美式英语正音训练第81期:音质

 　　Voice Quality

　　In the next chapter, we'll be working on a sound that is produced deep in the throat

　　the American R.

　　In Chapter 3, we studied two tense vowels¹, and ,

　　and the completely neutral schwa,

　　The sound has a tendency to sound a little nasal all on its own,N

　　and when other vowels are nasalized as well,

　　it puts your whole voice in the wrong place.

　　This is an opportune² moment, then, to go into the quality of your voice.

　　In my observation, when people speak a foreign language,

　　they tense up their throat, so their whole communication style sounds forced,

　　pinched, strained,

　　artificial, or nasal.

　　The foreign speaker's voice is also generally higher pitched

　　than would be considered desirable.

　　To practice the difference between high pitch and lower pitch,

　　work on uh-oh.

　　In addition to pitch, this exercise will let you discover the difference between a tinny, nasal tone

　　and a deep, rich, mellifluous³, basso profundo tone.

　　The tilda is used to indicate a nasal sound.

1 vowels   

n.元音，元音字母( vowel的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Note the various sounds of vowels followed by r. 注意r跟随的各种元音的发音。 来自超越目标英语 第3册

2 opportune   

adj.合适的，适当的

参考例句：

• Her arrival was very opportune.她来得非常及时。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

3 mellifluous   

adj.（音乐等）柔美流畅的

参考例句：

• Soon the room is filled with Bates' mellifluous tones.很快，房间里便充满了贝茨动听的声音。
• Her voice was distinctive,soft and mellifluous.她的嗓音甜美，清脆而柔和。