跟读练习: English Phrases for Daily Conversation (Practice Small Talk!) - 通过视频学习英语口语
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Hello, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
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This video is perfect for intermediate to advanced English learners who want to improve their conversation skills.
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I'm going to share the exact phrases and expressions
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that are used during small talk and if you're wondering what is small talk again?
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It's polite conversation about unimportant everyday topics
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but it really helps you to connect with other people and to get them to trust you and to like you.
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Knowing how to do small talk is essential in social situations
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but it's also incredibly important in professional situations as well when you're getting to know your colleagues,
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when you are building rapport with your customers and your clients,
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when you're meeting new people at networking events or at conferences, it's so useful.
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So I'm going to share the exact questions and phrases
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that you need to keep your small talk and your English conversations going.
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Small talk is such a big part of the English language and of English culture generally.
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We really like to ease into conversations with a little bit
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of small talk first rather than dive straight into something deeper and meaningful.
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I know that for some of you, native speakers and non -native speakers alike,
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this situation, small talk, can create a little bit of anxiety.
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What am I going to say?
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What am I going to talk about?
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How am I going to finish the conversation and leave?
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It's nerve -wracking but don't worry, we're going to get lots of practice today.
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I just want to take a few seconds here to give
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a little shout out to the members of Hey Lady who are watching today.
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Hey ladies!
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It's great to see you here!
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If you haven't heard yet, Hey Lady is our online community helping women to succeed in English.
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We make it easy and safe to meet new speaking partners and give you interesting topics to talk about together.
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We have an amazing team of expert English coaches who'll encourage and support you at every step.
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It's the perfect place to practise because you can make mistakes without feeling judged
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and make real progress even if you don't have a lot of time to spare.
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As long as your English level is intermediate or above then your English is good enough to join the community.
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And if you sign up today, you can experience everything we offer free for ten days.
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I've put the link down in the description below.
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Make sure you check it out and I hope to see you inside.
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The first thing we need to do is start the conversation.
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We need to create the opportunity for small talk
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and did you know that there are some better ways to ask how are you
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and this is going to blow your mind,
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good and fine are not the only ways to respond to that question so when someone asks you how are you,
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you can try responding with I've been keeping busy.
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It's a really good, really neutral answer.
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It indicates that you've had a lot of things going on in life
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but you don't need to go into all the detail about it.
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It's just kind of like I've been busy
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but you could also say not bad thanks
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and of course then we need to pass the conversation back but instead of just asking how are you,
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try how's it going with you?
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This is very informal, very relaxed and casual or what have you been up to lately?
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So this question is asking for a little bit more detail so it's a bit more genuine.
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You can ask it if you really want to find out what have you been doing lately?
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What's been going on?
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And if someone asks you this question all you need to do is listen for the grammar
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that they used and reflect it back in your answer
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so you would respond using the present perfect or the present perfect continuous.
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I've been busy training the new marketing manager or
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if you want to avoid this question altogether and just move the conversation on to something else, you can say nothing special, how about you?
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You might want to ask something a little more specific especially if you're talking to someone that you know.
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You can ask them something about their life using how is So you can say how's work going?
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How's your family?
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How's uni?
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How's university?
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And this is really great because you're showing an interest in them.
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You could ask them about something you know that they've done recently by asking with how was?
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How was your trip to Portugal?
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How was the exam?
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All you have to do is switch out the noun at the end to complete the question.
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Really easy, right?
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So another really common setting for small talk is in the office.
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So what are some of these advanced useful phrases for making conversation in English at work?
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A really great strategy for small talk generally but especially at work is to look for common ground.
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When you find something in common with the person that you're talking to, you'll see that making conversation becomes easier because you have this shared interest,
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it's something that you both want to talk about but the tricky part is finding that common ground in the first place.
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So first try talking about work with your colleagues.
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I can't believe how busy we are today, can you?
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And their response could be, I know we're really under the pump.
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That is an Australian phrase that describes when you're feeling a lot of pressure and it's quite a difficult situation
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like when you're at work, being busy at work, you're under the pump.
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You could also say I know I've been flat out all week
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but if the opposite is true and it's actually been quite quiet, you could say yeah it's been dead hasn't it?
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So dead in this expression means quiet, not busy, There's nothing to do.
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And of course at work, you can always start somewhere simple and just say, how's your day been?
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Or how's your week been?
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And to respond, you'd say, it's been long, it's been busy,
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it's been hectic or it's flown by which means it's gone quickly or simply say,
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my week's been great so far, thanks.
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Now when you're answering a question like this, don't forget to follow up with how about you?
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This is going to keep the conversation going and you can just tack
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that question onto the end of almost any sentence just to keep that back and forth happening for a little longer,
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keep things going, pass the conversation back.
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If you work at a bigger company, you might find yourself in the staff room at lunchtime heating up your lunch in the microwave
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and there's a colleague there that you don't know, you've never met them before?
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What could you ask?
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How long have you worked here?
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I don't think I've seen you around.
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If you find out they're new, you can follow up with what did you do before this?
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Or if they've been at the company for a while, you could say what are you working on at the moment?
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Probably the most iconic small talk topic is the weather.
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People love talking about the weather, whether it's bad, whether it's good,
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it's an easy and surefire way to start a conversation to get it going.
