语音课倒数第二次的综合练习资料

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!

点这里下载音频

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.

语音课第二次课的综合练习

如题。语音课第二次的综合练习是选自VOA Special English的Words And Their Stories节目。在教材里只是那篇文章的片断。这里我把全文及其音频发出来,供各位同学学习:

点击下载音频

下面是文本内容:

Words and Their Stories: Pulling a Fast One

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.

给语音课同学们的资料

语音班的同学不好意思,这两天不在公司,所以没有及时把资料发布出来。下面是那节课的音频资料和软件下载地址:

音频下载

软件下载

再附上文字:

‘Hair’ – More Than a Rock Musical

02 May 2009
 

Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

A listener named Rita wants to learn about expressions with the word "hair." So we will tell a story.

Yesterday when I woke up, I looked in a mirror.  I looked very neat and organized.  Not a hair was out of place.  But today when I woke up, I knew I was going to have a bad hair day.  My hair was standing up in all the wrong places.  I thought I would be unhappy all day and things would not go well. I work at home so I just hoped that my computer would work right and not have a bad hair day also.      

An advertisement for the musical "Hair"
An advertisement for the musical "Hair"

I was very tired because I did not sleep well last night. I made the mistake of watching a horror movie on television.  The movie really made my hair stand on end.  It was about a house possessed by evil spirits. The thought of having to live alone in a house like that was so frightening it was enough to curl your hair. I will say it another way: watching that movie was a hair-raising experience.

I prepared a meal for my children but they were behaving badly. I turned on the television so they would be quiet. I did not want them to be difficult or to get in my hair while I was working on the computer.

My children were making so much noise that I could not work.  I was getting angry.  In fact, I was ready to pull my hair out.  I told them to please be quiet or I would punish them. But they knew I would not harm a hair on their heads.

I decided to make myself some strong coffee so I could work better. But my drink was so strong that it could put hair on your chest. 

Finally, I got back to work. I was writing a proposal for a project. I knew that I was very close to finishing the proposal.  Success was very close – within a hair’s breadth. My supervisor called me to discuss the project.  She wanted to argue about very small differences and unimportant details.  But I told her not to split hairs.

Later, I got a telephone call from a friend whom I had not seen in a long time. In fact, I had not seen hide nor hair of him in months.  So I was glad to know that he was all right.

I worked all day and finished my project. So I decided to celebrate, have some fun and let my hair down.  I played some old recordings, and my children and I danced around the room. The recordings are from my favorite musical, a show called "Hair." It takes place during the nineteen sixties when many young people wore their hair very long.

(MUSIC)

This VOA Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust.  I’m Faith Lapidus. You can find other WORDS AND THEIR STORIES at our Web site, voaspecialenglish.com.

Expressions With the Word “Hair”

Not a hair was out of place:干净利索,一丝不乱

bad hair day: “头发糟糕的日子,暗示一整天都不顺利,心情不好。< o:p>

made one’s hair stand on end: 使人毛骨悚然

curl one’s hair令人惊诧,令人惊恐

hair-raising:令人恐惧

get in one’s hair: 激怒某人

pull one’s hair out生气,发怒

harm a hair on one’s heads: 不伤某人一根毫毛

put hair on one’s chest: 使人具有男子气概;(饮料)富含酒精的;(食物)使人健康、强壮的

a hair’s breadth即将来临,指日可待

split hairs:在小事上争论不休,斤斤计较

hide nor hair:踪影,痕迹(hide or hair)

let one’s hair down: 放松

 

