标准美语发音的13个秘诀 CD 4 Track 10

 

Chapter 7. Tee Aitch      CD 4 Track 10

I'd like you to consider words as rocks for a moment. When a rock first rolls into the ocean, it is sharp and well defined. After tumbling about for a few millennia¹, it becomes round and smooth. A word goes through a similar process. When it first rolls into English,it may have a lot of sharp, well-defined vowels³ or consonants⁵ in it, but after rolling off of a few million tongues, it becomes round and smooth. This smoothing process occurs when a tense vowel² becomes reduced and when an unvoiced consonant⁴ becomes voiced. The most common words are the smoothest, the most reduced, the most often voiced. There are several very common words that are all voiced: this, that, the, those, them, they, their, there, then, than, though. The strong words such as thank, think, or thing, as well as long or unusual words such as thermometer or theologian, stay unvoiced.

The sound of the TH combination seems to exist only in English, Greek, and Castillian Spanish. Just as with most of the other consonants, there are two types—voiced and unvoiced. The voiced THis like a D, but instead of being in back of the teeth, it's 1/4 inch lower and forward, between the teeth. The unvoiced TH is like an S between the teeth. Mostpeople tend to replace the unvoiced TH with S or T and the voiced one with Z or D, so instead of thing, they say sing, or ting, and instead of that, they say zat or dat.

To pronounce TH correctly, think of a snake's tongue. You don't want to take a big relaxed tongue, throw it out of your mouth for a long distance and leave it out there for a long time. Make only a very quick, sharp little movement. Keep your tongue's tip very tense. It darts⁶ out between your teeth and snaps back very quickly—thing, that, this. The tongue's position for the unvoiced TH is similar to that of S, but for TH the tongue is extended through the teeth, instead of hissing⁷ behind the back of the teeth. The voiced TH is like a D except that the tongue is placed between the teeth, or even pressed behind the teeth. Now we're ready for some practice.

1 millennia   

n.一千年，千禧年

参考例句：

• For two millennia, exogamy was a major transgression for Jews. 两千年来，异族通婚一直是犹太人的一大禁忌。
• In the course of millennia, the dinosaurs died out. 在几千年的时间里，恐龙逐渐死绝了。

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 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

4 consonant   

n.辅音；adj.[音]符合的

参考例句：

• The quality of this suit isn't quite consonant with its price.这套衣服的质量和价钱不相称。
• These are common consonant clusters at the beginning of words.这些单词的开头有相同辅音组合。

5 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》

6 darts   

n.掷飞镖游戏；飞镖( dart的名词复数 )；急驰，飞奔v.投掷，投射( dart的第三人称单数 )；向前冲，飞奔

参考例句：

• His darts trophy takes pride of place on the mantelpiece. 他将掷镖奖杯放在壁炉顶上最显著的地方。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I never saw so many darts in a bodice! 我从没见过紧身胸衣上纳了这么多的缝褶！ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 hissing   

n. 发嘶嘶声, 蔑视 动词hiss的现在分词形式

参考例句：

• The steam escaped with a loud hissing noise. 蒸汽大声地嘶嘶冒了出来。
• His ears were still hissing with the rustle of the leaves. 他耳朵里还听得萨萨萨的声音和屑索屑索的怪声。 来自汉英文学 - 春蚕