在一個(gè)投票里,英國(guó)人選出10個(gè)他們認(rèn)為發(fā)音最有挑戰(zhàn)性的單詞。
The word we find hardest to pronounce is 'phenomenon‘。
最難發(fā)音的單詞是“phenomenon(現(xiàn)象)”。
Next in the top 10 of tongue-twisters are 'remuneration’, and'statistics‘。
在十大饒舌單詞里,緊跟著的是“remuneration(酬金)”和“statistics(統(tǒng)計(jì))”。
Speakers also have a problem getting their tongue aroundethnicity, hereditary and particularly, according to the bodycharged with recording public utterances。
根據(jù)公共話語(yǔ)有關(guān)人體發(fā)音的記錄,說(shuō)話者在說(shuō)“ethnicity(種族地位)”“hereditary(遺傳的)”“particularly(特別地)”這幾個(gè)詞時(shí)都有舌頭很難轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)的問(wèn)題。
Completing the list are conjugal, specific, processes anddevelopment。
列表余下的單詞有“conjugal(婚姻的)”“specific(特殊的)”“processes(過(guò)程)”“development(發(fā)展)”。
Leah Willersdorf, of the BIVR, said: 'We work with manydifferent types of professionals and hear all kinds of voicesduring our work.'
'However, when it comes to the English language it always seems tobe the same few words that verbally trip people up, with thespeaker having to repeat the word in order to get it right, or justabandoning their attempts and moving on.'
英國(guó)某研究所專家表示“我們跟很多不同專業(yè)的人合作,聽過(guò)多種聲音。”
“然而,當(dāng)我們研究英語(yǔ)時(shí),我們發(fā)現(xiàn)總有幾個(gè)單詞人們發(fā)音時(shí)都會(huì)被它們絆倒,說(shuō)話者要重復(fù)該單詞以糾正發(fā)音,又或者直接不說(shuō)這些單詞,繼續(xù)他們的話題。”
The poll of tongue twisters was in response to a query by themakers of Scrabble who say one in ten players are reluctant to usewords they cannot pronounce。
University of York sociolinguistics expert Professor Paul Kerswillsaid the English language has evolved to compensate for trickypronunciations but some words remain a challenge。
He said: 'People always find a way of simplifying words that theyfind difficult to get their tongues round, so that an everyday wordlike 'handbag' sounds like 'hambag’。
'Our forebears simplified 'waistcoat' to 'weskit' – but we'veturned our backs on that。
饒舌單詞投票是由拼字游戲(Scrabble)制作者編制的,他說(shuō),十分之一玩家如果覺(jué)得這個(gè)單詞難發(fā)音,他們就不愿意使用。
約克大學(xué)社會(huì)語(yǔ)言學(xué)專家表示,英語(yǔ)已經(jīng)進(jìn)化了一些聽起來(lái)很可笑的發(fā)音的單詞,但是有些單詞仍然是一個(gè)挑戰(zhàn)。
他說(shuō):“人們總會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)一些很常用的單詞很難轉(zhuǎn)動(dòng)舌頭來(lái)發(fā)音,就比如我們?nèi)粘5膯卧~‘handbag(手袋)’,聽起來(lái)就像‘hambag’。”
“我們的祖先簡(jiǎn)化了‘waistcoat(馬甲、背心)’成為‘weskit’,但我們卻對(duì)此呲之以鼻。”
試試看你讀得順口不
phenomenon n. 現(xiàn)象;奇跡;杰出的人才
remuneration n. 報(bào)酬;酬勞,賠償
statistics n. 統(tǒng)計(jì);統(tǒng)計(jì)學(xué);[統(tǒng)計(jì)] 統(tǒng)計(jì)資料
ethnicity n. 種族劃分
hereditary adj. 遺傳的;世襲的;世代相傳的
particularly adv. 特別地,獨(dú)特地;詳細(xì)地
conjugal adj. 婚姻的;結(jié)婚的;夫妻之間的
specific adj. 特殊的,特定的;明確的;詳細(xì)的
process n. 過(guò)程,進(jìn)行;方法,步驟
development n. 發(fā)展;開發(fā)