美语听力及发音技巧

甲壳虫

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on how syllable stress can affect the meaning of words.
Remenber that stressed syllables are said louder and are lengthened, and unstressed syllables are pronounced more softly, and often have the vowel sounds reduced.

Sometimes, this difference can be the difference between a verb and a noun, or an adjective.
There are at least 14 pairs of words in which syllable stress alone makes this difference. Some examples include `addict, a`ddict, `convict, con`vict, `perfect, per`fect. Each time the second syllable is stressed, the word is a verb. When the first syllable is stressed, the word is either a noun or an adjective. Let’s look some examples more closely. `Permit, per`mit, a `permit is a noun, it is a piece of paper which authorizes you to do something. For instance, a fishing `permit allows you to go fishing. Per`mit is a verb. It means to allow. For instence, fishing isn’t per`mitted here without a `permit.

Another example is `perfect, per`fect. `Perfect is an adjective. It means 100% correct, no mistakes or errors. The verb is per`fect, it means to make something perfect. For example, “I want to per`fect my English” means “I want to make my English perfect”. Make sure you stress the right syllable. It can be the differece between different parts of speech. This has been today’s daily tip. Till then, tomorrow, for another tip on learning English.
Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on how different vowel lengths are used to differentiate words ending in voiced and voiceless consonants.

Let’s take an example. There’s something in my eyes. There’s something in my ice. The last words in the examples, eyes and ice differ in 2 ways. One difference is the word eyes end with the sound “z”, and ice end with the sound “s”. The other difference in the pronunciation of “eyes” and “ice” is how the vowel sound “ai” is pronounced. In the word “eyes”, it is longer. In the word “ice”, it is very short.

Listen to the examples again, and note that the final consonant sound is not as clear as the difference in the length of the vowel. There’s something in my eyes. There’s something in my ice. Listen again. There’s something in my eyes. There’s something in my ice. Listen to some other examples of words that are identical except for the final consonants and the vowel length. Cap, cab, plate, played, seat, seed. Today’s tip is to pay more attention to the length of vowels, as this difference is very important in distinguishing some words. Till then, tomorrow, to another tip on learning English

Welcome to daily tips on learning English. Today’s tip is on sound linking.

Although in written English, there’re spaces between every word, in spoken English there’re always never (1)pauses between words. In order to understand spoken English, it is (2)essential to understand how this linking is done. Today let’s (3)concentrate on the most common sound linking situation. Whenever a word ending in a consonant sound is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound, the consonant sound is linked to the vowel sound as if they were part of the same word.

Let’s look at some examples. I’d like another bowl of rice, please. First, note that although there’re six words in the sentence, all the words are linked together without pause. Listen again. I’d like another bowl of rice, please. Now listen to how the words “like” and “another” are linked. “Like another”, “like-another”. “Like” ends in a consonant sound, and “another” begins with a vowel sound. So the “k” from “like” is linked to the “a” from “another” to produce “kanother”. Listen to the example sentence again. I’d like another bowl of rice, please. In the sentence there is another example of a consonant being linked to a vowel. A bowl of, a bowl-of. It sounds like that you’re saying the word “love”. Here’s another example. I’d love a bowl of rice. I’d love a bowl of rice. This sound linking is probably the biggest problem for learners of English when they try to understand native speaker’s talking. We’ll talk more about sound linking in future daily tips, as this is an extremely import feature of spoken English. Today’s tip is to link consonants to vowels which come after them. Till then, tomorrow, for another daily tip.

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on sound linking.

Remember that although written English has spaces between every word, spoken English doesn’t have pauses after every word. As a matter of fact, long strings of words are all linked together. And it is this linking, which often makes it difficult for learners of English to understand native speaker’s talking. Today’s tip is to notice how the “h” sound is often dropped in personal pronouns such as “he”, “him”, “his” and “her”. And when it is dropped, what is left is a vowel sound, and the vowel sound is always linked to the preceding word.

Let’s look at an example. Give her a book. Giv-er a book. Notice how the “h” is dropped and how “give her” become “giv-er”. Look at another example. Tell him to ask her. Tell-im to ask-er. Did you notice that “tell him” became “tell-im” and “ask her” became “ask-er”? This happens very frequently in spoken English, especially when “he” follows an auxiliary verb. For example, “what will he do?” becomes “What will-i do?” “Where will he go?” becomes “Where will-i go?” “When will he come?” becomes “When will-i come?” “Who will he meet?” becomes “Who will-i meet?” “How will he know?” becomes “How will-i know?” “Has he gone?” becomes “Has-i gone?” “Had he done it before?” becomes “Had-i done it before?” “Must he go?” becomes “Must-i go?” “Can he do it?” becomes “Can-i do it?” “Should he leave?” becomes “Should-I leave?” it’s important to accustom yourself to the dropped “h” sound in sound linking. This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip on learning English.
Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on sound linking.http://www.hellospeak.com/apply/trialh19.html

When 2 identical or similar consonants are in a row, most sounds are not pronounced. For example, stop Peter. “stop” ends in the sound “p”, and “Peter” begins in the same sound. Together the words are linked as “sto-peter”. The words aren’t pronounced stop Peter. To pronounce two identical sounds one after another, would sound like someone stuttering. English words are always linked smoothly. Similar but not identical sounds such as voiced and voiceless pairs of consonants are also linked in this way. For example, it’s a big cake. “big” begins in the sound “g”, cake begins with the sound “k”. “k” and “g” differ only in that “k” is voiceless and “g” is voiced. When they are next to each other in a phrase they’re linked smoothly by not aspirating or pronouncing fully the first of the 2 sounds. Listen carefully as I read the example again. It’s a big cake. Notice how the first sound “g” is not released. If the pair of sounds is reversed, like in “I like goats.” it is the “k” sound which is not pronounced. Listen closely. I like goats. I like goats.

There’re 8 pairs of consonants that differ only in the presence or lack of vocal cord vibration. Listen as I give one example of sound linking for each pair.
v, f : I love France.
δ,θ: Let’s bathe three times.
z, s : She is Susan.
з,∫: The garage should be cleaned.
dз,t∫: He has a huge chin.
b, p : Put the cap back on.
d, t : Dad told me.
k, g : I like Gavin. (? )
It is important to include this type of sound linking in your speech if you want to achieve fluency. It is also important to be aware of how this linking affects how spoken English sounds. Otherwise you may not understand native speaker’s speech. This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another on learning English.