Welcome to PrepScholar TOEFL!

歡迎觀賞 PrepScholar TOEFL 頻道！

Today I'm going to give you a few tips on how to do better on the TOEFL Speaking section.

今天我想教一些能幫你在托福口試中考取更高分的撇步。

The Speaking section is all about timing.

口試時的時間掌握非常關鍵。

We only have 45 or 60 seconds to give our answer; that's not a lot of time.

我們得在 45 或 60 秒之內回答，這時間並不長。

So one of the most important skills you need on this section is the ability to pace your speech correctly.

因此掌握回答語速就是托福口試中最重要的技巧之一。

Pacing your speech correctly is key to getting a good score.

正確掌握回答語速是拿高分的關鍵。

If you speak too slowly, you may not be able to finish your answer.

如果說得太慢，你可能會來不及說完答案。

And if you speak too quickly, it may be difficult to understand what you're saying.

如果講得太快，你的回答可能就會變得不好理解。

So you want your pace to be just right: not too slow, and not too fast.

因此你的語速最好是剛剛好—不能太快，也不能太慢。

So, how do you do that?

這要怎麼做呢？

Well, that's what this lesson is all about!

這就是我們今天這堂課要談論的主題！

To begin, let's see how fast you're speaking.

首先我們來看看你講話有多快。

Let's look at a few sentences in fact, exactly 40 words of the kind of passage you might encounter on the TOEFL.

先來看看幾個句子—事實上這是你在托福考試裡可能會遇到的 40 字篇幅。

Here's the passage:

測驗內容如下：

First, I'll read it at an average pace:

首先我用一般的速度來朗讀。

"Scientists have extensively studied several of the species of mammals that are native to New Guinea and have learned how these species adapt to their environments.

「科學家們已針對新幾內亞幾個不同品種的原生哺乳類做過詳細研究，並了解到這些物種如何適應牠們的生存環境。」

"The western wombat occupies the highland forests, and its diet consists primarily of earthworms."

「西方袋熊住在高地森林，蚯蚓是牠們主要的食物。」

Now, you read it, and compare your time to mine.

現在換你朗讀這段，再比較我們兩個的朗讀速度。

Start...now.

計時......開始。

How'd that go?

你做得如何？

Did you speak more slowly?

你講得比我慢嗎？

More quickly?

還是比我快？

Either way, we will give you some tips on how to adjust your speaking pace.

不管結果如何，我們都會教你幾項調整語速的撇步。

For some students, their problem is that they are speaking too slowly.

有些學生的問題是他們講得太慢了。

There are two problems with doing this.

這可能會造成兩種問題。

The first problem is simple.

第一種問題很簡單。

If you speak too slowly, you may not be able to even finish your answer!

當你講得太慢，你甚至可能無法講完答案。

And, if your answer is incomplete, that will result in a significantly lower score on the speaking section.

如果你的回答不完整，在口試中就會被大大扣分。

The second problem is that, if you speak too slowly, your speech will typically be filled with lots of hesitations and pauses.

講太慢的第二個問題在於你的回答往往會充滿許多遲疑、停頓。

But that makes it sound like you don't know what to say, which will also result in a lower speaking score.

這會讓你聽起來彷彿不知道該說什麼，分數也會被拉低。

So how do you speed up your delivery, if you are speaking too slowly?

如果講太慢的話，你該如何加快回答速度呢？

In two ways: preparation and practice.

兩種方法：事前準備、練習。

The main reason students speak too slowly is that they are not prepared.

學生講太慢的主要原因就是他們沒有準備好。

So, for each question, remember to prepare a brief outline of what you're going to say.

所以在回答每一題的時候，記得先想一下等等要如何回答、想好大綱。

The rest of the PrepScholar course gives you detailed guidelines about how to do that.

PrepScholar 的其他課程會給你詳細的指導步驟，教你怎麼做。

Another reason that students speak too slowly is that they haven't practiced enough.

講太慢的另一項原因是他們練習不夠。

So practice speaking English quickly.

練習講英文講得更快。

Listen to podcasts in English, and try speaking along as you listen.

收聽英文播客 (podcast)，試著跟上講者的速度。

Don't worry if you don't understand everything; just try to match the pace.

聽不懂全部的內容也沒關係，試著跟上速度即可。

So that is how we avoid speaking too slowly.

這就是我們避免講太慢的方法。

Now, we don't want to speak too quickly on the speaking section either.

再來我們也要避免口試時講得太快。

If we speak too quickly, we will be very difficult to understand.

一旦講太快，我們講的內容就會變得難以理解。

For that reason, speaking quickly can be even worse than speaking too slowly.

從這點來看，講太快可能會比講太慢更糟糕。

So why do students speak too quickly?

為什麼有些學生會講得太快呢？

It is almost always for the same reason: they get nervous.

通常都是因為太緊張了。

When we get nervous, we try to do too much at once, and we speak too much.

緊張的時候會試著一次做更多事情，我們會講太多話。

And then we become very difficult to understand even if our pronunciation is perfect!

這樣一來我們講的話就會很難懂，即使發音完美也一樣！

So what do we need to do, if we're speaking too quickly?

如果我們講太快，可以怎麼改善呢？

Well, if we're speaking too quickly because we're nervous, then, to slow down, we need to relax.

當我們太緊張、講太快，那我們就必須放輕鬆才能讓語速慢下來。

So, how do we relax?

我們該怎麼放鬆下來呢？

Actually, we should do the same two things we discussed above.

其實我們應該要做剛剛提過的兩件事情。

We should prepare.

我們得事先準備。

If we're prepared, then we won't be worried about what to say next so we can relax.

一旦準備好了，我們就不會擔心等等要說什麼，就可以放鬆一點。

And we should practice.

我們也要好好練習。

If we have a lot of practice answering questions in English, we can relax.

當我們練習英文問答練習得很充分，我們就能放鬆一些。

So let's review!

現在來複習一下吧！

We've said that pace is very important on the Speaking section.

我們提到說話速度在口試裡非常重要。

And it is a problem for many students.

並且許多學生都會遇到這個問題。

Some students speak too quickly, while other students speak too slowly.

有些人講得太快，有些人講得太慢。

We want to speak at good pace, not too slow and not too quick.

我們要努力達到剛剛好的語速，不會太慢也不會太快。

How do we do that?

我們該怎麼做呢？

Prepare and practice.

準備、練習。

If we prepare and practice answering questions, we will know what to say, and we can relax and deliver our answers at a steady pace.

如果我們準備好且練習過英文問答，我們就會知道要說些什麼，就能放鬆並以穩定的速度回答。

Let's try that passage again from earlier.

我們再來試一次剛剛那個測驗段落。

Try reading it again.

再試著朗讀一次。

Start...now.

計時......開始。

How'd that go?

表現如何呢？

Did your pace change?

你的朗讀速度改變了嗎？

Remember, the more you practice, the better your pace will be.

別忘了練習越充分，你的語速就能調整得更好。

Want to learn more about how to improve your score on the TOEFL?

想知道更多托福考高分的方法嗎？

Try our complete PrepScholar course at toefl.prepscholar.com.

來 toefl.prepscholar.com 看看我們的完整課程。

And remember to subscribe to get our next lesson!

也別忘了訂閱頻道，關注我們下一堂課！