英语单词大师：Talking Dictionaries on Web

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: we answer some questions from listeners.

RS: Asad in Bangladesh and Emmanuel in Ghana ask somewhat related questions. Asad would like advice about a dictionary or a Web site to consult for the correct pronunciation of English words. And Emmanuel would like to know the American pronunciation of two words in particular: these, T-H-E-S-E, and those, T-H-O-S-E.

AA: Well, we can direct both of you to free dictionaries on the Internet that provide audio files with many entries. For example, at bartleby, B-A-R-T-L-E-B-Y, dot com, here is how the American Heritage¹ Dictionary pronounces T-H-E-S-E.

(SOUND)AA: And here is how it pronounces T-H-O-S-E.

(SOUND)RS: Once again?

(SOUND)RS: And?

(SOUND)AA: Our next question comes from a Burmese listener, Rajiv, and it also involves the letters T and H. "When I say 'birthday,' do I need to blow air at the end of the first syllable²?"RS: The answer is: yes. BIRTH-day. And just to prove it, I hold my hand in front of my mouth -- BIRTH-day. And, yes, there was a puff³ of air at the end of the first syllable, enough to have blown out a birthday candle. Moving on to the next question, an Iranian ophthalmologist -- wait, that is the correct pronunciation, isn't it?

(SOUND)Anyway, an Iranian doctor, H. Hashemian, says: "We live in a complex of buildings we call here a "shahrak' meaning small town. What do you call it in American English?"AA: Well, a lot of people would call it a complex. But a couple of other terms that come to mind are "development" or "project." Generally there's a specific name. For example, Los Angeles has the Park La Brea Apartments.

These buildings were started in the early nineteen forties and have a total of more than four thousand apartments. We see on the Park La Brea Web site that the company that owns the property refers to it as a "complex" and a "gated community." Gated community is the term for a housing development with a wall or a fence around it.

RS: We're going to have some fun with this next question -- actually, a set of questions from Sampath Kumar in India. Let's see if you can fill in the blanks. First question: Someone who performs daring gymnastic feats⁴ is a __________?

AA: That's easy -- a gymnast.

RS: One who studies the evolution of mankind is __________?

AA: We're going to say, an evolutionary⁵ biologist.

RS: One who overhears⁶ the conversation of others is __________?

AA: An eavesdropper⁷.

RS: One who pretends to know a great deal about everything is __________?

AA: Well, the first term that comes to mind is a know-it-all.

RS: One who thinks of his own welfare and talks about himself is __________?

AA: Self-centered or conceited⁸.

RS: And, finally, one who talks in his or her sleep is __________?

AA: Is, is -- we didn't know! People who walk in their sleep are called sleepwalkers. That's a common term. Butwe've never heard anyone refer to "sleeptalkers." So we did a little research on the Internet.

RS: We found that the medical name for talking in your sleep is --AA: Somniloquy.

RS: Which means that a person who does this would be a --AA: Somniloquist. And in case you're wondering, somniloquy is spelled S-O-M-N-I-L-O-Q-U-Y.

RS: And that's WORDMASTER for this week. You can learn more about American English at our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is [email protected]. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

AA: And speaking of fancy words, we leave you with Lou Berryman and a song called "Lexical Dude."(MUSIC)

1 heritage   

n.传统，遗产，继承物

参考例句：

• The ancient buildings are part of the national heritage.这些古建筑是民族遗产的一部分。
• We Chinese have a great cultural heritage.我们中国人有伟大的文化遗产。

2 syllable   

n.音节；vt.分音节

参考例句：

• You put too much emphasis on the last syllable.你把最后一个音节读得太重。
• The stress on the last syllable is light.最后一个音节是轻音节。

3 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

4 feats   

功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He used to astound his friends with feats of physical endurance. 过去，他表现出来的惊人耐力常让朋友们大吃一惊。
• His heroic feats made him a legend in his own time. 他的英雄业绩使他成了他那个时代的传奇人物。

5 evolutionary   

adj.进化的；演化的，演变的；[生]进化论的

参考例句：

• Life has its own evolutionary process.生命有其自身的进化过程。
• These are fascinating questions to be resolved by the evolutionary studies of plants.这些十分吸引人的问题将在研究植物进化过程中得以解决。

6 overhears   

偶然听到( overhear的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• When a front line soldier overhears two Generalofficers conferring, he has fallen back too far. 如果一个火线士兵无意入耳到两个顾问在议论，他撤退退却的太遥了。
• That night Shi overhears an apparently one-sided conversation, as Xu's rage becomes despair. 当天夜晚，石二偷听到隔壁明显的谈话，而姓徐的由愤怒而绝望。

7 eavesdropper   

偷听者

参考例句：

• Now that there is one, the eavesdropper's days may be numbered. 既然现在有这样的设备了，偷窥者的好日子将屈指可数。
• In transit, this information is scrambled and unintelligible to any eavesdropper. 在传输过程，对该信息进行编码，使窃听者无法获知真正的内容。

8 conceited   

adj.自负的，骄傲自满的

参考例句：

• He could not bear that they should be so conceited.他们这样自高自大他受不了。
• I'm not as conceited as so many people seem to think.我不像很多人认为的那么自负。