英语绕口令

士川人

绕口令(tongue twister 或 wordcramp)是一种传统的口语游戏，各民族语言中都有。在我国过去曾有人提议让刚会说话的幼儿，连续说几十遍“一个烙铁，烙铁一个”来锻炼孩子的口齿，因为稍不留意就会说成“一个老爹，老爹一个”。英国的父母也常让他们的小孩快速反复地说“red lorry, yellow lorry, greenlorry.”来锻炼他们的口齿，真可谓有异曲同工之妙。反复朗读能使人口齿伶俐，有助于矫正发音不清，分辨英语中一些类似的元音和辅音。例如，下面两例绕口令，就对学生正确读音有帮助。 　　1. The hunter and his huge house hid behind the house. 　　2. She sells seashells on the seashore, and theshells she sells are seashells, I am sure. If she sells shells at theseashore, the shells she sells are seashells, for sure. 　　对于演员来说，当然要口齿清楚伶俐，所以有的剧团或导演在招考演员时，常要应试者背诵绕口令，以检查其语言流畅的程度。下面就是两段常使用的绕口令： 　　At noon I took a good book. And sat by the pool inthe wood. I soon took off my boot. And put my foot in the pool. Oh! Howcool, how cool. 　　另一则是： 　　Robert Rolly rolled a round roll round. If RobertRolly rolled a round roll round, where is the round roll Robert Rollyrolled around? 　　人们饮酒过多，讲话就不清楚，也就是人们通常所说，说起话来舌头打卷。因此，英国警察曾让司机跟读下面的绕口令，以检查其是否饮酒过量。 　　Little Lily and Little Nelly are writing letters. Let's leave Little Nelly and Little Lily alone. 　　Walter was wailing, worrying and watching the wet weather and the wet wind. 　　有的牙科医生也让他们的患者朗读绕口令，以便检查新镶的假牙是否合适。      下面两个绕口令，因为含有摩擦音而很适合这种需要。 　　The sun shines on the small shop signs. 　　Sally always suffers from sea- 　　sickness when she is at sea. 　　甚至有人相信有些绕口令可以医治打嗝。据说当你打嗝时，一口气把“吹笛的彼得”(Peter Piper)这个绕口令读下来，打嗝就会停止。 　　Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. 　　A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked; 　　If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, 　　Where is the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? 　　说绕口令，关键是既要说得流利，又要吐字清楚，一气呵成。做到反复数遍而不出错误。如果读者对绕口令有兴趣，不妨将上面这些绕口令反复读或背下来，对你的英语口语水平的提高一定大有裨益。