赵老师,您对全球化是怎样理解的?尤其是全球化对您自身的影响。

cheng

赵老师,想请教您一个问题,您对全球化是怎样理解的?尤其是全球化对您自身的影响。(能否从机遇和挑战的角度谈谈,呵呵,就算一个小采访吧!!)在这里,先谢谢您的回答。

     我认为全球化应该是人类社会发展的一个自然趋势。最近这一二十年来很多人都在讨论全球化,大多从政治、经济等方面来探讨。这些方面我的知识很有限,我就不赘述。我觉得也可以从语言或者说人类的沟通这个角度来认识全球化。我在讲课或者讲座的时候有时会提到,语言的自然演变过程:
    最初用不同的喊叫声来交流简单的信息–>用复杂的声音表达复杂的意思(口语)–>各种经验口口相传–>借助绳子、木楔等记录事件–>用复杂的符号记录复杂的意思(文字)–>由不同的民族间交流所需而对语言进行深入总结(语法、语音、语调等规则)–>随时随地与世界各地的人进行交流(互联网、人造卫星等等)……
    从上面这个过程来看,人与人之间的沟通越来越紧密,并且是越来越广泛了。到最后的阶段,我举互联网等现代科技产物为例,好像不属于语言,但它们也是为人们互相交流使用的。从这个角度来说也属于一类。
    这个过程我认为就是全球化的过程。也就是说,我认为全球化是人类社会发展从最初就已经开始了的一件事。

Globalization

    全球化的过程也就是人类社会的发展。因此在宏观上看比较清晰,但细化到个人身上那就各不相同了。比如全球化的一个负面效果——加剧贫富差距。这就使得不同出身的人所面临的现实意义上的机遇和挑战会有天壤之别。当然我指的是现实意义上的,如果从人生的角度来说,可能老天给每个人的机遇是平等的。
    对我来说,我是一个受益者。我虽然也属于八零后,但我的人生变化也挺多的。我是在点煤油灯、睡火炕的生活条件下一步步走过来的。我在小学接触了计算机,它对我的人生产生了很大的影响。为了学计算机,我从小学开始自学英语。通过它,我能在山沟里接触到来自全世界的信息。
    在我的成长过程中,我把自己跟童话大王郑渊洁的儿子郑亚旗不断对比。我通过看《童话大王》,从侧面关注他的成长。我觉得从机遇上来讲,他的机遇就比我好得多。我们都是在同一个时代开始接触计算机的,他当时可以拥有自己的电脑,而我要到处去蹭(同学家、电脑培训班、同学家长的单位里……);刚开始接触互联网的时候,他可以很方便地上网,我只能去10元钱一个小时的唯一一家电话线拨号上网的网吧……在这个过程中,与郑亚旗对比,我是没有任何机遇,只有巨大的挑战。但是跟我周围的人对比,我从一个乡下来到县城里的土包,渐渐变为某同学眼中比较前卫的人了。
    也正是有这样的经历,使得我在一进入大学的时候就知道接下来要干什么。到目前为止,只有我的第一份兼职老师的工作是自己找的,其余的都是被找的。当然现在也没有成就什么事业,所以还不敢说全球化给我个人带来了什么大的成就。但是我自己觉得我肯定会在这个过程中得到更多益处。

英语学习的最自然之道

很多同学会问我学习的方法,跟我诉说语法、词汇所带来的烦恼。其实大家都有着一些共同的地方,就是明明有英语学习的最自然之道,我们大多数人不去走,而非要绕着圈子走。下面是跟一位同学关于这个话题的讨论,希望能带给大家一些启示:

CHENG says:
赵老师,能不能给我推荐一本比较好的语法书啊
赵金海 says:
我看过的语法书不多,我觉得薄冰的就可以
CHENG says:

口语中语法究竟占怎样的地位
赵金海 says:
如果从学术的角度来说不论口语还是书面都是离不开语法的
但是从学习的自然过程中来说
语法我们都在接触,但不应该把注意力放在它上面
CHENG says:
那语法究竟要学些什么
赵金海 says:
那得看你的目标是什么了,例如我,在自己学习英语的过程中从来不学语法
CHENG says:
那您追求的境界是什么哪
赵金海 says:
但是后来等我的英语达到至少是跟外国人交流没有多少问题的时候,再看到语法书,才知道了那些语法现象
所以才会给别人讲出来,而我自己在提高英语的过程中,大多数时间是不知道语法的
这也不是什么境界之类的,没那么玄,只是把事情简化,还原为本质而已
语言的本质最简单了,就是外国人要表达一个什么意思,他会发出什么声音,那我也跟着发出什么声音,这样我就可以跟他们交流了
就这么简单
CHENG says:
您的意思是要注重模仿
赵金海 says:

