[00:00.00]Chapter 1 The sounds of English
[00:02.27]In this unit you will learn to recognize and pronounce English final consonants and consonant clusters ,
[00:10.28]learn to recognize and pronounce full and educed English vowels ,
[00:16.16]learn to recognize and pronounce stressed and unstressed syllables and words in Englis
[00:24.23]Part 1
[00:25.80]Pre-listening Exercise
[00:29.01]The English language uses 20 different vowel sounds ,and 24 different consonant sounds
[00:36.77]A lot of the sounds are similar to the sounds in Chinese
[00:41.71]A few English sounds,like final consonants,are difficult for Chinese speakers .
[00:49.00]Chinese words usually end either in-n,-ng,or a vowel.English words,however,can end with many different consonants .
[01:00.60]In fact ,many words end in a consonant cluster (two or more consonants
[01:07.08]For example,look at the ending of consonants.It ends with a combination of the sounds /n/,/t/,and /s/.
[01:16.58]English final consonants are very important for two reasons .
[01:21.47]One reason is that English words with different meanings often begin with the same sounds.
[01:29.23]For example,the only sound difference between "you "and "use "is the final sound:
[01:36.23]"use "ends in the consonant sound /z/.The only sound difference between "word "and "work"is the final consonant:/d/or /k
[01:47.75]Only the final consonant sound tells your listener which word you mean .
[01:53.52]Another reason is that final consonants often show whether a noun is singular or plura
[01:59.95]or whether a verb is in the past or present tense ,for example "noun"(singular)or "nouns"(plural
[02:09.09]"show"(present tense )or "showed "(past tense).
[02:14.52]If you don't recognize final consonants when you hear them,you may not be able to understand English speakers
[02:22.88]If you don't pronounce final consonants clearly ,English speakers may not be able to understand you .
[02:31.08]Listening Exercise
[02:33.75]Exercise Three (b
[02:37.25]1.you us
[02:39.71]2.lie lik
[02:42.06]3.know not
[02:44.54]4.go goa
[02:46.92]5.play plagu
[02:49.61]6.so soa
[02:52.24]7.ray rac
[02:54.83]8.paw paus
[02:57.55]9.sigh sid
[03:00.24]10.two toot
[03:01.61]Exercises 3(d)
[03:04.80]1.blue bloo
[03:07.10]2.bay bath
[03:09.27]3.row rob
[03:11.85]4.lie lif
[03:13.94]5.char charg
[03:16.14]6.key kee
[03:18.39]7.mar mars
[03:20.61]8.car carv
[03:22.72]9.pea peac
[03:25.02]10.we whee
[03:25.85]Pronunciation Exercise
[03:28.54]Exercises 4
[03:30.79]1.rat
[03:33.24]2.sho
[03:35.67]3.chequ
[03:37.87]4.car
[03:40.48]5.pric
[03:42.85]6.traffi
[03:45.55]7.loca
[03:48.16]8.credi
[03:50.61]9.languag
[03:53.25]10.surcharg
[03:56.23]11.hote
[03:58.68]12.foreig
[04:01.45]13.subu
[04:04.35]14.jacke
[04:06.97]Exercises 5(b)
[04:10.02]1.drin
[04:12.22]2.dam
[04:14.31]3.bes
[04:16.45]4.coat
[04:18.88]5.rule
[04:21.12]6.worl
[04:23.58]7.make
[04:25.88]8.bronz
[04:28.33]9.coun
[04:30.82]10.kep
[04:33.14]11.card
[04:35.78]12.tent
[04:38.29]13.twelft
[04:40.56]14.clothe
[04:43.17]15.live
[04:45.94]16.tomb
[04:48.60]Exercises 6(b)
[04:51.56]1.painting
[04:54.25]2.differen
[04:56.89]3.mountain
[04:59.81]4.provinc
[05:02.84]5.interes
[05:05.79]6.instanc
[05:08.28]7.aroun
[05:10.94]8.projec
[05:13.45]Part
[05:15.09]Pre-listening Exercises
[05:17.81]English has more than one sound for each of the written vowels a,e,i,o,and
[05:25.33]Sometimes the sounds change because of spelling rules,but the most common sound change occurs when one syllable is emphasized
[05:36.46]or stressed ,more than the others .In words of more than one syllable ,one syllable is always stresse
[05:45.00]In long words,more than one syllable may be stressed
[05:49.76]Stressed syllables always have a nomal ,full vowel sound ,like the first syllable of "emphasized
[05:58.01]The unstressed vowels in the other syllables are often reduced ,that is ,spoken very quickly and quietly ,like the -a-in"emphasized".
