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Hi! I’m Tom Kelley, a Rachel’s English teacher.
嗨!我是汤姆.凯利，瑞秋英语栏目的老师。
And I’m here to tell you to relax! Chances are you can.
我是来告诉你学英语是要放轻松的！你很有可能会做到。
It’s really helpful when you’re speaking English.
当你说英语的时候，放松真的很有帮助。
Today’s practice tip is about thinking “vertically” rather than “horizontally” when you speak
今天的练习技巧是你说话的时候，要想着“纵向”而不是“横向”说话，
you’ll see what I mean in a second.
很快你就会明白我的意思。
A lot of my students are amazed to discover
我的很多学生都惊讶地发现，
that speaking English can actually take less effort than they are currently using.
说英语实际上使用的力气比他们现在所使用的要小得多。
Today I’m going to talk about one area of the face in which I see a lot of effort being used – the lips.
今天我要谈一谈脸上的一个部位，我发现这个部位在说话时用了很多力气，那就是嘴唇。
Some students tend to pull their lips back wide when speaking – I call this speaking horizontally.
有些学生在说话时倾向于把嘴唇向后拉开，我称之为横向说话。
I’m going to do it for a second. It’s like a bit of a smile on my face.
我要开始像那样横向地说一会儿话。这就像我脸上一直挂着一丝微笑一样。
And it tends to limit how much I drop my jaw.
而且这样往往会限制我下颌下降的程度。
It also changes the way I sound.
这也改变了我的发音方式。
It takes my vocal placement from a lower resonance, to a higher resonance.
它使我的声音共振从较低位置变到了较高位置。
We want to keep that low, open chest resonance when speaking English.
说英语时，我们想要保持位置较低的胸腔共振。
There are a few sounds in English that might require a little bit of horizontal stretch from the lips.
英语中有几个发音可能需要嘴唇稍微水平伸展一下。
For instance, the EE as in ME vowel.
例如，像ME元音中的EE。
Many students like to pull the lips back for this vowel sound. EE. EE.
很多学生喜欢把嘴唇向后拉来发出这个元音。EE。EE。
That’s fine. And you will achieve a clear EE vowel when you do that.
这样完全没问题。当你这样做的时候，你会发出一个清晰的EE元音。
But when you watch native speakers use words with the EE vowel
但是当你看到母语为英语的人使用带有EE元音的单词时，
you’ll notice that if the lip corners pull back, it’s a very subtle movement.
你会注意到即使他们的嘴角向后拉，动作也会非常微小。
For example, ‘easy’. ‘Easy’. My lip corners are barely pulling wide.
例如，“easy”。“ Easy”。我的嘴角几乎不会拉开。
Most of the EE vowel is made with the middle of my tongue arching up in the mouth.
我基本上都是舌头中间翘起来发出大部分EE元音。
Another vowel sound that might use a little bit of lip movement is the AA as in Hat vowel.
另一个可能需要稍微动一下嘴唇的元音是像Hat中的AA元音。
Many students will say “hat”, using a lot of lip tension.
很多学生会这样说“hat”，嘴唇很紧。
This tension can actually make your voice sound a little nasal.
这种紧张实际上会让你的声音听起来带有一点鼻音。
The vocal placement rises into the face and nasal passages.
发音的位置会上升到脸部和鼻腔。
Hat. My hat is missing. Instead, let the lips stay a bit more relaxed
Hat. My hat is missing. 相反，你需要让嘴唇保持稍微放松，
and let the tongue position be more important.
让舌头位置起更重要的作用。
For this vowel the tongue is wide
这个元音在发音时，舌头需要展开很宽，
and arching slightly up and forward in the mouth. Hat. My hat is missing.
在嘴里略微向上和向前拱起。Hat. My hat is missing.
Now the vocal placement sounds the same the whole way through the sentence.
现在发音位置在整个句子过程中听起来都是一样的。
Only with relaxation can you find that chest resonance.
只有放松，你才能找到胸腔共振。
I really encourage you to use a mirror to check and see if this is something you do.
我很认真地建议你用镜子照着检查一下，看看你自己是不是这样做的。
If you find that you tend to pull the lips corners back a lot when you speak,
如果你发现说话时嘴角倾向于向后拉很多，
see what happens if you speak “vertically”, rather than horizontally.
看看如果你“纵向”说话而不是横向说话会发生什么。
This means relaxing the lips and letting the jaw drop down a bit more for stressed syllables.
这意味着对于重读的音节，你需要放松嘴唇，让下颌再往下降一点。
Let’s run through some examples:
让我们来看一些例子：
Bed. Speaking horizontally: bed. Speaking vertically: bed.
Bed.横向说话：bed。纵向说话：bed。
It takes so much less effort to speak vertically.
纵向说话会更省力一些。
Same. Horizontal: same. Vertical: same.
Same. 横向说话：same。纵向说话：same。
To do this, you may need to move your tongue more than you are used to.
要做到这一点，你可能需要比你之前的时候更多地移动舌头。
If you’ve been using lip and jaw tension for the AY diphthong, for example,
例如，如果你一直在AY双元音中使用嘴唇和下颌的张力，
chances are you are pulling your lips wide.
那么你很可能会把嘴唇拉得更大。
Instead, just arch the middle of the tongue from a low, wide position in the mouth to a higher position.
其实不用这样做，你只需将舌头中部从嘴里较低、较宽的位置拱起到较高的位置即可。
AY. AY. And let the lips relax.
AY。AY。让嘴唇放松。
American English depends on a lot of flexible movement from the tongue
美式英语依赖于舌头的灵活运动，
so that the lips and jaw can stay relaxed.
这样嘴唇和下颌才能保持放松。
How about a couple practice sentences:
来看几组句子练习：
I love vacation days. Avoid the horizontal: vacation days.
I love vacation days.避免横向说话：vacation days。
And go vertical and relaxed. Vacation days. I love vacation days.
要纵向并放松地说话。Vacation days. I love vacation days.
Take the empty chair in the back. Horizontal: Take the empty chair in the back.
Take the empty chair in the back. 横向说话：Take the empty chair in the back。
Vertical: Take the empty chair in the back.
纵向说话：Take the empty chair in the back。
Again, hopefully you can hear how relaxing my lips and jaw
再次希望你能听到我的嘴唇和下颌
ends up changing the placement of my voice and the sound of my vowels and diphthongs.
是如何通过放松最终改变我的发音位置，以及我的元音和双元音的声音的。
Use a mirror when you practice to see if you are speaking horizontally.
当你练习的时候，你可以用镜子看看你是不是在横向说话。
If you are, cool! Now you know you get to relax.
如果你是的话，那就太棒了！现在你知道你可以放松了。
And it’s always great to remember that you’re allowed to relax.
当你记住你是可以放松的时候，你会一直感觉很棒。
I hope this tip has been helpful!
我希望这个技巧对你有帮助！
If you’re interested in learning more about taking private lessons with me,
如果你有兴趣了解更多关于和我一起上私教课程的信息，
click here or in the description below.
请点击这里或下面的描述。
Keep practicing, have fun, and thanks for using Rachel’s English.
继续练习，学得开心，谢谢你使用瑞秋英语。
