英文短篇故事（纽约）224 They Understand Her Better Now

 　　English was Kyla's second language. She had pronunciation problems. She had a problem with some vowels¹. She had a problem with some consonants². She had a problem with the "ar" sound. She said "cah" instead of "car." Kyla's coworkers never seemed to understand her. “Can you please help me?” Kyla asked Susan one day. Susan ignored her. Kyla asked again. Susan said, "What? I don't understand you." Kyla asked again. Susan said, "Oh, now I understand! No, I can't help you. I'm busy." When Kyla asked other coworkers for help, their responses were similar. Of course, Kyla stopped asking her coworkers for help. She learned³ to do everything by herself. In fact, she became very good at her job. In time, her coworkers began asking Kyla for help. One day, Kyla helped Susan. Susan understood everything that Kyla said. Not once did Susan say "What?" or "I don't understand you."

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 consonants   

n.辅音，子音( consonant的名词复数 )；辅音字母

参考例句：

• Consonants are frequently assimilated to neighboring consonants. 辅音往往被其邻近的辅音同化。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Vowels possess greater sonority than consonants. 元音比辅音响亮。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。