[06:09.27]Have you ever been unalbe to recognize an English word when you first hear it ,even though you know the word very well when you see it in print?
[06:18.52]That's probably because the word contains one or more reduced vowel
[06:24.47]Reduced vowels are spoken quickly and quietly ,so they lose their distinctive pronunciation .
[06:32.81]There are really only two reduced vowel sounds in English
[06:37.20]One sound is the reduced/i/.You can hear it in a word like "im/tate
[06:43.73]The other sound is more common .It's usually represented by the sound symbol/2
[06:49.94]It's used for the reduced vowels/a/,/e/,/o/and /u/.It sounds something like the pronunciation of the -0-in "pronunciation
[07:00.92]the -a-in the word "syllable "or the -e-in "vowel"-in other words,it's hardly pronounced at al
[07:09.77]The vowels,a,e,o,and u are written with different letters of the alphabet ,but they sound almost the same when reduced .
[07:18.81]It's more important to be able to hear reduced vowels than to be able to pronounce the
[07:24.66](English speakers will understand you even if you don't use reduced vowels
[07:29.75]If you don't recognize reduced vowels when you hear them,you may have problems understanding what an English speaker is saying
[07:37.72]It's important to practise noticing reduced vowels as you read and listen to the texts in this book .
[07:44.93]Listening Exercise
[07:47.28]Exercises 2(a)
[07:50.05]1.agree
[07:54.78]2.visi
[07:58.65]3.garde
[08:02.98]4.meta
[08:06.33]5.roya
[08:10.24]6.Chin
[08:13.43]7.weathe
[08:17.01]8.belie
[08:20.67]9.civi
[08:24.19]10.depen
[08:27.98]11.defea
[08:31.66]12.betwee
[08:34.84]Exercises 2(b)
[08:37.77]1.alcohol
[08:42.18]2.consultan
[08:46.21]3.centur
[08:50.54]4.musue
[08:54.57]5.opiu
[08:58.69]6.perio
[09:02.46]7.histor
[09:06.32]8.secon
[09:10.00]9.contro
[09:13.64]10.minut
[09:17.06]11.carefu
[09:20.56]12.natur
[09:23.22]Exercises 2(c)
[09:26.43]1.comfortabl
[09:30.16]2.porcelai
[09:34.00]3.vegetabl
[09:38.24]4.dynast
[09:42.13]5.origina
[09:45.26]6.defeate
[09:48.92]7.Confuciu
[09:52.68]8.importan
[09:56.68]9.differen
[10:00.44]10.officia
[10:03.86]11.palatia
[10:07.52]12.sedimen
[10:09.94]Pronunciation Exercise
[10:12.84]Exercises 3(b)
[10:16.08]1.agre
[10:18.41]2.visi
[10:20.70]3.garde
[10:22.95]4.meta
[10:25.35]5.roy
[10:27.91]6.Chin
[10:30.63]7.weathe
[10:33.50]8.belie
[10:35.83]9.civi
[10:38.21]10.depen
[10:40.87]11.defea
[10:43.51]12.betwee
[10:45.99]Exercises 4(b)
[10:48.76]1.alcoho
[10:51.06]2.consultan
[10:53.85]3.centur
[10:56.39]4.musue
[10:58.50]5.opiu
[11:00.88]6.perio
[11:03.13]7.histor
[11:05.40]8.secon
[11:07.54]9.contro
[11:09.89]10.minut
[11:12.19]11.carefu
[11:14.72]12.natur
[11:17.05]Exercises 5(b)
[11:20.24]1.comfortabl
[11:23.03]2.porcelai
[11:25.51]3.vegetabl
[11:28.10]4.dynast
[11:30.84]5.origina
[11:33.35]6.defeate
[11:36.17]7.Confuciu
[11:39.36]8.importan
[11:41.71]9.differen
[11:44.35]10.officia
[11:46.96]11.palatia
[11:49.78]12.sedimen
[11:52.42]Part
[11:54.25]Pre-listening Exercis
[11:57.12]Exercises 1(b)
[12:00.13]In English,some syllables and words are spoken more loudly and clearly than others.
