语调 Intonation

—选自《提高你的发音和语调》

每种语言都有它自己的旋律；没有哪种语言总是运行在一个不变的音调中。声音时起时落，不同的音高会构成语言不同的声调。在一些语言中，声调属于一个字，是这个字的一个组成部分，如果这个字的声调错了，它的含义也就变了。汉语和其它许多东南亚、非洲以及美洲部分地区的语言都有这样的特性。在这些语言中，若同样的声音以不同的声调发出，会产生截然不同的意思。如汉语普通话中的ma，若用平音，即用一声发音，其义是妈妈，若声音先降后升，即用三声发音，其义则是马，这区别很重要！在许多其他语言中，比如英语，声调不在单词上，而在词组中。如果你用不同的音调说No, 这个词的意思不变。然而，音调在英语中却起着重要的作用。同一个意群，我们可以坚定地说，也可以犹豫地说，我们可以生气地说，也可以和善地说，我们可以饶有兴趣地说，也可以索然寡味地说，而这些差别在很大程度上取决于不同的音调。意群本身的含义没变，但不同的音调却为它添加了一层含义，这层含义就是说话者当时情景中的感觉。这种使用音调的方式就叫语调。

Every language has melody in it; no language is spoken on the same musical note all the time. The voice goes up and down and the different pitches of the voice combine to make tunes. In some languages the tune mainly belongs to the word, being part of its shape, and if the tune of the word is wrong, its shape is spoiled. The Chinese language is like this and so are many others in South-east Asia, Africa and America. In these languages the same sounds said with different tunes may make quite different words. In Mandarin Chinese ma: said with level pitch means mother but ma: with a fall and a rise in pitch means horse, an important difference! In many other languages, of which English is one, the tune belongs not to the word but to the word group. If you say the English word No with different tunes it is still the same word, but nevertheless tune plays an important part in English. We can say a word group definitely or we can say it hesitatingly, we can say it angrily or kindly, we can say it with interest or without interest, and these differences are largely made by the tunes we use. The words do not change their meaning but the tune we use adds something to the words, and what it adds is the speaker’s feelings at that moment. This way of using tunes is called intonation.

英语的语调是英语固有的，不同于其它任何一种语言的语调。一些人认为语调对所有语言都是相同的，这种观点是错误的。你一定要学会英语的语调，尽管这种语调或许与你母语的语调截然不同；你也一定要学会英语语调的含义，因为这很重要。比如，thank you可以用两种不同的语调去表达：第一种，声音先升后降，表示说话人真心的感激；第二种，声音开始和结束的音高相同，这表示的是对某件不重要事情的随意应答。汽车售票员在接到你的车票钱时会用第二种语调说thank you，这很正常，因为他无需对你表示真心的感激。但若一位英国朋友邀你去他家度周末，而你也用第二种语调说thank you，他就会不高兴了，因为你的回答听起来毫无真心感激之情。你可能只是在语调方面犯了一个无辜的错误，但他却很难会这么想，他会认为你是在故意无礼。

English intonation is English. It is not the same as the intonation of any other language. Some people imagine that intonation is the same for all languages, but this is not true. You must learn the shapes of the English tunes, and these may be quite different from the normal tunes of your own language; and you must learn the meanings of the English tunes too, because they are important. For example, thank you may be said in two ways: in the first they voice starts high and ends low, and this shows real gratitude; in the second the voice starts high and ends high, and this shows a rather casual acknowledgement of something not very important. A bus conductor will say thank you in the second way when he collects your money and this is quite reasonable since he does not feel great gratitude. But if an English friend invites you to spend a week-end at his home and you reply with the second thank you instead of the first your friend will be offended because you don’t sound really grateful. You may have made an honest mistake but it is difficult for him to realize that. He will think that you are being impolite.

练好发音不需要费很大劲的说法纯属扯淡，除非你属于那种极少数天生就能掌握好发音的幸运儿。实际上，我们大多数人都需要勤奋努力地练习。要记住，每个人都可以有所提高，即使是那些没有什么语言天赋的人。但你若有真天赋，你一定会与众不同。或许你说的英语永远也不会像英语为母语的人说的那样地道，但至少你听起来会与他们很接近。

Anyone who says that you can get a good English pronunciation and intonation without hard work is talking rubbish, unless you happen to be one of the very small number of lucky people to whom pronunciation comes fairly easily. Most of us need to work hard at it. But one of the most important things to remember is that everyone can improve, even if they have no great talent for language. Quite apart from anything else, there is great satisfaction to be got from the development of what talent you have. You may never sound like a native English speaker, but at least you will have got as close to it as you can.