英语听力精选进阶版 7262（在线收听）

全球都在学英语，而且有越来越多的人出国学习，爱尔兰就是其中之一。该国的语言学校说尽管经济不景气，可是他们的生意却越来越兴隆。

Oliver Lyons runs the Swan Institute, which has been a fixture on Dublin's main shopping street for the past decade. His school attracts around 4,000 students a year from Europe and beyond, with more and more coming from the Middle East and China.

This year, many schools like Oliver's are reporting extra business, due, they think, to the Olympics in London. Some even suggest that reports of higher costs for accommodation and flights into the UK might have led more students to choose Ireland. And the Irish accent, rather than being viewed as a handicap, is actually quite sought after by students, Oliver says: "Irish English tends to be pretty clear in its pronunciation, easier to actually study. People have said that, for example, in the UK, in advertising agencies, the Irish accent is considered attractive because it's got no particular class connotation, and it's a warm, friendly inflection and tone. I think people find that attractive."

And how do you tell if someone's studied English here or not? The clue is in what Oliver tells me is the rhotic ‘r’:

"In Irish English when we speak we simply put the 'r' - we pronounce it when it's actually there, when it's not there, we don't pronounce it."

"So give me an example - a difference between …"

"Law. When we say 'the law', we don't say 'the law-r'."

So next time you meet an English language student, listen out for that 'r'. Apparently, it's a giveaway.

Quiz 听力测试

Has the economic downturn reduced the number of students going to Ireland to learn English?

No. There are more and more students going to Ireland to study.

Why do some people prefer to learn Irish Engilsh?

''Irish English tends to be pretty clear in its pronunciation, easier to actually study''.

Can you tell an Irish speaker’s social status from the way he/she speaks?

No. Irish English is said to have no particular class connotation, according to Oliver Lyons.

What does the word 'giveaway' mean?

It means something that makes it very easy to guess.

Glossary 词汇表

A fixture on 一个固定的部分

beyond 更远的/...之外的

handicap 弱点

sought after 寻求，追求

class connotation 社会等级内涵

inflection 音调变化

tone 语气/音调

clue 线索

the rhotic 'r' （英语方言）有r儿音的。 在爱尔兰英语里，字母 'r' 一般都要读出'r'音来，这一点同英语不一样 (比如 butter, hard, world)

it's a giveaway 无意中泄露的事(或物)