Practice Activities

Task 1. Read the utterances with the High Head. Take care to pronounce all the prenuclear syllables on the same high pitch.

1. What ·makes you think so? 2. He can’t make ·up his mind. 3. It de pends ·which ·way you go. 4. Have you ·made sure? 5. As near the ·front as possible. 6. I went there ·last year. 7. They came here ·last summer. 8. The re ception ·desk was de serted. 9. She settled into the ·group easily. 10. They keep ·making the ·same error. 11. The menu ·looked ·quite promising. 12. A lot of the ·information is personal.

Task 2. Practise the following pairs of utterances with the Stepping and the High Heads. Compare the pitch-level and the degree of prominence of the prenuclear stressed syllables in them.

1. I shan’t stay a minute longer.

I shan’t ·stay a ·minute longer.

2. How long do you want me to stay?

How long do you ·want me to stay?

3. At nine ·thirty to·morrow morning.

At nine thirty to morrow morning.

4. There’s nothing really wrong with you.

There’s nothing ·really wrong with you.

5. Tom was asked to be best man.

Tom was · asked to be ·best man.

6. Never leave cash in the house.

Never ·leave ·cash in the house.

7. Nobody dared to say anything.

Nobody ·dared to ·say anything.

Task 3.1. Read the conversational extracts below and pick out the utterances with the Stepping and the High Heads. Note the difference in the degree of formality.

1. - Ha llo. My name is Frank Duncan. Could I talk to Linda, ·please?

- I’ll find ·out if she is at home.

- Right.

- Sorry, but she won’t be ·back till Monday.

- Can you tell her to ring me when she gets back?

- With pleasure.

2. - Have you ·just ar rived?

- No, I ar rived on Monday. I rang ·up yesterday, but there wasn’t ·anyone who ·knew when you’d be in.

- Well now, I’d love to have a chat with you, but it’s a bit awkward this morning. The trouble is I’ve got a man coming to see me in a few minutes and I don’t ·know just ·how long the ·business’ll take.

Task 3.2. Read the conversational pieces from task 1.3a aloud. Take care of reproducing correctly the intonation of each utterance.

Task 4. Read the utterances with the Broken Descending Head. Notice the way in which the syllable carrying a special rise is indicated in each case.

1. He threw a way half of his chance of winning. 2. John says he won the ↑ first prize. 3. I think you are being very un fair. 4. This new kind of medicine is ↑ simply wonderful. 5. They stayed away for a ↑ very good reason. 6. His average reading speed is more than 30 pages an hour. 7. It can put great strain on our re lationship. 8. You must ar range things well in ad vance. 9. Some people are born with a ↑ gift for rhetoric.

Task 5. Change the type of the head in the utterances with the purpose of: a) conveying a formal, more serious attitude by giving equal semantic prominence to the prenuclear notional words; b) conveying an airy and light attitude by diminishing prominence on some of the prenuclear words; c) relieving the monotony of a long prenuclear part or giving extra semantic prominence to one or more prenuclear ideas.

Model 1: I thought you ·didn’t ap·prove of his be haviour.

I thought you didn’t ap prove of his be haviour.

1. Come as soon as you can. 2. She is desperate about losing control of her life. 3. You never have to stand in a line there. 4. But it’s a risk that we have been facing for years. 5. You are apt to regard it very seriously. 6. It wasn’t a very good idea. 7. They now intend to plan for the future. 8. You ought to have bought the tickets beforehand.

9. They are said to be of little use to society. 10. We ought to be given the right to know. 11. They are sure to let you know their decision. 12. You’d better go and see your dentist. 13. We were never treated as just as children. 14. Consumers need to be well-informed.

Model 2: Have a look at the timetable.

Have a ·look at the timetable.

1. He won’t be back till Saturday. 2. Let me know how you are getting on. 3. I shan’t be able to help you. 4. She actually became my best companion. 5. I have an appointment at seven thirty p.m. 6. You’d better stay in bed now. 7. It was a result they’d never expected or hoped for. 8. What sort of price you are asking for? 9. I don’t know what I must tell you. 10. They say he’ll have to stay in hospital. 10. She wanted me to buy some toothpaste and face-cream. 11. I’d better go and see my dentist.

Model 3: His worksare popular ·all over the world.

His works are popular all over the world.

1. I haven’t heard from him for over three months. 2. You should send the paper in the quickest time possible. 3. They are going to give him a thorough check-up. 4. You can keep this book as long as you like. 5. He has firm opinions about practically everything. 6. It was not like any song I’d ever heard before. 7. I’ve repeated it ten times already. 8. His speech seemed to be simply absurd.

Task 6.1a. Read the piece of discourse below and say where one can read or hear it. Then comment on the phonetic style and the type of the phonetic style it belongs to.

