Say this sentence aloud and count how many seconds it takes.

首先请大声朗读下面这个句子，算算花了几秒。　　

The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.

Time required? Probably about 5 seconds. Now, try speaking this sentence aloud.

需要多长时间？差不多5秒。现在，大声朗读下面这个句子：

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.

Time required? Probably about 5 seconds.

需要多长时间？也就5秒。

Wait a minute the first sentence is much shorter than the second sentence!

等等等等，第一个句子比第二个短好多啊！两个句子放到一起比比看：

The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.

You are only partially right!

你说对了一半。

This simple exercise makes a very important point about how we speak and use English. Namely, English is considered a stressed language while many other languages are considered syllabic. What does that mean? It means that, in English, we give stress to certain words while other words are quickly spoken (some students say eaten!). In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length).

这个简单的练习体现了我们说英语非常重要的一个问题，就是，和其他音节语言不同，英语一种重音语言。这是什么意思呢？意思就是说，在英语中，我们会重点强调特定的词，而其他的词就说的很快，有的学生说是吞音了。其他语言中，比如法语或者意大利语，每个音节都是同等重要的，他们也有重音，但是每个音节的长度是固定的。

Many speakers of syllabic languages don't understand why we quickly speak, or swallow, a number of words in a sentence. In syllabic languages each syllable has equal importance, and therefore equal time is needed. English however, spends more time on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, less important, words.

很多说音节语言的人不明白为什么我们能把英语说的这么快或者吞掉这么多音，因为音节语言中每个音节都是同等重要的。英语是突出强调重要的词，剩下的不太重要的词就带过了。

Let's look at a simple example: the modal verb "can". When we use the positive form of "can" we quickly glide over the can and it is hardly pronounced.

举个简单的例子，我们用肯定式的"can"的时候，会很简单的滑过这个词，"can"几乎不发音。　　

They can come on Friday . (stressed words underlined)

他们周五能来。（有下划线的单词应该重读。）

On the other hand, when we use the negative form "can't" we tend to stress the fact that it is the negative form by also stressing "can't".

而当我们用否定的"can't"的时候，我们会加强否定语气。于是重读的单词就变成了：

They can't come on Friday .

他们周五不能来。

As you can see from the above example the sentence, "They can't come on Friday" is longer than "They can come on Friday" because both the modal "can't" and the verb "come" are stressed.

所以大家就知道，上面的例句中，"They can't come on Friday"说起来就比"They can come on Friday"要长了。因为"can't"和"come"都重读了。

关于can和can't重读的问题，这里有个很好的例子。下面一段音频出自美剧《灵指神探》（Pushing Daises）第一季的第二集（点击查看学习笔记）。

Ned：So it's probably better if you stay in the car for these morgue visits. Someone might recognize you.You really can't come in.（请大家注意听can't的发音）

（Chuck故意跟了进来）

Ned：Did I say "can"?Because I swallow my consonants sometimes."N'T.N'T." Can't come in

Ned：我们进太平间的时候你最好呆在车里，可能有人会认出你的，你真的不能跟我们一起进来。

Ned：我刚说的是“can”吗？因为我有时候说话会吞音。"N'T.N'T." Can't come in.

这里Ned说的话如果只靠听力的话可能我们是听不出他说的是can't，但是美国人说话如果不是否定式的话can是不会重读的，所以我们听这里可以从重读来判断Ned说的其实是否定的can't。这就是重音在沟通中的重要性。

So, what does this mean for my speaking skills?

那么，这对我们说英语来说意味着什么呢？

Well, first of all, you need to understand which words we generally stress and which we do not stress. Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDS such as