導語：英語的聽力練習是我們學習英語的.重要組成部分。俗語說聽說讀寫，聽還是排在第一位的。下面我們一起來看看這些聽力範文吧。
Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on expressing ability in the past.
There are two ways of expressing ability in English. One, “can” or “could”. Two, “be able to”. In negative sentences, there’s no difference in meaning. So, “I couldn’t lift the piano” and “I wasn’t able to lift the piano” mean the same thing. However, in affirmative sentences about past ability, “could” usually means “used be able to”. The use of “could” usually indicates that the ability existed in the past, but does not exist now.
For example, “When I was young, I could run fast” means that I can not run fast now. On the other hand, if the speaker is talking about an ability to do something at one particular time in the past, “was/were able to” can be used in affirmative sentences, but “could” cannot.
For example, your car broke down. It stopped working. So you took it to get fixed two days ago. When I saw you today, you told me that the mechanic fixed your car. If you said, “The mechanic could fix my car yesterday”, that sentence is not correct. You must say, “The mechanic was able to fix my car yesterday” or “The mechanic managed to fix my car yesterday.”
Let’s look at another example. I have been looking for a CD I like for a long time. I could not find it. I was not able to find it for a long time. But yesterday I was able to find it. Yesterday I managed to find it. But you cannot say, “Yesterday I could find it.”
Remember “I could not” and “I was not able to” are the same, but “I could” and “I was able to” are not the same. “I could” means I used to be able to, but now I’m not able to. “I was able to” means I have the ability at one particular time in the past.
This has been today’s daily tip on learning English. Tune in tomorrow for another tip.
listen 2Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on using the articles “a”, “an” and “the” correctly.
Every student of English has my sympathy in his struggles with the English articles. They are one of the most difficult parts of learning English. First of all, I urge you to do this. Listen to native speakers. When you listen, listen carefully, since the articles “the” and “a” are almost never emphasized, they do not stand out prominently in speech, but they’re pronounced. You will have to train your ears so that you will recognize that the little sounds before certain words are articles, and not meaningless noises. Also, get in the habit of pronouncing the articles in the way native speakers do. As little sounds that are part of the word they precede. For instance, think of and say “the boy”as one word. Listen to this short sentence. The boy likes the girl. Say it naturally, the boy likes the girl. Did you notice how the articles are just small sounds linked to the nouns? Listen to another example. There is a pen on a desk in the classroom. Say it naturally, there is a pen on a desk in the classroom. Did you notice how all the sounds, especially articles are linked together? The article “an” is used before nouns beginning with a vowel sound, such as “an apple”. Notice how the “n” sound is linked to the word which follows it. Also notice that words that spelled with the letter “h” in the beginning such as “hour” also use the article “an” because the “h” isn’t pronounced. So we say, “an-our”, not “a hour”. And some words spelled with the letter “u” in the beginning such as “unicycle” use the article “a” because the first sound is the “y” sound “j”. So we say, a unicycle, not an unicycle.
It’s also important to note that the pronunciation of the article “the” changes to “δi :” before words beginning with a vowel sound. So we say “δi :” elevator, not “δэ”elevator.
Another tip is, do not be misled by newspaper headlines, advertisements and titles of book and so forth. They frequently omit articles which are necessary in complete sentences in both spoken and written English. Knowing when to use “a”, when to use “the”, and when not to use any article at all is undoubtably one of the most difficult aspects of learning English. We will talk about this topic more in an upcoming daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip on learning English.
listen 3Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on word stress on sentences.
In general, it is true that content words are stressed whereas function words are not stressed. Content words usually convey the meaning of the sentence. Function words make the sentence grammatically correct. Content words are: nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs, this, that, these, those, and “wh-“ words, who, what, when, why, how, which. Function words are: articles, such as “a” and “the”; possessive adjectives, such as “his”, “my”, “your”; prepositions, such as “in”, “on”, “of”; conjunctions, such as “and”, “but”; personal pronouns, such as “ I”, “he”, “she”; the “be” verb, “am”, “is”, “are”, “was”, “were”; and auxiliaries, such as “do”, “does”, “did”.
Take for example the sentence “Andrew brushes his teeth every morning.” The content word alone can convey the meaning of the sentence, namely “Andrew brushes teeth every morning.” The functional word “his” only makes the sentence grammatically correct. So “his” is unstressed, the other words are stressed. Why isn’t “his” stressed? Because of course he brushes his teeth, not your teeth, or my teeth. This we would naturally assume. If, however, Andrew brushes someone else’s teeth beside his own, then it would be very important to let your listener know that by stressing whose teeth he brushes.
So, what words should be stressed? The simple answer is whatever words are important to the meaning you are trying to convey. if someone write the sentence on the board out of context and asks, “Which words are important? Which words should you stress?” You should answer, “That depends on the context.” Stress is used to let your listener know what is important to your message. If you stress words properly, your listener will have an easy time understanding your message. If you stress every word equally, then your listener will have to listen very carefully and try to guess the main point of your message. If your stress the wrong words, the listener will misunderstand your message or just feel very confused. So remember to stress the important words to your massage.
This has been today’s daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip on learning English.
