16. American English Rhythm 美国英语的节拍

A: Hello, Harry. Where are you off to?

B: I'm going home to study my English lesson.

A: English lesson?

B: Yes. I'm trying to learn a little more. I don't always understand what people say, and they don't always understand me.

A: What're you learning about?

B: Well. For instance, some words in a sentence. The time between two of these stressed words is always about the same, no matter how many words there are. This is what makes English sound jerky. First you go very fast, and then perhaps you slow up.

A: Hmmmm. I never noticed that. Give me an example.

B: Sure, Here's a sentence we memorized for class. “You told me last night not to let you argue me out of getting you up on time.”It takes just as long to say“not to let you argue me out of getting you up on time”as it does to say“you told me last night”

Notes

Accented-stressed

Jerky 不规则地跳动

A：你好，哈里，你到哪儿去？

B：我回家去温习英语课。

A：英语课？

B：是的，我想尽量多学一点。我总是听不懂人家讲的话，别人也听不懂我讲的话。

A：我在学习什么呢？

B：嗯，例如，在一句话中的有些词是加重语气的，读音较重。不论一句中有多少加重的词，其中两个词间隔的时间总是几乎一样的。这就使英语的音调显得不平稳。开始你说得很快，后来可能慢下来。

A：哦，我倒从来没有注意到这点。给我举个例子。

B：可以。这儿有一句我们在上课时应记住的话：“You told me last night not to let you argue me out of getting you up on time.”在说“not to let you argue me out of getting you up on time”这段话的时间就和说“you told me last night”这句话一样长。