英语学习者最应模仿大西洋中部口音

 　　The Transatlantic accent, also called a Mid-Atlantic accent, is a way of speaking English that is halfway¹ between American and British. It makes you sound like you have a good education but no one can tell quite where you are from. You hear it in old Hollywood² films from the 1930s and 1940s. It is the accent of Cary Grant³, Katherine Hepburn and (at least in some films) God。

　　大西洋彼岸的口音，或者说大西洋中部口音，是一种介于英音和美音之间的口音。拥有这种口音的人给人以受过良好教育的印象，但就是叫人猜不出他到底从哪里来。上个世纪三十年代到四十年代，好莱坞电影里常常能听到这种口音，像加里·格兰特、凯瑟琳·赫本，还有上帝都是这个腔调(至少某些电影里面是这样)。

　　There is no town in the world where people grow up speaking English that way. Instead you get the accent in one of three ways:

　　世界上没有哪个地方的人从小就有这种口音的，除非通过以下三种途径：

　　Learn the accent on purpose (actors used to do that)。

　　有意去学(演员都是这样做的)

　　Grow up or live on both sides of the Atlantic (but that can lead to even stranger accents, like those of Madonna)。

　　在大西洋两岸长大或生活(不过这可能导致更加奇怪的口音，就像麦当娜那样)

　　Pick it up at a top boarding school in America before the 1960s。

　　在上世纪六十年代前美国高等寄宿学校里学会这种口音。

　　The accent comes from American boarding schools in New England where students were taught to speak English in more of an RP(Received Pronunciation)or high-class British way.In the 1930s and 1940s it was seen as a good accent to use in film and theatre since it sounded universal⁴ and not from any particular part of the world. That makes it a good accent for God and creatures from outer space. You do not hear it much any more because people have grown used to the general American accent, thanks in part to Humphrey Bogart and the extremely⁵ Middle American John Wayne。

　　新英格兰的寄宿学校中，学生们曾被要求模仿标准发音或上层英国人的英式发音，由此诞生了这种中大西洋口音。上世纪三十年代和四十年代，由于人们觉得这种口音很大众化，所以电影和戏剧表演里普遍采取这样的发音。上帝和外太空生物很适合用这种口音讲话。现在我们不大能听到这种口音了，因为亨弗莱·鲍嘉(1899-1957，美国知名男演员)和典型美国中部出身的约翰·韦恩的出现，大家逐渐习惯了更加普遍的美式发音。

　　Transatlantic English goes something like this:

　　中大西洋口音的特征是：

　　Start with a mainstream⁶ American accent。

　　从主流美音入手

　　Drop your r’s at the end of words, like in “fear” and “winner”。

　　去掉单词末尾的卷舌音，如fear和winter

　　Say all your t’s as t’s not d’s (like in “water” and “butter”)。

　　清音t不要发成浊音d(美音的一个特征就是清音t会发得有点像 d，有时候介于t和d之间)

　　Use RP (British) vowels⁷. So “dance” becomes “dahns”。

　　参照标准发音(英式)里元音的发音，dance读成dahns(具体怎么发音小编也不是很清楚哈，应该是像英国人那样吧……)

　　If you start from a British accent the rules are different. It is an Americanized RP accent。

　　如果是在英音的基础上学习，步骤就不一样了。中大西洋口音其实是一种美国化的标准发音。

　　It is a very particular accent and not just any sort of mix between British and American. There is even a book, now out of print, called “Teach Yourself Transatlantic: Theatre Speech for Actors” (1986) by Robert L. Hobbs。

　　这是一种相当独特的口音，不仅仅是英音和美音的混合。1986年Robert L. Hobbs甚至写过一本书，《学会中大西洋口音：演员的专用口音》，现在已经绝版了。

　　It is a hard accent to do – people will laugh at you if you do not get it right. So it takes plenty of practice. But for the British it is an easier accent to master than a general American one。

　　这种口音很难学——如果你没抓住要领，是会被人嘲笑的。所以需要多多联系。不过对于英国人来说，掌握它比掌握美音要容易。

　　It is a good accent for those foreign to English, strangely enough: since no one grows up speaking it, you will not sound to anyone like you have a foreign accent!Among those who speak with a Transatlantic accent or something close to it: Franklin Roosevelt and most British actors who try to sound American。

　　奇怪的是，母语非英语的人学这种口音相当有利：因为没人一生下来就是这种口音，所以听起来也没有“洋腔洋调”。有这种口音的人包括富兰克林·罗斯福，以及那些想模仿美国人的英国演员。

1 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

2 Hollywood   

n.好莱坞；美国电影业

参考例句：

• She dreamed of becoming a Hollywood screen goddess.她梦想成为好莱坞的银幕女神。
• The film has a Hollywood happy ending.那部电影有一个好莱坞式的美满结局。

3 grant   

vt.同意给予，授予，承认；n.拨款；补助款

参考例句：

• If you grant my request, you will earn my thanks.如果你答应我的要求，就会得到我的感谢。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

4 universal   

adj.宇宙的，全世界的；普遍的，一般的；通用的，万能的

参考例句：

• First of all we should make primary education universal.首先我们应普及初等教育。
• Climate change is a universal problem.气候变化是个世界性的问题。

5 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

6 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

7 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