跟读练习: English Modal Verbs - May, Might, Could, Can - Talking About Possibilities - 通过视频学习英语口语

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Hi, I'm Mikey, and welcome to Oxford Online English.
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In this lesson, you can learn how to use the English modal verbs may, might, can, and could.
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You'll learn how to use these modal verbs to talk about possibilities in English.
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Modal verbs are powerful because you can use them to express many different ideas and complex nuances of meaning.
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However, they are also difficult to use well.
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Each modal verb can be used in many different ways.
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You can use might, could, or may to say that something is possible in the present or in the future.
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For example, they could be brothers.
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They look so alike.
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I think it's possible that they're brothers. Where are my keys?
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They might still be in the car.
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I think it's possible that your keys are still in the car.
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It's raining here, but it may be sunny there.
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I think it's possible that it's sunny there.
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These sentences are all about the present.
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There's no difference between could, might, and may here.
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You can use any of these modal verbs in any of these sentences.
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It doesn't matter.
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Could and might are more common than may, but you can choose which modal verb you use.
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Be careful with may be and maybe .
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Maybe two words is a modal verb plus the verb be.
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Maybe one word is an adverb.
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They aren't the same.
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You can also talk about possibilities in the future.
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It could cost more than you expect.
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I think it's possible that it will cost more than you expect.
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You might miss the train unless you leave now.
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I think it's possible that you'll miss the train if you don't leave now.
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I may be around five minutes late.
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I think it's possible that I'll be a little late.
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It doesn't matter if you're talking about the present or the future.
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You can use these modal verbs in the same way.
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People will understand if you're talking about the present or the future from the context.
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For example, she might be there already.
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She might be there tomorrow.
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Here, the first sentence is about the present, and the second is about the future.
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You can understand this from the meaning, not from the modal verb.
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You can also make negatives by adding NOT after the modal verb.
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Use negatives to say you think it's possible that something is not true, or that something will not happen in the present or the future.
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In this case, you can only use may or might.
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You can't use could to talk about negative possibilities.
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For example, they might not be ready.
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I think it's possible that they aren't ready.
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This could be in the present or in the future.
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You can't tell just from this sentence.
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He may not be able to help you.
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I think it's possible that he won't be able to help you.
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There's no difference between using may or might here, but remember that there's no way to use could in these sentences.
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What about can?
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We haven't mentioned can until now because can behaves differently.
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Let's see how.
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Look at an example that you just saw.
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She might be there tomorrow.
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This is a specific possibility.
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You're talking about one person, one place, and one time.
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Let's add some more details to make it easier to see this.
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Sarah might be at the party tomorrow.
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You can use might, may, or could to express specific possibilities.
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You use can to express general possibilities.
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You've seen what a specific possibility is.
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What does general possibility mean?
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Can you explain it?
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A general possibility is something which is true for many people in many places at many times.
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For example, it can take two hours to get to the airport if the traffic's bad.
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This possibility doesn't apply to one person at one time.
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It applies to anyone who tries to get to the airport when the traffic's bad.
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Let's look at some more examples.
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It can be very wet and cold in spring here.
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This is possible every year, not just in one year.
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He can be very difficult to deal with when he's in a bad mood.
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This is possible every time he's in a bad mood, not just one time.
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Moving countries can be a stressful experience.
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It's possible that moving countries is stressful whoever you are, wherever you move to, and whenever you do it.
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If you're talking about general possibilities, you can only use can.
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You can't use could, might, or may.
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General possibilities refer to both the present and the future together.
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For example, if you say, it can be very wet and cold in spring here, you mean that this is possible this year,
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in the present, and next year, in the future, and the year after that and so on.
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Also, general possibilities are only positive.
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There is no such thing as a negative general possibility.
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Let's practice.
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Look at four sentences.
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For each one, decide if it expresses a general possibility or a specific possibility.
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Which modal verbs could you use in each case?
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Pause the video and think about your answers.
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If it's difficult, review this part and the previous part of the video.
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Ready?
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Let's look at the answers.
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In the first sentence, the word tomorrow makes it specific.
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Tomorrow is one day.
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That means you can use could, might, or may in this sentence.
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In the second sentence, in July in the south is a general idea.