Theatres, Music Halls and Cinemas

Theatres¦ are very much the same in London¦ as anywhere else; | the chief theatres,¦ music halls¦ and cinemas ¦ are in the West End.|| If you’re staying in London for a few days, | you’ll have no difficulty whatso ever¦ in finding somewhere¦ to spend an en joyable time. || You’ll find opera, | ballet,¦ comedy,¦ drama,¦ re vue,¦ musical comedy¦ and va riety. || >Films are shown in the cinema| during the greater part of the day. || The best seats ¦ at theatres¦ are those in the stalls,¦ the circle,¦ and the upper circle.|| Then comes the pit, | and last of all the gallery, | where the seats are the cheapest.|| Boxes, of course,¦ are the most ex pensive.|| Most theatres¦ and music halls¦ have good orchestras¦ with popular con ductors. || You ought to make a point¦ of going to the opera¦ at least once during the season,| if you can…|| But, of course¦, if you’re not fond of music and singing, | opera won’t interest you.|| At the West ·End theatres | you can see most of the famous English actors and actresses…

Task 6.1b. Study the intonation marks in the transcript of the text “Theatres, Music Halls and Cinemas” and explain what extralinguistic factors might have influenced the intonation features of the text. Task 6.2. Read the text “Theatres, Music Halls and Cinemas” in front of a group of students. Observe the phonostylistic features of this type of reading. Task 6.3. Memorize the facts from the text “Theatres, Music Halls and Cinemas” and reproduce the information within the following situations: a)act as a teacher giving your students some information about places of entertainment in London; b)act as a guide telling the tourists what places they can find in London to spend an enjoyable time. Task *7.1Read the following text and say in which way it is similar to or different from the piece of discourse in task 6. Discuss non-linguistic features (the purpose, the subject-matter of the texts; what the reader’s occupation might be; where these pieces of discourse might be found) and linguistic ones (words, grammatical structures).

Work

Mark Twain pointed out that if work were so pleasant, the rich would keep it to themselves. But however much people may think they dislike work, everyone has a deep psychological need for it. Everyone wants to be valued, and wages and salaries are the visible proof that we matter. But some kind of work like bringing up children and housework are not usually seen as ‘proper jobs’. The only ‘proper job’ is one that provides paid employment. Being paid for a job in our society means higher personal status.

Of course we would also prefer work to be useful, pleasant and interesting – and also well-paid. But you don’t really have to enjoy you work to get pleasure from it. The fact that we have to overcome some difficulties in some way gives us pleasure. For example, having to be in a particular place at a particular time, working as part of a team towards a common goal, gives us a sense of purpose. Without work people may become untidy and lazy, and find they are unable to enjoy the leisure time which is available to them. When some people retire from work, they lose their sense of value and purpose. For most of their lives their personality, self-image and status have been defined by work. Without it they lose appetite for life. People who suddenly lose their jobs can find the situation particularly difficult. At a single stroke they lose all the advantages and status that a paid job provides. In a culture dominated by work, they are seen by those with jobs as incompetent and lazy. It is little wonder that stress and illness occur more frequently among the unemployed.

Employment is now changing, however. Information technology has already altered the world of work. For many the idea of a job is no longer realistic. Many people fear they will lose their jobs, and some have to accept the possibility of part-time work. Even the workplace itself may become a thing of the past with more and more people working at home. This means that we may no longer be able to depend on work to define our position in society, and that we will have to find new ways to give our lives a sense of value and purpose.

Task 7.2a. Now imagine the situation in which you might have to read the information about work aloud.

Task 7.2b. Mark the intonation in the text “Work” according to the situation you imagined. Then read the text aloud observing the intonation marks.

Task 8.1. Below you will find a broadcast news item. Scan the news item and then speak about the purpose of delivering this kind of information. Discuss the other factors that influence reading such texts.

'Thirty-five vehicles¦ were in'volved in a ↑ multiple col'lision on the 'M '1 motorway this morning. || The 'accident oc>curred | about 'three miles 'south of the 'Newsport 'Pagnell service area | when an ar >ticulated lorry | 'carrying a 'load of steel bars¦ jackknifed and over turned. || A number of 'lorry drivers¦ and motorists | were un'able to pull up in time | and 'ran into the 'overturned vehicle | 'causing a ↑ major >pile up.|| Some of the steel bars from the >load | were →flung by the impact | across the 'central re>serve into the 'southbound carriageway | which was re →stricted to 'single-lane 'working because of re'pairs and re surfacing | >causing several minor accidents. || With 'both 'carriageways blocked | po'lice closed the motorway for a time | and di version signs¦ were 'posted at the 'nearest slip roads. || 'Breakdown 'vehicles and ambulances¦ had con'siderable >difficulty¦ in 'reaching the scene of the accident | because of fog. || This was dense in places, | and the 'flashing 'amber light signals | had been 'switched >on¦ for 'most of the night. || So far | there are 'no re>ports | of 'anyone 'seriously injured in the accident...

Task 8.2a.Now read the text carefullyto make sure that you understand each sentence. Consult the dictionary in case you do not know words. Task 8.2b.Say in your own words what happened on the M1 motorway. Task 8.3.Read the broadcast news item aloud acting as a radio announcer. Task *9.1. Here is an extract from a news report. Read it carefully, sentence by sentence. Consult the dictionary in case you do not know words. A News Report:

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14