Here are some tips for working on your voice! Now you might want to do an American

這裡是幾項發音的小撇步。現在你可能想來個美式

accent because you're in a play, or a film, or maybe you want to impress your friends,

口音，因為你可能正在演一部戲，一部電影，或著你想讓你的朋友刮目相看，

or maybe you want to try and fit in better in the USA. Whatever the reason, playing with

又可能你想試著更融入美國。不管是什麼理由，測試各種

accents is a great way to stretch your voice and exercise your speech.

口音是個延展聲音和練習演說的好方法。

Now the key to doing any accent is to isolate the specific sounds that occur in that accent.

使用任何口音的關鍵，是將其中特殊的聲音獨立出來。

Today I can only give you a brief overview of some of these sounds, of course the USA

今天，我只能為這些聲音帶來簡單的概述。當然美國

is huge and there are many different accents, so we're going to go for one that's called

很廣，有很多不同的口音，所以我們選擇了一種叫

"General American", and we'll start with the sound Americans use for the letter "r". Now

「一般美式口音」。 我們將從r這個字的美國發音開始。 現在

listen to this sentence: "Are there more birds?" "Are there more birds.

聽聽看這句話: ''Are there more birds(這裡有更多的鳥嗎)?'' ''Are there more birds.''

" Notice that every time there's a letter "r", it's pronounced. And that's a good general

注意每一次這裡有個r字的時候，發音會發出來，而這是美國人一般

rule for American. Every letter "r" in the word gets pronounced.

的規則。每個r字都會被發出聲音來。

"Are there more birds?" Also, it's a very dark sound. Might help you to think about

"Are there more birds(這裡有更多的鳥嗎)?" 還有，這是個很沉的聲音，你大概可以想像

this "r" sound coming from right at the back of the throat back here. "Are there more birds?"

這個'r'聲正是從你喉嚨的深處發出來的: "Are there more birds?"

Now our next sound is the vowel used in "cot", like where a baby sleeps, and "caught", when

現在，我們下一個聲音是母音cot(幼兒床)，像是嬰兒躺的地方；還有caught(抓住)，當

you catch hold of something.

你抓住著某樣東西。

"Cot" and "caught". They're different sounds in the British English accent, "cot" and "caught",

'cot'和'caught'在英式口音中是兩個不同的發音: 'cot'和'caught'

but for most Americans, they're the same. "Cot" and "caught".

但對大部分美國人而言，它們是一樣的: 'cot'和'caught'

Have a listen to this: "He got caught by the long arm of the law." "He got caught by the

聽聽看這個: "He got caught by the long arm of the law(他被執法人員抓了)." "He got caught by the

long arm of the law." So that "got" and "caught" are the same, and "long" and "law" have the

long arm of the law." 所以'got(獲得)'和'caught(抓住)'的發音一樣，而'long(長)'和'law(法律)'中間

same sound in the middle.

發相同的音。

Finally, let's listen to the "t" and "d" sounds for Americans. We say them quite precisely,

最後，讓我們一起聽聽看美國人't'和'd'的發音。準確地來說，我們會

like this: "butter", "letter". But they're quite often flapped for Americans so that

像這樣發: 'butter(奶油)'、 'letter(信件)'， 可是它們經常被美國人模糊掉，所以

there's not much difference between the "t" and the "d".

t和d並沒有太大的不同。

'Butter', 'letter', 'master'. Listen to this sentence: "Witty banter about the Star-Spangled

'Butter(奶油)'、 'letter(信件)'、'master(大師)'， 聽聽看這句: "Witty banter about the Star-Spangled (對於星條旗的

banner." "Witty banter about the Star-Spangled banner.

詼諧嘲弄)." "Witty banter about the Star-Spangled banner.

" So there's no difference between "banter" and "banner", they're both "banner". And "the

"所以這裡'banter(嘲弄)'和'banner(旗幟)'並沒有差別，兩者都是'banner'。 還有"the

medal for bravery was made of metal." "The medal for bravery was made of metal.

medal for bravery was made of metal (冠冕勇氣的勳章是金屬做的)." "The medal for bravery was made of metal

" So that's "medal" and "metal" both become "medal".

"所以這就是兩者'medal'和'metal'都變成了'medal'。