美语听力与发音技巧 listen 1

美语听力与发音技巧 第1期

Welcome to Daily tips on Learning English. Today's tip is on distinguishing “can” and “cannot” in spoken American English.

“Cannot” is usually contracted to “can't”. So many learners of English assume that in order to distinguish between “can” and “can't”, one must listen for the final “t” sound /t/. And when speaking, one must pronounce final ‘t’ sound /t/ clearly. However, this is not in fact how native speakers distinguish “can” and “can't”. People do not say ‘I `can drive a car, but I can’t drive a motorcycle.’ People say ‘I can `drive a car', but I `can't drive a motorcycle.’ The difference between “can” and “can't” is in stress. “Can” is not stressed, the verb after it is. “Can't” is stressed. The verb after it is not.

Also since ‘can’ is not stressed, the vowel¹ is reduced to /a/, so “can” is actually pronounced “can”. Listen to another example. “I `can't go on Saturday, but I can `go on Sunday.” Did you hear the 't' sound? Did you notice the difference words being stressed? Listening again. “I `can't go on Saturday, but I can `go on Sunday.” If you want to understand whether someone is saying he can or can't do something, you have to be listening for a stressed “can't” or a verb stressed after “can”. What does this mean? “I can `speak Japanese, but I `can't speak Taiwanese.” That's right, I can speak Japanese, but I cannot speak Taiwanese. When you are speaking it is very important that you follow this rule too. When learners of English say I `can help you, native speakers often unsure what is meant because of improper<sup>2</sup> stress. So remember, you can stress “can't”, but you `can't stress “can”.

This has been today's tip on learning English. Tune³ in tomorrow for another tip.

1 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。

2 improper   

adj.不适当的，不合适的，不正确的，不合礼仪的

参考例句：

• Short trousers are improper at a dance.舞会上穿短裤不成体统。
• Laughing and joking are improper at a funeral.葬礼时大笑和开玩笑是不合适的。

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。