Dear Bo$$
In thi$ life, we all need $ome thing mo$t de$perately. I think you $hould be under$tanding of the need$ of u$ . worker$ who have given $o much $upport including $weat and $ervice to your company.
I am $ure you will gue$$ what I mean and re$pond $oon.
Your$ $incerely,
Marian $hih
第二天，她收到了老板的回信：
Dear Marian
I kNOw you have been working very hard.NOwadays,NOthing much has changed. You must have NOticed that our company is NOt doing NOticeably well as yet.
NOw the newspaper are saying the world`s leading ecoNOmists are NOt sure if the United States may go into aNOther recession. After the NOvember presidential elections things may turn bad.
I have NOthing more to add NOw. You kNOw what I mean.
选这篇文章也有我自己的个人喜好的因素，这是VOA Special English的新闻播报节目In The News里当时对Michael Jackson的报道。这篇文章也希望同学们仔细听每个细节，尤其是开始不久那里有一段电话录音，那是最真实的英语。我们一般学习英语的过程中是很难接触到真正的现实生活中的英语的。比如我们大多是从一些英语教学的录音里、电影、电视、收音机等等地方听到的模拟场景的声音，而我们在生活中遇到英语国家的人的时候，他们给我们说话时经常会不由自主地放慢语速，尽量吐字清楚并且使用简单的词汇及句型。所以这篇文章中的那段电话录音是个很好的材料。在那段录音中有这么一句"OK, OK. How old is he?"，而实际上我们听到的是"OK, OK. How’di?"这是个很严重的略读现象，并且把is给全省没了，我们要说他发音错了都不为过。而实际上呢，电话另一头的人一点都没有迟疑，立刻回答"He’s uh, he’s 50 years old, sir."。所以各位同学，请放心大胆地把该省的音省掉，该连的音连起来，该弱读的音就弱读。咱们中国人可能听不明白，但只要你不是乱说的，英语为母语的国家的人们反而会感觉到听你的英语很亲切！
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. (MUSIC) Fans around the world are remembering the man who called himself the King of Pop. Michael Jackson died Thursday in Los Angeles. This was the emergency call from the house where he was living. CALLER: "We have a gentleman here that needs help and he’s not breathing. He’s not breathing and we’re trying to pump him but he’s not –” OPERATOR: "OK, OK. How old is he?" CALLER: "He’s fifty years old, sir." OPERATOR: "Fifty, OK." A personal doctor was with him at the house. Michael Jackson would have celebrated his fifty-first birthday in August. He was just days from launching what he hoped would be a comeback — a series of fifty concerts in London. More than seven hundred fifty thousand tickets sold out within hours of going on sale in March. The shows were set to begin July thirteenth. There were questions, though, about whether his health could handle the extended tour. And after he died there were more questions — this time about his use of painkillers. Medical examiners did an autopsy on Friday, but tests for drugs in the body normally take weeks. Around the world, fans like this one reacted to news of his death. WOMAN: "Somebody like Michael Jackson who’s done so much for the world and stuff, you think almost like he’s invincible." (MUSIC) "Thriller," his nineteen eighty-two album, earned a place in Guinness World Records as the best selling album of all time. It produced hits like "Beat It" and "Billie Jean." (MUSIC) Michael Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, the seventh of nine children. He was five years old when he and his brothers began performing in the Jackson 5. He was eleven when they had their first album — "Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5" — in nineteen sixty-nine. Their album "ABC" followed less than a year later. (MUSIC) In nineteen seventy-one, Michael Jackson began his solo career. He went on to sell an estimated seven hundred fifty million albums. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — twice. But as talented and successful as he was, he was also deeply troubled. His behavior and appearance grew increasingly strange. He was heavily in debt. He was childlike. But in nineteen ninety-three, a thirteen-year-old boy accused him of child molestation. The case was settled out of court. Later, another accusation led to a criminal trial. But four years ago this month a jury cleared him of all charges. Michael Jackson left his mark on popular culture. His music, his videos, his dance moves and moonwalking, the hand in a sequined white glove, the father of three was even married for a time to Elvis Presley’s daughter. Now, he leaves behind family, friends and fans to mourn his death. In a sad way he did make a comeback. His death has pushed sales of his music back to the top of the charts again. And that’s IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, written by June Simms. I’m Steve Ember.
Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
(MUSIC)
Today I will tell about expressions using numbers. Let us start with the number one. Numbers can be tricky. On the one hand, they are simply numbers. On the other hand, they have meanings. I for one use these expressions a lot.
Many people consider themselves number one, the most important person. They are always looking out for number one and taking care of number one. It is as if they are the one and only person on Earth. Some people however, are not so self-centered. My brother is such a person. It is true – no joke. I am not trying to pull a fast one on you.
First, you have to understand that my brother is one in a million. He is such a nice person. All his friends like him. They consider him one of the boys. Recently, my brother had a bad day at the office. It was just one of those days. Nothing went right. So he stopped at a local bar — a drinking place — after leaving work. My brother planned to have a glass of beer with his friends — a quick one – before he went home. But a quick one turned into one or two, and soon those became one too many.
As my brother was leaving, he ordered a last drink — one for the road. His friends became concerned. One by one, they asked him if he was able to drive home safely.
Now my brother is a wise and calm person. He is at one with himself. He recognizes when he has had too much alcohol to drink. So he accepted an offer for a ride home from a female friend.
