美式英语正音训练第14期:自我练习

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　　Now, let's see what you can do with the same sentence, just by changing the stress around to different words.

　　I'll tell you which meaning to express.

　　When you hear the tone¹, say the sentence as quickly as you can, then I'll say the sentence for you.

　　To test your ear, I'm going to repeat the sentences in random² order.

　　Try to determine which word I'm stressing.

　　The answers are given in parentheses³, but don't look unless you really have to.

　　Here we go.

　　1. Indicate that he borrowed the money and didn't steal it.

　　I didn't say he stole the money. Maybe he just borrowed it.

　　2. Indicate that you are denying having said that he stole it.

　　I didn't say he stole the money. That's not true at all.

　　3. Indicate that you think he stole something besides money.

　　I didn't say he stole the money. He may have taken some jewelry⁴.

　　4. Indicate that you were not the person to say it.

　　I didn't say he stole the money. Someone else said it.

　　5. Indicate that you don't think that he was the person who stole it.

　　I didn't say he stole the money. I think someone else took it.

　　6. Indicate that you didn't say it outright⁵, but did suggest it in some way.

　　I didn't say he stole the money. I only suggested the possibility.

　　7. Indicate that he many have stolen a different amount of money.

　　I didn't say he stole the money. But rather some other money.

　　Overdo⁶ It

　　Practice these sentences on your own, really exaggerating the word that you think should be stressed.

　　In the beginning, you're going to feel that this is ridiculous.

　　(Nobody stresses this hard! Nobody talks like this! People are going to laugh at me!)

　　Yet as much as you may stress, you're probably only going to be stressing about half as much as you should.

　　Pause the CD and practice the sentences in random order ten times.

　　Another reason you must overexaggerate is because when you get tired, emotional, or relaxed, you will stop paying attention.

　　When this happens, like a rubber band, you're going to snap⁷ back to the way you originally were sounding (10 percent).

　　So, if you just stretch yourself to the exact position where you ideally want to be, you'll go back almost completely to the old way when you relax.

　　For practice, then, stretch yourself far beyond the normal range of intonation⁸ (150 percent),

　　so when you relax, you relax back to a standard American sound (100 percent).

　　We All Do It

　　Possibly about this time you're thinking, Well, maybe you do this in English, but in my language, I just really don't think that we do this.

　　I'd like you to try a little exercise.

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