Let’s look at a simple example: the modal verb “can”. When we use the positive form of “can”, we quickly glide over the “can” and it is hardly pronounced.

They can come on Friday.

On the other hand, when we use the negative form “can’t” we tend to stress the fact that it is the negative form by also stressing “can’t”.

They can’t come on Friday.

As you can see from the above examples, the sentence “They can’t come on Friday” is longer than “They can come on Friday” because both the modal “can’t” and the verb “come” are stressed.

So, what does this mean for our speaking skills?

Well, first of all, you need to understand which words we generally stress and which we do not stress. Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDS such as:

nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter

(most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct

adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting

adverbs e.g. often, carefully

Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDS such as:

determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few

. auxiliary verbs e.g. don’t, am, can, were

. prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite

. conjunctions e.g. but, while, as

. pronouns e.g. they, she, us

Let’s return to the beginning example to demonstrate how this affects speech.

The beautiful mountain appeared transfixed in the distance. (14 syllables)

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn’t have to do any homework in the evening. (22 syllables)

Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are 5 stressed words in each sentence. From this example, you can see that you needn’t worry about pronouncing every word clearly to be understood (we native speakers certainly don’t). You should, however, concentrate on pronouncing the stressed words clearly.

Now, do some listening comprehension or go speak to your native English speaking friends and listen to how they concentrate on the stressed words rather than giving importance to each syllable. You will soon find that you can understand and communicate more because you begin to listen for (and use in speaking) stressed words. All those words that you thought you didn’t understand are really not crucial for understanding the sense or making yourself understood. Stressed words are the key to excellent pronunciation and understanding of English.

I hope this short introduction to the importance of stress in English will help you to improve your understanding and speaking skills.

相信大家都能看懂這段文字，英語為母語的人是如何來說英語的：重讀和輕讀是非常非常重要的一個環(huán)節(jié)。英語是一種強調化語言，跟其他語言有很大的差別。因此，雅思口語考生在考場中說英文的時候也要特別注意這一點，有意識地去重讀那些想要強調的詞，弱讀一些介詞和連詞等。要練到像美國人或者英國人那樣說話必須有4～6周的強化訓練，專門去準備一些雅思口語的題目和參考答案來練習重讀和語調。

另外一個特點就是句子節(jié)奏。說英語一定要有節(jié)奏。有考生會問：“我怎么能夠說英語有節(jié)奏呢？有沒有什么教程呢？”答案其實非常簡單，有兩種方法可以使大家說話有節(jié)奏：第一是看美劇Friends或者Prison Break，這種喜劇類和劇情類的美劇中的對話都是非常夸張的，看多了說話就有節(jié)奏了。第二就是多聽R&B或者Hip-Hop的英文歌曲。

那么對于雅思口語考試的發(fā)音，考官是怎么看的呢？下面一段是雅思口語考官對于發(fā)音這部分打分的解釋：

★ Overall, clear and understandable pronunciation is the main thing.

★ Secondly, the correct use of the following features will determine the pronunciation grade:

☆ basic word pronunciation;

☆ linked speech sounds;

☆ correct and appropriate sentence stress (i.e., which word or words in a sentence are stressed more than others);

☆ appropriate use of intonation (rising and falling) to emphasize meaning.

★ Slightly inaccurate (= unclear) pronunciation is usually understandable if the correct

words and grammar are used but slightly inaccurate pronunciation combined with other errors can result in language that is not understandable at all.

★ American pronunciation is acceptable.

優(yōu)秀的發(fā)音是雅思口語考試高分的關鍵，但是光靠發(fā)音是不夠的，還需要注重其他幾個方面。