标准美语发音的13个秘诀 CD 1 Track 4

 

Chapter 1 American Intonation¹ 

The American Speech Music                                         CD 1 Track 4 

What to Do with Your Mouth to Sound American 

One of the main differences between the way an American talks and the way the rest of the world talks is that we don't really move  our lips. (So, when an American says, "Read my lips!" what does he really  mean?) We create most of our sounds in the throat, using our tongue very actively². If you hold your fingers over your lips or clench³ your jaws⁴ when you practice speaking American English, you will find yourself much closer to native-sounding speech than if you  try to pronounce every ... single ... sound ... very ... carefully. 

If you can relate American English  to music, remember that the indigenous⁵ music is jazz. Listen to their speech music, and you will hear that Americans have a melodic⁶, jazzy way of producing sounds. Imagine the sound  of a cello⁷ when you say, Beddy bada bida beader budder (Betty bought a bit of better butter) and you'll be close to the native way of saying it. 

Because most Americans came from somewhere  else, American Englis h reflects the accent contributions of many lands. The speech music has  become much more exaggerated than British English, developing a strong and distinctive⁸ intona tion. If you use this intonation, not only will you be easier to understand, but you will sound much  more confident, dynamic, and persuasive⁹.  

Intonation, or speech music, is the sound that you  hear when a conversation  is too far away to be clearly audible but close enough for you to tell  the nationality of the speakers. The American intonation  dictates  liaisons and pronunciation, and it  indicates  mood and meaning. Without intonation, your speech would be fl at, mechanical, and very conf using for your listener. What  is  the American intonation pattern? How is it different from other languages?  Foa egzampuru, eefu you hea ah Jahpahneezu pahsohn speakingu Ingurishu, the sound would be ve ry choppy, mechanical, and unemotional to an American. Za  sem vey vis Cheuman pipples, it sounds too stiff.  A mahn frohm Paree ohn zee ahzer ahnd, eez intonashon goes  up at zee end ov evree sentence,  and has such a strong intonation that he sounds romantic and highly emotional, but this may not be appropriate for a lecture or a business meeting in English. 

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+ Do not speak word by word.  

If you speak word by wo rd, as many people who learned "p rinted" English  do, you'll end up sounding mechanical and foreign. You may have  noticed the same thing happens in your own language: When someone reads a sp eech, even a native speaker, it  sounds stiff and stilted¹⁰, quite

different from a normal  conversational tone. 

+ Connect words to  form sound groups.  

This is where you're going  to start doing something  completely different  than what you have done in your previous English studies. This part is the most di fficult for many people because it goes against everything they've been taught. Instead of thinking of each word as a unit, think of sound units.  These sound units may or may not correspond to a word written on a page. Native speakers don't say  Bob is on the phone,  but say [bäbizän the foun]. S ound units make a sentence flow smoothly¹¹, like peanut butter— never really  ending and never really starting, just flowingalong. Even chunky peanut butter is acceptable. So long as you don't try to put plain peanuts directly onto your bread, you'll be OK. 

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+ Use staircase intonation. 

Let those sound groups floating on the wavy¹² river  in the figure flow do wnhill and you'll get the staircase. Staircase intonation not only give s you that American s ound, it also makes you sound much more confident. Not every American uses  the downward staircase. A certain segment of the population uses rising staircases—generally, teenagers on their way to a shopping mall: "Hi, my name is Tiffany. I live in La Canada. I'm on the pep squad¹³." 

What Exactly Is Staircase Intonation? 

In saying your words, imagine that they come out as if they  were bounding lightly down a flight of stairs. Every so often, one jumps up to anothe r level, and then starts down again. Americans tend to stretch out their sounds longer than you may think is natural. So to le ngthen your vowel¹⁴ sounds, put them on two stairsteps instead of just one.  

We're here.  I

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The sound of an American speaking a foreign language is very distinctive, because we double sounds that should be single. For example, in Japanese or Spanish, the word  no is, to our ear, clipped or abbreviated¹⁵. 

