The following 2 questions are based on the passage. Read the passage
carefully again and answer the questions briefly by referring the
passage. Pronouncing a language is a
skill. Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own
language; but few people are even moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign
languages. Now there are many reasons for this, some obvious, some perhaps not
so obvious. But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do
not speak foreign languages very much better than they do their own languages is
that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problems of learning to
pronounce, and consequently never set about tackling it in the right way. Far
too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language is a
skill—one that needs careful training of a special kind, and one that cannot be
acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself. I think,
even teachers of language, while recognizing the importance of a good accent,
tend to neglect the branch of study concerned with speaking in their practical
teaching. So, the first point I want to make here is that the teacher should be
prepared to devote some of the lesson time to the teaching of English
pronunciation. There should be occasions when other aspects of English, such as
grammar or spelling, are allowed for the moment to take second place.
Apart from this question of the time given to pronunciation, there are
two other requirements for the teacher: the first, knowledge; the second,
technique. It is important that the teacher should be in
possession of the necessary information. This can generally be obtained from
books. It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech,
and of what we call general phonetic theory. But the first and most important
part of a language teacher’s technique is his own performance, his ability to
demonstrate the spoken language, in every detail of articulation (发音) as well as
in fluent speaking, so that the student’s talent capacity for imitation is given
the fullest scope and encouragement. What are the three basic requirements for the foreign language teacher in teaching pronunciation
【参考答案】
(1)The first requirement for foreign language teachers is th......