提高聽力的金鑰匙-注意重音和語調(diào)

Say this sentence aloud and count how many seconds it takes.

大聲的朗讀這個(gè)句子，看看你花了多長時(shí)間:

The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.

Time required? Probably about 5 seconds. Now, try speaking this sentence aloud.

多久？5秒鐘？現(xiàn)在試著大聲朗讀這個(gè)句子：

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.

Time required? Probably about 5 seconds.

多少時(shí)間？大約5秒鐘.

可是第一個(gè)句子比第二個(gè)句子短哦。

This simple exercise makes a very important point about how we speak and use English. Namely, English is considered a stressed language while many other languages are considered syllabic. What does that mean? It means that, in English, we give stress to certain words while other words are quickly spoken (some students say eaten!). In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length).

這個(gè)簡單的例子說明了我們是怎樣說和使用英語的。在英語中，一些詞讀的很快，一些詞會(huì)重讀。在法語和意大利語中，每一個(gè)音節(jié)都同樣重要，沒有輕重之分，但是每個(gè)音節(jié)長度不同。

Many speakers of syllabic languages don't understand why we quickly speak, or swallow, a number of words in a sentence. In syllabic languages each syllable has equal importance, and therefore equal time is needed. English however, spends more time on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, less important, words.

講這些語言的人就不明白一個(gè)句子中的一些詞為什么需要快讀，或者慢下來。對(duì)這類語言來說，每個(gè)音節(jié)都同樣重要，所以需要同樣的時(shí)間。但是，英語在一些特別的需要重讀的詞上花的時(shí)間多些，一些不重要的詞就快速略過。

Let's look at a simple example: the modal verb "can". When we use the positive form of "can" we quickly glide over the can and it is hardly pronounced.

On the other hand, when we use the negative form "can't" we tend to stress the fact that it is the negative form by also stressing "can't".

As you can see from the above example the sentence, "They can't come on Friday" is longer than "They can come on Friday" because both the modal "can't" and the verb "come" are stressed.

舉一個(gè)簡單的例子。情態(tài)動(dòng)詞can。在我們需要強(qiáng)調(diào)can的肯定意義的時(shí)候就會(huì)快速略過，發(fā)音不明顯?？墒?，當(dāng)你要用can的否定形式的時(shí)候，我們就會(huì)重點(diǎn)強(qiáng)調(diào)"不能"這個(gè)事實(shí)，也就是"can't"

So, what does this mean for my speaking skills?

Well, first of all, you need to understand which words we generally stress and which we do not stress. Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDSsuch as

Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter

(most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct

Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting

Adverbs e.g. often, carefully

Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDSsuch as

Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few

Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were

Prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite

Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as

Pronouns e.g. they, she, us

那么，什么詞需要重讀 ，什么詞不需要呢？對(duì)于英語聽力來說，你能正確的說出來的時(shí)候才會(huì)聽的比較準(zhǔn)確。

一般名詞，主要的動(dòng)詞，形容詞，副詞需要重讀。

不需要重讀的詞有：冠詞，助動(dòng)詞，介詞，連詞，代詞。

Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are 5 stressedwords in each sentence. From this example, you can see that you needn't worry about pronouncing every word clearly to be understood (we native speakers certainly don't). You should however, concentrate on pronouncing the stressed words clearly.

現(xiàn)在回到我們初的那個(gè)例子。盡管第二個(gè)句子比第一個(gè)長大約30%，但是讀起來卻花了同樣的時(shí)間。因?yàn)樵谶@2個(gè)句子中都有5個(gè)重音。從這個(gè)例子中你可以看出，你不需要把每個(gè)單詞都發(fā)音準(zhǔn)確。把重音發(fā)音清楚就可以了。

Now, do some listening comprehension or go speak to your native English speaking friends and listen to how we concentrate on the stressed words rather than giving importance to each syllable. You will soon find that you can understand and communicate more because you begin to listen for (and use in speaking) stressed words. All those words that you thought you didn't understand are really not crucial for understanding the sense or making yourself understood. Stressed words are the key to excellent pronunciation and understanding of English.