[12:06.58]This difference in emphasis gives spoken English its characteristic rhythm and melod
[12:13.42]For example,many English words contain serveral syllables with full vowel sounds .
[12:19.77]One vowel is always emphasized,or stressed ,more than the others ,for example ,"contain ","emphasized ","example
[12:29.64]Did you notice in these examples that the stressed vowel can be in different positions in the word
[12:36.36]When you first meet a new word in the units that follow ,the vowel to be emphasized will alawys be in holdface type .
[12:44.38]Some words with the same spelling change to a different part of speech when different syllables are emphasized
[12:51.20]The meeting can also change .For example ,the adjective "present",meaning "here and now
[12:58.74]changes to be verb"present",meaning "give",if the stress on the syllable changes
[13:05.82]Stressing the wrong vowel in this type of word may confuse your liteners .
[13:11.57]English also uses stress to indicate the important words in phrases ,clauses and sentences
[13:20.16]A stressed word is spoken more clearly than an unstressed word .Emphasizing important words makes the listener pay attention to these words .
[13:30.85]Stressed words are usually nouns ,verbs ,adverbs and other words that contain a lot of information
[13:39.03]Words such as "the ","an","to",or"from ",are normally not stressed.
[13:46.24]When you speak,stress only the important words
[13:50.15]Listeners find it hard to know exactly what you mean if you emphasize unimportant words
[13:57.05]When you listen ,pay attention to the stressed words to improve your listening comprehension .
[14:03.71]Listening Exercise
[14:06.35]Exercises 2(a)
[14:09.09]1.gian
[14:12.75]2.adjus
[14:16.20]3.happ
[14:19.46]4.depen
[14:22.96]5.expert
[14:26.86]6.regio
[14:30.33]7.peopl
[14:33.70]8.percen
[14:37.04]9.aroun
[14:40.31]10.eatin
[14:44.17]11.improv
[14:47.78]12.avoi
[14:49.91]Exercises 2(b)
[14:52.81]1.transportatio
[14:56.97]2.populatio
[15:01.12]3.remembe
[15:05.14]4.brillian
[15:08.85]5.beautifu
[15:12.35]6.museu
[15:15.80]7.defeate
[15:19.43]8.characte
[15:22.85]9.differen
[15:26.59]10.ceremon
[15:30.30]11.economicall
[15:34.27]12.everyon
[15:36.46]Exercises 3(a)
[15:39.78]1.at the airpor
[15:44.37]2.subway trai
[15:49.07]3.bus servic
[15:53.72]4.to the marke
[15:57.85]5.historic building
[16:02.63]6.railway lin
[16:07.26]7.on the rive
[16:11.20]8.to the coas
[16:15.64]9.transportation syste
[16:21.23]10.central Chin
[16:25.93]11.moon cake
[16:29.75]12.black in
[16:32.74]Exercises 3(b)
[16:36.30]1.vegetables ,meat or other ingredient
[16:46.01]2.a famous Chinese dis
[16:52.34]3.mountain and wate
[16:58.27]4.nature and the human spiri
[17:04.93]5.colours found in natur
[17:10.83]6.about twelve millio
[17:16.29]7.a great place to sho
[17:21.49]8.where the embassies ar
[17:26.92]9.the longest river in Asi
[17:33.37]10.pround of their succes
[17:39.77]11.tour boats for foreigner
[17:46.28]12.a very long histor
