手把手教你学口语02

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on how to distinguish the numbers 13, 30, 14, 40 ,15, 50,and so on.

There’s often a lot of confusion when people use these words. People often have to ask, “Did you say 16 or 60?” If you look at the sounds used in this pairs of words, you will notice that the only difference is in the final “n” sound “n” in the “-teen” words. Do people listen for this sound to tell them which word has been said? Do people say this sound loudly and clearly so that people will know which word they are saying? Native speakers don’t.

They use different stress patterns to distinguish the words. In the “-teen” words, it’s the last syllable¹ which is stressed. In the numbers 30, 40, 50 and so on, it’s the first syllable which is stressed. Also, when a syllable is stressed, that syllable’s vowel² sound is lengthened³, and when a syllable isn’t stressed, the vowel is shorter.

Listen to me say the words, and notice the different syllables⁴ being stressed. 13, 30, 14, 40, 15, 50, 16, 60. Now listen to the length of vowels⁵ in the different syllables. I will exaggerate them first so it’s easier to notice. 13, 30, 14, 40, 15, 50. Now I will say them naturally. 13, 30, 14, 40, 15, 50, 16, 60, 17, 70, 18, 80, 19, 90. When you say these words, give specially⁶ care to stressing the right syllable, and to the length of the vowel sound in the stressed syllable. This has been today’s tip on learning English. Tune⁷ in tomorrow for another tip.

1 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。

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 lengthened   

（时间或空间）延长，伸长( lengthen的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The afternoon shadows lengthened. 下午影子渐渐变长了。
• He wanted to have his coat lengthened a bit. 他要把上衣放长一些。

4 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

5 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

6 specially   

adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地

参考例句：

• They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
• The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。

7 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。