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You could start just by saying it's a beautiful day isn't it?
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Can you believe all the rain we've been having?
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It's awful.
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You can talk about current or future weather as well.
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Oh it looks like it's going to snow.
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The weather's not looking great this weekend.
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Do you have any plans?
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this is a great way to transition your conversation from the weather to the weekend.
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If you're talking with someone in a zoom meeting
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or over the phone you could say how's the weather where you are
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or you could even add a little comment like is it cold?
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I've heard it's been really chilly and
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if there's been some unusual weather like a heat wave or a cold snap or some wild storms that's even better.
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You could say something like, How's this weather?
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It's been wild, I've never seen anything like it before.
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Asking about free time and hobbies is another really great strategy so you could start by asking about the weekend.
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Have you got much planned for the weekend?
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So here when I say the weekend, I'm asking about the weekend coming up, the closest one in the future, the next weekend.
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But you can ask about the one that's just finished by saying what did you get up to over the weekend?
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To ask about someone's interests or their hobbies, you could say so what do you usually do in your spare time?
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But you need to make sure that you're listening and that you follow up to show your interest as well.
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You know you could say oh I don't know anything about archery, where do you do that?
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Or really tell me more about it.
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Another idea is to ask about a recent experience And to do that,
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of course, we need to use a good old -fashioned question in the present perfect tense.
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So start with have you and then add on just about any activity that you can think of.
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Have you read any good books lately?
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So have you seen any good movies lately?
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Have you tried that new restaurant down by the beach?
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Awesome work!
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You have just learned more than 30 great phrases and expressions that are useful in small talk conversations in English.
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So what's the best way to practise and remember them?
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Of course it's to practise using them in English conversations.
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If you have a speaking partner or maybe a study group like lots of members inside the Hey Lady community do,
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it is the perfect way to practice small talk conversations.
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It's casual, informal chit -chat.
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So make sure you grab the PDF that I created for you.
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It includes all of the phrases and the expressions
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that you learned today and start by marking off all the ones that you already know.
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Sweet, you've got those, right?
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But then go back through and pick out a few
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that are useful and relevant for you and by
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that I mean ones that you can see yourself using in a particular situation in your life
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so focus on those ones don't try
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and learn all of them at once choose five to eight that's perfect
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but if you don't have a speaking partner or maybe you don't feel
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so comfortable speaking in English and having small talk conversations yet you can still practise by writing your dialogues,
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writing down the conversation between you and someone else.
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That is also practise.
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You can practise thinking about the phrases you're going to use and then rehearse it out loud, speaking to yourself in the mirror or wherever else you want to practise
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and then take every opportunity after that to start stepping out of your comfort zone
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and practising in actual conversations wherever you are in life in an online class, in your local corner shop,
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maybe with your colleagues at work, in the elevator at your apartment, wherever you get to bump into someone,
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practise these little useful phrases and I promise you with time it will become easier and you'll start to really enjoy it.
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Thank you for joining me today.
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If you like this lesson, make sure you give it a like.
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I've got new English lessons coming out for you every week
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so make sure you subscribe and I will see you in the next one.
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Let's go check it out.
同频道
FOR YOU
推荐视频
为什么这个视频是绝佳的英语口语练习素材?
对于想提升日常对话能力的学习者来说,这个视频就像一把钥匙。它聚焦“small talk”(闲聊)这一实用场景,不仅讲解了职场、社交中必备的表达,还拆解了 native speaker 的思维逻辑——比如英语文化中习惯用闲聊“热身”,再进入深度话题。这种“场景+文化”的结合,比单纯背单词更能帮你应对真实交流。无论是雅思口语练习还是日常社交,掌握这些 phrases 都能让你摆脱“无话可说”的尴尬。
拆解3个自然表达,学会像母语者一样说话
- “I've been keeping busy.” 回应“How are you?”时,别再只会说“Good”。这个表达既中立又有信息量,暗示“最近有事做但不必细说”,完美避免对话卡壳。
- “What have you been up to lately?” 比“How are you?”更真诚,能引导对方分享更多细节。注意用现在完成时或进行时回应,比如“I've been training the new manager”,语法和语境高度契合。
- “How was your trip to Portugal?” 针对已知信息提问,体现对对方的关注。用“how was”询问过去的经历,既具体又自然,是延续闲聊的好方法。
这些表达之所以自然,是因为它们符合英语对话的“互动逻辑”——不仅传递信息,还能推动对话流动。
简单高效的练习流程:shadow speak 法
想要快速掌握这些表达,不妨试试“shadow speech”(影子跟读法):
1. 播放视频,每句话听完后暂停,立即跟读,模仿语调、节奏甚至停顿。
2. 用手机录音,对比自己和视频的差异,重点纠正发音和流畅度。
3. 挑选3个常用表达,代入真实场景(比如和朋友模拟闲聊),反复练习直到自然脱口。
这个方法不仅能提升口语,还能培养语感,特别适合雅思口语练习或日常会话准备。每天花10分钟,坚持一周就能明显感受到进步。
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 |
|---|---|
| 现在完成进行时 have/has been + -ing — 以前开始、现在仍在继续的动作 | I've been keeping · have you been doing · What's been going |
| 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 heard · I've put · you've had |
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。