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When you have a word ending in an  unvoiced consonant—one that you "whisper" (t, k, s, x, f, sh)—you will notice that the prece ding vowel is said quite quick ly, and on a single stairstep.When a word ends in a vowel or a voiced consonant—one that you "say" (b, d, g, z, v, zh, j), the preceding vowel is said more slowly, and on a double stairstep.  

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There are two main consequen ces of not doubling  the second category of  words: Either your listener will hear the wrong word, or  even worse, you will always sound upset.  

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Consider that the words  curt¹⁶, short, terse¹⁷, abrupt¹⁸, and  clipped all literally¹⁹ mean short.  When applied to a person or to language, they take on the meaning of  upset  or rude.  For example, in the expressions  "His curt reply ...,"  "Her terse response...''  or "He was very short with me"  all indicate a 

less than sunny situation. 

Three Ways to Make Intonation 

About this time, you're coming to the point where you may be wondering, what exactly are themechanics of intonation? What changes when you go to the top of the staircase or when you putstress on a word? There are three ways to stress a word. 

+ The first way is to just get louder  or raise the volume. This is not  a very sophisticated way of doingit, but it will definitely command attention.  

+ The second way is to  streeeeetch  the word out or lengthen²⁰ the  word that you want to draw attention to (which sounds very insinuating).  

+ The third way, which is the  most refined, is to change pitch.  Although pausing just before changing the pitch is effective, you don't want to  do it every time, because then it becomes an obvious technique. However, it will make your audience stop and listen because they think you're going to say something interesting. 

1 intonation   

n.语调，声调；发声

参考例句：

• The teacher checks for pronunciation and intonation.老师在检查发音和语调。
• Questions are spoken with a rising intonation.疑问句是以升调说出来的。

2 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

3 clench   

vt.捏紧（拳头等），咬紧（牙齿等），紧紧握住

参考例句：

• I clenched the arms of my chair.我死死抓住椅子扶手。
• Slowly,he released his breath through clenched teeth.他从紧咬的牙缝间慢慢地舒了口气。

4 jaws   

n.口部；嘴

参考例句：

• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
• The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。

5 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

6 melodic   

adj.有旋律的，调子美妙的

参考例句：

• His voice had a rich melodic quality.他的音色浑厚而优美。
• He spoke with a soft husky voice in a melodic accent.他微微沙哑的声音带着一种悠扬的口音。

7 cello   

n.大提琴

参考例句：

• The cello is a member of the violin family.大提琴是提琴家族的一员。
• She plays a melodious cello.她拉着一手悦耳的大提琴。

8 distinctive   

adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的

参考例句：

• She has a very distinctive way of walking.她走路的样子与别人很不相同。
• This bird has several distinctive features.这个鸟具有几种突出的特征。

9 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

10 stilted   

adj.虚饰的；夸张的

参考例句：

• All too soon the stilted conversation ran out.很快这种做作的交谈就结束了。
• His delivery was stilted and occasionally stumbling.他的发言很生硬，有时还打结巴。

11 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

12 wavy   

adj.有波浪的，多浪的，波浪状的，波动的，不稳定的

参考例句：

• She drew a wavy line under the word.她在这个词的下面画了一条波纹线。
• His wavy hair was too long and flopped just beneath his brow.他的波浪式头发太长了，正好垂在他的眉毛下。

13 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

14 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。

15 abbreviated   

adj. 简短的，省略的 动词abbreviate的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He abbreviated so much that it was hard to understand his article. 他的文章缩写词使用太多，令人费解。
• The United States of America is commonly abbreviated to U.S.A.. 美利坚合众国常被缩略为U.S.A.。

16 curt   

adj.简短的，草率的

参考例句：

• He gave me an extremely curt answer.他对我作了极为草率的答复。
• He rapped out a series of curt commands.他大声发出了一连串简短的命令。

17 terse   

adj.(说话，文笔)精炼的，简明的

参考例句：

• Her reply about the matter was terse.她对此事的答复简明扼要。
• The president issued a terse statement denying the charges.总统发表了一份简短的声明，否认那些指控。

18 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

19 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

20 lengthen   

vt.使伸长，延长

参考例句：

• He asked the tailor to lengthen his coat.他请裁缝把他的外衣放长些。
• The teacher told her to lengthen her paper out.老师让她把论文加长。