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You're talking about one place, but you're also talking about every year, so you should use can.
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In the third sentence, you're talking about a general tendency which she has.
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She can get angry any time when people don't listen to her, not just one time.
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So you need to use can.
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The fourth sentence is talking about one reaction to one thing.
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The words when she finds out refer to one piece of news, which she will find out at a specific time in the future.
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So you need to use could, might, or may.
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Now you've seen how to use might, may, could, and can to talk about possibility in the present or the future.
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But what about the past?
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Let's start with some examples.
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Look at three sentences and try to work out how to talk about possibilities in the past.
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Where is he?
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I guess he might have missed the train.
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I don't know where the tickets are.
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I may have left them in the hotel.
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What was that noise?
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I suppose it could have been the wind.
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To talk about possibilities in the past, use could, might, or may, plus have, plus a past participle.
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Again, it doesn't matter if you use could, may, or might here.
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There's no difference in meaning.
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You can't use can in these sentences.
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There's no way to use can to express possibility in the past.
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What do these sentences mean?
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Can you explain what they're saying in other words?
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The first sentence means that you think it's possible that he missed the train.
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You're waiting for him.
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You don't know where he is, or why he's late.
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In the second sentence, you're saying that it's possible that the tickets are in the hotel.
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You don't know where the tickets are.
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In the third sentence, you heard a noise and you aren't sure what it was.
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You're saying that it's possible that it was the wind.
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You can also talk about negative possibilities in the past, like this.
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He might not have heard you.
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It's possible that he didn't hear you.
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Their plane may not have arrived yet.
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It's possible that their plane hasn't arrived yet.
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As before, you can only use may or might to talk about negative possibilities.
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You can't use could in these sentences.
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There's another way in which could behaves differently.
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Let's look.
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All the examples you saw in the last section, positive and negative, you're talking about situations where you don't know what happened in the past.
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For example, if you say, their plane may not have arrived yet, you don't know if their plane has arrived or not, you aren't sure.
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What about this sentence?
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You could have hurt yourself.
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Be more careful next time.
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This example is different.
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Can you see how?
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If you don't know, here's a clue.
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In this sentence, do you know what happened or not?
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Did the person you're talking to hurt themselves or not?
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In this sentence, you know what happened.
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The person didn't hurt themselves.
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You're saying that getting hurt was a possibility, but luckily it didn't happen.
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So there are two kinds of possibility in the past.
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One, you don't know what happened and you're making a guess.
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Two, you know what happened and you're talking about a possibility which didn't occur.
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In the first case, you can use any of the three verbs may, might, or could.
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In the second case, you can only use could.
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You often need this when you're talking about something bad which didn't happen.
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Let's see some more examples of this second case.
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They were very unlucky.
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They could easily have won.
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They didn't win, but it was close, so winning was a possibility.
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She could have lost all of her money when the company went under.
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She didn't lose all of her money, but it was a possibility.
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Of course, being in an accident was scary, but it could have been much worse.
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The accident wasn't serious, but worse results were a possibility.
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In all of these sentences, you know what happened in the past, and you're talking about a past possibility which didn't actually happen.
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Now you've seen how to use the modal verbs might, may, can, and could to talk about possibilities in English.
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Let's put everything you've learnt together.
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Might, could, or may can be used to talk about specific possibilities in the present or the future.
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Take a jumper.
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It might be cold outside.
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It could be a good game tomorrow.
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You can use can to talk about general possibilities.
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Using a credit card can be an expensive way to buy things.
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You can use could, may, or might, plus have, plus a past participle to talk about possibilities in the past.
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They may have got lost.
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I'll call them and find out where they are.
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You can use may or might to talk about negative possibilities, meaning there's a possibility That something won't happen or didn't happen.
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It might work, but it might not.
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He may not have seen the message yet.
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Finally, you can use could to talk about two kinds of possibilities in the past.
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Situations where you know what happened, and situations where you don't know what happened.
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You could have missed the plane.
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Don't be late next time.
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I'm not sure why he isn't here.
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I guess he could have missed the plane.
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Do you need practice with this topic?
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Visit OxfordOnlineEnglish.com for the full lesson, including a quiz to help you check your understanding of English modal verbs.
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Thanks for watching!
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See you next time!