CHENG says:
有时候说的时候老是在想单词和这句话说的是不是符合语法,所以很苦恼
赵金海 says:
这就是因为人为地把英语给肢解了去学习的后果
如果学的过程中像我上面说的那样,把英语做为一个整体去学,就不会有这样的问题
一句话你会说就是会说,不会说就是不会说,用语法和单词去编造,即使是能编出来也很可能不符合人们的常规习惯
说出来貌似是个正确的句子,但外国人听了可能半天反应不过来
好多人学语法其实是想走个捷径,认为把这些规则掌握了,剩余的事情就是背单词,然后什么都可以用语法推导出来
CHENG says:
我也是这样想的
赵金海 says:
而大家真正没有意识到的是语言不是这样的,大脑接收、与组织语言的时候不是这样的
这样做反倒是走了弯路
真正的捷径就是直接去接触英语,我们的大脑本来就可以自动把声音在大脑中进行分析
CHENG says:
真知灼见啊
赵金海 says:
自动会把它们的规律分析出来,在以后需要的时候进行创新
所以我上面说,我们在学习语言的过程中是在接触语法,但是没有并没有把注意力放在语法上面
语法是我们的大脑自动在分析的
刚才提到的“注意力”其实就是我们的意识,而我说的“自动分析”的那些就是我们的潜意识
就像大海里看到的冰山一样,意识只是我们大脑工作的一小部分,我们的潜意识才是在进行着大量的工作
并且意识的效率是非常低的
CHENG says:
强烈同意
赵金海 says:
所以我们以往那样用“语法”+“单词”的方法看似有道理,而实际上是用效率低的意识来处理需要高效率的潜意识才能处理的信息
当然会让我们觉得学着特别累了
CHENG says:
那您的方法是什么
每天浸泡在英语中吗
赵金海 says:
我学习的时候方法也是最简单,没有环境自己创造环境
随身带着学英语的东西,听的、看的、查的
CHENG says:
呵呵 有条件也要上,没有条件创造有条件也要上
赵金海 says:
是啊 。然后是在遇到特别感兴趣的文章或句子的时候会像上课时给你们展示过的那样,用软件作为辅助,听细节,目标定为模仿到和录音里的一模一样
CHENG says:
我是您口语高级班的学生
赵金海 says:
哦,我正想问呢

英语口语发音基础

给同学说过要把我讲解发音的课件放在博客上,但是都迟迟没有放上来,让同学们久等了

同学们可以点下面的链接下载:

Pronunciation.zip

压缩包里两个文件,一个是元音的,一个是辅音的。是我来兰州后专门为晚上的美语语音班做的,时间紧迫,难免有疏漏之处,同学们看的时候如果发现什么疑问,可以随时来这里跟我讨论:)

Lucky Guesses Maybe More Than Luck

 

这是给晚上美语发音班的同学的。下面是我在课堂上给大家做过示范的:

image

下面我把全文以及录音都放在这里,希望同学们用所教方法来练习,把这篇文章能够轻松读出来,并且做到像自己在说话一样。

音频下载

文本:

This is Scientific American 60-Second Science. I’m Cynthia Graber. This’ll just take a minute.

        In the hit movie Slumdog Millionaire, the star answers game show questions correctly based on his life experiences. At least one right answer, however, is a lucky guess. But maybe the guess wasn’t so lucky. Maybe his brain actually knew the answer—even though he didn’t realize it.
        That’s what scientists at Northwestern University are saying about so
called lucky guesses. They published their research online in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
        Study participants were shown brightly colored pictures. They had to memorize half. While viewing the other half, they had to concentrate on remembering a spoken number. So they were distracted. Later, they were quizzed on all the images. Surprisingly, they were more successful at remembering those images that they only paid half a mind to. Not only that, but they were more accurate when they said they were just guessing. The researchers say their visual systems stored memories quite accurately, even when the participants weren’t paying attention. And that what we call intuition, some of those gut feelings we get, may often be based on good information.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific American 60-Second Science. I’m Cynthia Graber.

