单词my和thigh中的元音并不难发。

3 intonation   

n.语调，声调；发声

参考例句：

• The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
• Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。

4 clenched   

v.紧握，抓紧，咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
• She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上，以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 jaw   

n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训

参考例句：

• He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
• A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。