SPEAKING EFFECTIVE AMERICAN ENGLISH

    There are six characteristics of speech, all of which are vital to speak effectively. In this section we'll look at each of them separately. These speech characteristics are basically important to you and your manner of speech. If you are not completely happy with the way your voice sounds, you may need to work on some of them. Remember that although we are going to talk about each characteristic individually, they must ultimately blend into a compelling articulate speech. Let's list them, they are 1)pitch, 2)inflection, energy, 3)duration, 4)tempo, and volume.

      Pitch is simply an 5)acoustical property of the voice having to do with its frequency, high to low. The pitch of your speaking voice is determined 1 by a number of factors, including whether you're male or female. Early environment has its effect. If the people around you spoke 2 in high pitches most of the time, chances are that you'll use primarily the upper third of your pitch range. Since Americans prefer voices pitched in the lower third of their range, speaking in such a high pitch voice, should be corrected. Genetic 3 inheritance must also be considered. If father had a very deep voice and sang bass 4 in the church 6)choir, then you, his son, may also sing bass and speak with a deep voice when it has lowered after puberty.

     Female voices change during 7)adolescence just as do men's voices although not as noticeably. An adult female's vocal 5 chords normally vibrate about twice as fast as those of an adult male. As a result, her pitch is about an 8)octave higher than a male's pitch. An interesting 9)aside though, contrary to popular opinion, a person's height or weight does not, as a rule, affect the pitch of the voice, or its volume. When you meet a large or tall person, with a tiny high pitched voice, it usually comes as a surprise. And once upon a time it was thought that an opera singer had to be overweight in order to sing with force, not so.

    You should usually speak at a comfortable vocal 10)register. That's called your 11)optimum pitch. Your habitual 6 pitch on the other hand is the pitch range that you use most frequently, and a caution is in order, if you speak at too high or too low a pitch, some or most of the time, you may strain your 12)vocal cords. That habitual pitch that you spoke of should not be constant though. Expressive 7 speech requires that pitch be varied 8. Variety is also the spice of speech.

    And that's the second characteristic of speech, pitch variety is technically 9 called inflection. Inflecting your pitch, means that your voice rises and falls to 13)impart added richness and meaning to your speech. Inflection is the most important element giving meaning to our spoken thoughts. I might say,

   “Well, isn't this exciting?”

    I detect a note of sarcasm 10. I believe that while you were saying one thing, you meant another. That's a technique used quite often when we are insincere or teasing. Sarcasm can add humor to our speech, but it can also hide true intentions, and confuse our listeners.

     Well then how about this,

     “Oh isn't this exciting?”

    Wow, now that was real excitement and you communicated that excitement through inflection, and also I think you raised your energy level a trifle. And so you see that inflection is a powerful speech tool. Always use it to your advantage in speech.

    Let's move on now to the third characteristic of effective speech, energy. That's the level of enthusiasm with which you speak. Your level of energy varies of course to suit the setting in which you are speaking, and the subject matter you are addressing. Your energy level when speaking earnestly and quietly to a child wouldn't be used at a sporting event. That has to do with the speech setting of course.

    If your speech doesn't convey interest or enthusiasm, if it's lack 14)luster and boring, you'll need to work on injecting more energy into it. You should always maintain a natural level of excitement and energy when you speak. it must never seem forced or artificial, but when that energy is there, your listeners will pay more attention to what you have to say.

                        (To be continued)

流利美语训练妙方

   说话有六个特点，每一个都十分重要，都能影响谈话。在这一部分里，我们将仔细讨论每一个特点。这些特点对你和你说话的方式十分重要，如果你不喜欢自己的发声方式，你可以尝试一下改变这六个特点。记住，我们是逐个逐个讨论这些特点，但最后你必须将这些综合起来。它们是∶音高、变音、力度、持久度、节奏和音量。

   音高与声音的频率有关：高音和低音。音高由许多因素决定，其中包括你的性别和早期成长的环境的影响。如果你周围的人们常用高音说话，那你也应用音域中的最高三个音来说话。美国人喜欢用音域中的最低三个音说话，因此说话喜欢用高音的人应改正过来。基因遗传也是原因之一：如果父亲的嗓音很低，在唱诗班里唱低音，那么他的儿子在青春期发育后很可能也是低嗓音、唱低音。

   女性和男性一样，在青春期会变声，只不过没男性那么明显。成年女性声带振动的频率是成年男性的两倍，音高要比男子的高八度。说句题外话，有趣的是，一个人的身高和体重对他的音高和音量并没有规律性的影响，这和大家普遍所接受的观点并不一样。如果你遇到一个高个子或一个胖子，声音却又尖又细，你肯定会很吃惊。很久以前大家都认为，歌剧演员都应该很胖，这样唱起来才有力。其实不是这样。

   你说话的音域应该令人感到舒适，这个区域叫”舒适音高”。在另一方面，”习惯音高”则是你最常用的音高范围，注意：如果你总是音调太高或音调太低，声带就会疲劳。说话时不要总是用同一个音调，最好是多变一变。音调的变化是谈话的调味剂。

   这也是说话的第二个特征：变音，即声音的高低升降给你的说话带来更丰富的含义。变音是表达人心中所想的最重要的因素，我会说：

   “哦，这不是很有趣吗”？

   我听出了讥讽之意，我相信你说的和你想的并不是一回事。这是我们在表达非真实意图、开玩笑时所经常用到的技巧。讽刺能增强幽默感，但它同时也隐藏了真实的意图，使听者感到迷糊。

    那么，这句话又怎么样呢，

   “哦，这不是很有趣吗”？

    哇，这是真正的兴奋感，你通过变音表达了这种兴奋，并用了比平常稍强的力度。同时，你也可以看到，变音是一个很好的语言工具，可以多使用以增添语言上的优势。

   现在来讨论流利谈话的第三个特征：力度。也就是你说话时所用到的热情度，声音的力度将根据环境和你所谈论的话题而变。对一个孩子认真地而轻声地说话时所用的力度与在一场比赛中所用的说话力度是肯定不一样的。这与说话环境有关。

   如果你的说话缺乏兴趣和热情，有些枯燥，你可以提高说话力度。说话的时候，你必须维持一种自然的兴奋感和力度，永远也不要显得被动和做作，这样，你的谈话将吸引听者的更多注意力。

      （下期待续）

1) pitch   n. （音乐、说话的）音高      2 inflection  n. 变音，转调，语调的抑扬变化

3) duration  n. 持续，持久

4) tempo   n. 节拍，节奏     

5) acoustical   a. 由声音操纵的，能控制音响的

6) choir   n.（教堂的）唱诗班，合唱团。亦作quire

7) adolescence   n. 青春期，接近成熟的 

8) octave  n. 八度，八度音程，一音阶    

9) aside   n. 暂时离题；枝节话     10) register   n. （音乐）音域，声域   

11) optimum  a. 最适宜的，最好的

12) vocal cords 声带                            13) impart  vt. 传递；告知，通知

14) luster  n. 光彩，光泽