 

答两位同学问:关于语音的改进和解决美音与以前所学发音的冲突

最近来兰州新东方之后,课程特别密集,也没有多少精力来更新博客。今天看到两位同学(署名为清蓝、suixin)的留言,我就做一下简单的答复。

清蓝同学问道:如果我想训练自己的发音,应该参考什么材料?采取什么方式?

答:对于发音的训练其实是有很多途径的。但总体来说我认为可以分为精与泛两种方式结合。并且牢记,学习英语要把它做为一个整体去学,千万不要因为要学习发音而去在音标上钻牛角尖。选择精学与泛学的标准就是自己的喜好,你看到一篇文章(句子、诗歌等等),如果觉得特别想要拥有它,那可以做为精学的内容。一般喜欢的就是泛学了。方便起见,我来整理成以下的步骤以供参考:

steps suixin问道:从小到大,课本英标、磁带录音都是英音,所以很多发音都已经习惯,有时候在刻意在往美音上读时,会发现不会读了。老师能不能就就此给我一些建议与解释?

答:其实在中国大多数地方老师教的,他们自己认为是英音,而实际上是多种发音混合的。所以在这样的情况下,最好就是能有一个空杯心态,这样学起来就能避免出现纠正发音的过程中自己跟自己较劲的情况。但是关于英音和美音也不要因为大家学什么自己就学什么,还是根据自己的喜好来选择,其实都有大量的资料的。不论英、美音都可以按照上面的那个流程来学习的。

 

以上对两位同学的答复其实总结一下,我还是觉得最重要的是兴趣,有了兴趣大家的这些问题也就没有了。所以应该多去用心体会一下英语,全方位去接触英语,亲密地接触,喜欢上了之后就好办了。

 

附:

http://www.hjbbs.com 沪江英语

http://www.putclub.com 普特听力

http://bbs.wwenglish.org/ 旺旺英语

http://www.yeeyan.com/ 译言——在这里可以和大家一起翻译一些东西,提高英语的好方法

http://www.nciku.com/ 词酷

http://www.speak2me.cn 跟我说——在线人机对话英语学习软件

http://www.urbandictionary.com/ 一个专门收集并解释俚语的网站

http://www.thefreedictionary.com 一个免费在线词典,不止是词典,还有每日一词、每日一句之类的学习内容以及英语学习的小游戏

http://www.livemocha.com/ 在线学习多种语言

http://www.ivyenglish.com.cn/ 赖世雄免费英语学习网——赖世雄不用多说了吧,大家都知道的。

http://ocw.mit.edu/ 麻省理工学院免费教学资源——你可以在网上上这个大学,与真实不同的只是你学完了没有任何学位证书而已,如果想要在家留学,这是个很好的资源

时间有限,就先列以上这些吧,除了这些专门学习的之外大家其实可以在网上找到好多英语的资料,只要用google.com(不是.cn)用英语关键词去搜索,会有很多的国外的网站出现。以后有时间再共享一些资源吧。

To my students – 请大家用那天所讲的方法好好练习

 相信同学们那天在课堂上练习了前三句后今天再看到这些对话内容一定会有一种特别的感觉,自己在说的时候好像能很容易找到那种真正说英语的感觉,并且好像那种语音语调已经在自己的潜意识里了。这就是那天那样练习后的效果。所以再在这里啰嗦一下,理论学再多都没有用,只要稍微实践一下就能明白很多。

我把整个对话内容贴在这里,大家可以点每句话来下载单句的录音,也可以在这里下载全文的录音

A: Are you going to do anything exciting this weekend?

B: Well, I”m going to celebrate my birthday.

A: Fabulous. When is your birthday exactly?

B: It’s August ninth – Sunday.

A: So, what are your plans?

B: Well, my friend Kayla is going to take me out for dinner.

A: Nice. Is she going to order a cake?

B: Yeah, and the waiters are probably going to sing "Happy Birthday" to me. It’s so embarrassing.