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推荐视频

本课的词汇与口语要点

这节 B2 级别的口语课以视频“English Modal Verbs - May, Might, Could, Can - Talking About Possibilities”为素材。 视频中反复出现的词有:sentence, possibilities, possibility, verb, modal。 这段视频共有 184 个句子、1857 个单词可供跟读。 讲话部分时长为 13:36。 说话人语速平稳,每分钟约 137 个词,很适合跟读。 91% 的单词属于英语最常用的 3,000 词,词汇容易理解。

视频中的重点词汇

视频中最难的 13 个单词,附发音和释义:

单词发音释义
verb 名词/vɝb/動詞 /动词
participle 名词/ˈpɑɹtɪˌsɪpəl/分詞 /分词
behave 动词/bɪˈheɪv/為人 /为人
sunny 形容词/ˈsʌni/晴朗
nuance 名词/ˈnjuː.ɑːns/細微區別 /细微区别, 小差異 /小差异
unlucky 形容词/ʌnˈlʌki/不幸, 不走運 /不走运
jumper 名词/ˈd͡ʒʌmpɚ/套衫
quiz 名词/kwɪz/測驗 /测验, 競猜 /竞猜
luckily 副词/ˈlʌk.ɪ.li/好在, 所幸
tendency 名词/ˈtɛn.dən.si/趨勢 /趋势, 傾向 /倾向
pause 名词/pɔːz/停頓 /停顿, 暫停 /暂停
alike 形容词/əˈlaɪk/相似, 相同
clue 名词/kluː/線索 /线索

视频中出现的短语动词

单词发音释义
find out 动词找出, 查明
work out 动词/ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/計算 /计算, 算出

值得反复跟读的句子

视频中简短而完整的句子,可以直接用在日常对话里:

  • I think it's possible that they're brothers.
  • Which modal verbs could you use in each case?
  • Can you explain what they're saying in other words?
  • Did the person you're talking to hurt themselves or not?
  • Do you need practice with this topic?

视频中的语法

说话人最常用的结构,并附上视频中的原话:

结构视频中的用法
现在完成时 have/has + 过去分词 — 过去发生但与现在仍有关联的事haven't mentioned · You've seen · hasn't arrived
定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物something which is · anyone who tries

需要注意的发音

说话人用了 68 次缩略和弱读形式,例如 you're, don't, didn't。请按听到的简短形式来说。

中文母语者容易读错的音:

  • /v/ — 不要读成 /w/,上齿轻触下唇: verb /vɝb/, behave /bɪˈheɪv/
  • 词尾辅音 — 要读清楚,后面不要加元音: verb /vɝb/, behave /bɪˈheɪv/, nuance /ˈnjuː.ɑːns/, quiz /kwɪz/, pause /pɔːz/
  • /r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: participle /ˈpɑɹtɪˌsɪpəl/, stressful /ˈstɹɛsfəl/

如何用这段视频练习

  1. 先完整听一遍视频,不要开口,记下不认识的单词。
  2. 用正常速度逐句跟读,每句重复到你的节奏与说话人一致为止。
  3. 录下自己的声音并与原声对比,特别注意 verb, participle, behave 这类单词。

什么是跟读法?

跟读法 (Shadowing) 是一种有科学依据的语言学习技巧,最初开发用于专业口译员的培训,并由多语言者Alexander Arguelles博士普及。这个方法简单而强大:您在听英语母语原声的同时立即大声重复——就像是一个延迟1-2秒紧跟说话者的影子。与被动听力或语法练习不同,跟读法强迫您的大脑和口腔肌肉同时处理并模仿真实的讲话模式。研究表明它能显着提高发音准确性,语调,节奏,连读,听力理解和口语流利度——使其成为雅思口语备考和真实英语交流最有效的方法之一。

影子跟读法: 阅读完整分步指南 →