标准美语发音的13个秘诀 CD 3 Track 14

（单词翻译）

Exercise 4-2: Betty Bought a Bit of Better Butter    CD 3 Track 14 

In the sentence Betty bought a bit of better butter, all of the Ts are in weak positions, so they all sound like soft Ds. Repeat the sentence slowly, word by word: [Beddy ... badə... bidə... bedder ...  budder]. Feel the tip of your tongueflick across that area behind your top teeth. Think of the music ofa cello¹ again when you say, Bettybought a bit ofbetter butter.

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If you speak any language—such as Spanish, Japanese, Hindi, Italian, or Dutch, among others— where your R touches behind the teeth, you are inluck with the American T. Just fix the association in your mind so that when you see a middle position T, you automatically give it your native R sound. Say, Beri bara bira ... with your native accent. (Not if you are French, German, or Chinese!)

Along with liaisons², the American T contributes a great deal to the smooth, relaxed sound of English. When you say a word like atom, imagine that you've been tothe dentist and you're a little numb³, or that you'vehad a couple of drinks, or maybe that you're very sleepy. You won't be wanting to use a lot of energy saying [æ•tom], so justrelax everything and say [adəm], like the masculine name, Adam. It's a very smooth, fluid sound. Rather than saying, BeTTy boughT a biT of beTTer buTTer, which is physically⁴ more demanding, try, Beddy bada bidda bedder budder. It's easy because you really don't need much muscle tension to say it this way.

The staircase concept will helpclarify the various T sounds. The American T can be a little tricky if you base your pronunciation on spelling. Here are five rules to guide you.

1.  T is Tat the beginning of a word or in a stressed syllable⁵.

2.  T is D in the middle of a word.

3.  T is Held at the end of a word.

4.  T is Held before N in -tain and -ten endings.

5.  T is Silent after Nwith lax vowels⁶.