标准美语发音的13个秘诀 CD 1 Track 12（在线收听）

Exercise 1-5: Four Main Reason s for Intonation                   CD 1 Track 12 

Depending on the situation, a word may be stressed for any of the following reasons:   

New Information          Opinion           Contrast         "Can't" 

1. New Information 

It sounds like rain.  

Rain  is the new information. It's the most important  word in that sentence and you could replace everything else with duh-duh-duh. Duh-duh-duh rain  will still let you get your point across. 

V   Repeat:  Duh-duh-duh rain  I It sounds like rain.

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V Make  rain  very musical and put it on two notes:  ray-ayn. Duh-duh-duh  ray-ayn / It sounds like  ray-ayn.  

2.  Opinion 

It sounds like rain, but I don't think it is. 

In this case, intonation makes the mean ing the opposite of what the words say:  It looks like a diamond, but I think it's a zircon. It smells like Chanel, but at that pr ice, it's a knock-off. It feels like... It tastes like...  These examples all give the impression that you mean the opposite  of what your senses tell you. 

V Practice the intonation difference be tween new information and opinion:  

It sounds like rain.  (It's rain.) It sounds like rain,  (but it's not.) 

3.  Contrast 

He likes rain, but he hates snow. Like  and  hate  are contrasted and are the stronger words in the sentence.  

4.  Can't 

It  can't rain when there're no  clouds.  

Contractions (shouldn't, wouldn't)  and negatives  (no, not, never)  are important words since they totally negate the meaning of a sentence, but they are not usually stressed.  Can't is the exception.