大家好，我是Gareth Jameson。我是www.londonvoicelessons.com的演员和发音指导。这里有一些关于练习发音的小建议。

Now you might want to do an American accent because you're in a play, or a film, or maybe you want to impress your friends, or maybe you want to try and fit in better in the USA. Whatever the reason, playing with accents is a great way to stretch your voice and exercise your speech.

现在，你也许想要发美式口音，因为你要演一出戏或电影，或者也许是为了给朋友留下深刻印象，也可能是为了更好的适应美国生活。无论是什么原因，练习口音是锻炼你发音和说话能力的很好的方式。

Now the key to doing any accent is to isolate the specific sounds that occur in that accent. Today I can only give you a brief overview of some of these sounds, of course the USA is huge and there are many different accents, so we're going to go for one that's called "General American", and we'll start with the sound Americans use for the letter "r". Now listen to this sentence: "Are there more birds?" "Are there more birds." 

掌握任何口音的关键都是分离出它其中特有的音。今天我只能带你简单地看看这些发音的概况，当然美国非常大，拥有许多不同的口音，所以我们这次学习的是“普通美式口音”，首先从美国人对字母“r”的发音开始。现在请听这个句子：“Are there more birds?”“Are there more birds.”

Notice that every time there's a letter "r", it's pronounced. And that's a good general rule for American. Every letter "r" in the word gets pronounced.

注意每当出现一个字母“r”，它都是发音的。这是一个很常见的美式口音的特点。单词中每个字母“r”都是发音的。

"Are there more birds?" Also, it's a very dark sound. Might help you to think about this "r" sound coming from right at the back of the throat, back here. "Are there more birds?" Are there more birds?”

同样，这是个很低沉的发音，你可能能感觉到这个“r”的发音发自于嗓子的后面，就在这后面。“Are there more birds?”

Now our next sound is the vowel used in "cot", like where a baby sleeps, and "caught", when you catch hold of something."Cot" and "caught". They're different sounds in the British English accent, "cot" and "caught", but for most Americans, they're the same. "Cot" and "caught".

我们下一个发音是“cot”里的元音，（cot）就是婴儿睡的摇床，还有“caught”里的元音，（caught）就是你抓住什么东西。“cot”和“caught”，它们在英式口音里是完全不同的发音，但是对美国人而言，它们是一样的。

Have a listen to this: "He got caught by the long arm of the law." "He got caught by the long arm of the law." So that "got" and "caught" are the same, and "long" and "law" have the same sound in the middle.

听听这个：“He got caught by the long arm of the law.”He got caught by the long arm of the law.所以“got”和“caught”，“long”和“law”中间的发音都是一样的。

Finally, let's listen to the "t" and "d" sounds for Americans. We say them quite precisely, like this: "butter", "letter". But they're quite often flapped for Americans so that there's not much difference between the "t" and the "d". "Butter", "letter", "master". "Witty banter about the Star-Spangled banner."

最后，让我们来听听美国人“t”和“d”的发音。我们（英式口音）发音相当精确，比如“butter”，“letter”。但是美国人通常很快带过这个音，所以“t”和“d”的发音没什么区别。“butter”，“letter”，“master”。

Listen to this sentence: "Witty banter about the Star-Spangled banner." So there's no difference between "banter" and "banner", they're both "banner". And "the medal for bravery was made of metal." "The medal for bravery was made of metal." So that's "medal" and "metal" both become "medal".听听这句句子：“Witty banter about the Star-Spangled banner.”“Witty banter about the Star-Spangled banner.”

所以“banter”和“banner”之间没什么不同，都是“banner”。同样，“the medal for bravery was made of metal.”“the medal for bravery was made of metal.”“medal”和“metal”都变成了“medal”。