Pause the CD and cross out any sound that is not clearly pronounced, including to, for, and, that, than, the, a, the soft ,

　　and unstressed syllables that do not have strong vowel sounds.

　　Exercise 1-56: Reading Reduced Sounds

　　Repeat the paragraph after me.

　　Although you're getting rid of the vowel sounds, you want to maintain a strong intonation and let the sounds flow together.

　　For the first reading of this paragraph, it is helpful to keep your teeth clenched together to reduce excess jaw and lip movement. Let's begin.

　　Hello, my name is '__.

　　I'm taking American Accent Training.

　　There's a lot to learn,

　　but I hope to make it as enjoyable as possible.

　　I should pick up on the American intonation pattern pretty easily,

　　although the only way to get it is to practice all of the time.

　　I use the up and down, or peaks and valleys, intonation more than I used to.

　　I've been paying attention to pitch, too.

　　It's like walking down a staircase.

　　I've been talking to a lot of Americans lately,

　　and they tell me that I'm easier to understand.

　　Anyway, I could go on and on,

　　but the important thing is

　　to listen well and sound good.

　　Well, what do you think?

　　Do I?