At one time in the past, my brother had been in love with this woman. She is a great person — kind, thoughtful and intelligent — all good qualities rolled up into one. But sadly their relationship did not work. He always used to say "One of these days, I am going to marry this girl." But that never happened.
For one thing, she did not love him as much as he loved her. It was just one of those things. The situation was regrettable and my brother had to accept it. But even now, he considers her the one that got away.
However, they are still friends. And because my brother had been kind to her, she felt that one good turn deserves another. He was good to her and she wanted to help him in return. So she drove him home.
If my brother had driven home from the bar that night, his number would have been up. Something bad would have happened. Thankfully he made it home safely. And, he and the woman are back to square one. They are back to where they started – being friends.
(MUSIC)
This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I’m Faith Lapidus.
这次不讨论太多的单词记忆的问题，主要是推荐一个挺有意义的网站。在FreeRice上练习单词，只要你回答正确一个问题，这个网站就会捐给联合国粮食计划署（UN World Food Programme）十粒大米。而且练习的模式也比较科学。每次会随机出题，出题的难度是根据你之前回答的正确与否来判断的。并且当你答错了一个之后，过一会儿这道题还会再次出现。这样就会让你加深印象。这样的点子真的很不错，是个一举两得的做法，既帮助人们学习英语，又为解决饥饿问题做了贡献。
What to Do with Your Mouth to Sound American 你的嘴巴要怎样做才能说好美式英语
One of the main differences between the way an American talks and the way the rest of the world talks is that we don’t really move our lips. (So, when an American says, "Read my lips!" what does he really mean?) We create most of our sounds in the throat, using our tongue very actively. If you hold your fingers over your lips or clench your jaws when you practice speaking American English, you will find yourself much closer to native-sounding speech than if you try to pronounce every … single … sound … very … carefully. 美国人说话方式与世界上其它地方的人说话方式的主要区别之一就是我们不怎么动嘴唇。（所以当一个美国人说“看我的嘴型！”，他到底在表达什么？）我们大多数的发音都是由喉咙产生，再加上非常活跃的舌部运动。如果你在练习美式英语的时候把你的手放在你的嘴唇上或者紧紧握住你的下巴，你会发现相比你一个音一个音很仔细地发出来，你会更接近地道的发音。
If you can relate American English to music, remember that the indigenous music is jazz. Listen to their speech music, and you will hear that Americans have a melodic, jazzy way of producing sounds. Imagine the sound of a cello when you say, Beddy bada bida bedder budder (Betty bought a bit of better butter) and you’ll be close to the native way of saying it. 如果你能够把美式英语跟音乐联系起来，要记着美国本土的音乐是爵士。听他们语言的韵律，你会发现美国人有一种带有旋律的、爵士味的发音方式。想象一个大提琴的声音，同时说“Beddy bada bida bedder budder (Betty bought a bit of better butter)”，你就会非常接近地道的说法。
Because most Americans came from somewhere else, American English reflects the accent contributions of many lands. The speech music has become much more exaggerated than British English, developing a strong and distinctive intonation. If you use this intonation, not only will you be easier to understand, but you will sound much more confident, dynamic, and persuasive. 由于大多美国人来自别的地方，美式英语能反映出许多国家的口音。比起英式英语，语言的韵律已经变得更加夸张，产生了一种非常深厚而且独特的语调。如果你使用这种语调，不仅容易被别人听懂，而且你会听起来更加自信、有活力和有说服力。
Intonation, or speech music, is the sound that you hear when a conversation is too far away to be clearly audible but close enough for you to tell the nationality of the speakers. The American intonation dictates liaisons and pronunciation, and it indicates mood and meaning. Without intonation, your speech would be flat, mechanical, and very confusing for your listener. What is the American intonation pattern? How is it different from other languages? Foa egzampuru, eefu you hea ah Jahpahneezu pahsohn speakingu Ingurishu, the sound would be very choppy, mechanical, and unemotional to an American. Za sem vey vis Cheuman pipples, it sounds too stiff. A mahn frohm Paree ohn zee ahzer ahnd, eez intonashon goes up at zee end ov evree sentence, and has such a strong intonation that he sounds romantic and highly emotional, but this may not be appropriate for a lecture or a business meeting in English. 当一个对话远到听不清，但尚足以判断说话者的国籍，这时你听到的就是语调（或者说语言的韵律）。美语语调指示出连音与发音，并且能表现出情绪与意义。如果没有语调，你说的话就会很单调、机械，让你的听众很费解。美语语调的模式是什么？它跟其它语言有什么不同？例如，若你听到一个日本人说英语，他的发音在美国人听起来就会觉得非常突兀、机械和没有感情。德国人也是类似，听起来很僵硬。另外，一个来自巴黎的人他的语调在每句话最后都会升起来，并且有着深厚的语调，让人感觉非常浪漫并且富有感情。但这在讲台上或者商务会议上就不是恰当的英语了。
李敖就是个很好的例子，他被人们称为大师，自己也经常夸赞自己。他在很多言论中体现出他的阅读量之大，并且对英文单词的把握也特别到位。比如他曾讲过proud这个单词，我们可以查到它有“骄傲的”和“感到光荣的”两个意思。英文当中有一种说法是“I’m so proud of you”，有很多人的翻译是“我以你为傲”或者“我为你感到骄傲”。李敖说“骄傲”是个贬义词，而这句话是要表达一种褒义。那这种翻译肯定是有问题的了。
“内敛的吊”，这种夸法实在太有才了。谢谢你！借你的提问我展开来说说自己的一些拙见。