跟读练习: 【English Podcast】Is a College Degree Still Worth It? — 4 Things to Consider - 通过视频学习英语口语
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Hey everyone!
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Welcome back to Cindy in Chicago.
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I am Cindy and this is the show where we talk about American culture, real English, and the things nobody quite explains when you are living and working here.
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Today I want to start with a number.
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1 .7 trillion dollars.
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That's the total amount of student loan debt in the United States right now.
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1 .7 trillion.
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That's more than the entire economy of most countries in the world.
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Americans borrowed, mostly when they were 17 or 18 years old, to pay for college.
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Now, here's the question that a lot of people are asking: was it worth it?
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If you've ever wondered whether a college degree is really necessary, whether the cost makes sense, whether there's another way, this episode is for you.
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Today I'll cover three things.
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First, how much college actually costs in America.
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The numbers are important.
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Second, what a college degree actually gives you.
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Because it's not just one thing, it's several things, and some of them are more valuable valuable than others.
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And third, how the picture is changing.
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Because something is shifting right now in how American companies think about degrees.
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And it's worth paying attention to.
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I also want to share my own perspective, because I've been on both sides of this question.
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Is someone who went to college, and is someone who has been involved in hiring decisions?
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And I have some thoughts.
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Let's get into it.
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First, the cost.
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In America, going to college is expensive.
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Very expensive.
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The average cost of one year at a public university, a state school, or a state school, or a state school, or a state school, or a state school funded partly by the government is around $30 ,000 when you include tuition,
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housing, food, and other expenses.
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Tuition is the cost of your classes and education itself.
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At a private university, a school funded by private money, not the government, one year can cost $60 ,000, $70 ,000, sometimes $80 ,000.
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Four years of college?
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Multiply that out.
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Public university, around $120 ,000 total.
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Private university, $250 ,000 or more.
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Students don't pay all of this themselves.
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They use a combination of financial aid, money given by the school or government, and student loans.
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A student loan is money you borrow to pay for college.
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And you pay it back after you graduate with interest.
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Interest means you pay back more than you borrowed.
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The longer it takes to pay back, the more you pay.
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The average American college graduate, the average, starts their working life with $30 ,000 in student loan debt.
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And some people have much, much more.
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This is the context.
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This is why 1 .7 trillion dollars exists.
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Now, what does a college degree actually give you?
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I think about this in four parts.
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Part 1: Knowledge.
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This is the obvious one.
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You go to college, you study a subject, you learn things.
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But here is something honest: a lot of the specific knowledge you learn in college is not directly used in your career.
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The details of a history class, the specific equations from a chemistry course, the novels from a literature seminar...
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most of it does not show up in your complex problem,
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how to write clearly, how to argue for a position using evidence, how to manage your time when no one is telling you what to do every hour.
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These are called transferable skills.
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Skills that transfer, move from one situation to another.
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Knowledge matters, but the transferable skills often matter more.
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Part 2: Credentials.
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A credential is official proof that you have a qualification.
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A college degree is a credential.
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For many is required, not optional, required.
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For other jobs, a degree is expected, not legally required, but the norm.
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Most candidates have one, so not having one puts you at a disadvantage.
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And for some jobs, especially in technology, creative fields, and trades, a degree is becoming less and less necessary.
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We'll come back to this.
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But the credential, the piece of paper, still carries weight in American professional culture.
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It signals something.
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It says this person completed something
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through whether or not that signal is accurate it's still a signal
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that many employers respond to part three network this one is underrated
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and I say this from experience
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when you go to college you spend four years around people your age who are curious ambitious
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and building their lives your classmates become your colleagues your collaborators
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your references your friends the network you build in college the
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relationships can be more valuable than anything you learn in a
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classroom this is especially true at well -known universities with strong alumni networks.
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Alumni are people who graduated from the same school.
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Many universities have alumni networks, communities of former students who help each other with jobs, connections, and opportunities.
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Network is real, and it's one of the things you simply cannot get from an online course or a book.
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Part 4: Time and Experience.
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College gives you four years to figure out who you are before the full weight of adult life hits.
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You can join a theater group, fail a class and recover, have conversations that change how you think.
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This is not nothing.
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This is actually a lot.
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But, and this is important, this time and experience comes at a very high price, and not everyone can afford it.
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And not everyone needs four years of exploration to find their direction.
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Now let's talk about what's changing.
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Because something significant is happening in how American companies think about college
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have started removing the degree requirement from many of their job postings.
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Companies like Google, Apple, IBM, Delta Airlines and others have announced that they will consider candidates without college degrees for certain roles.
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The reason they give is this: a degree does not always predict job performance.
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What predicts job performance is skill.
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And skill can be developed in many ways, not just in a four -year college program.
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There is also a growing movement around what are called trade schools or vocational schools.
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These are schools that teach specific, practical job skills: plumbing, electrical work, welding, medical assisting, computer networking, coding.
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A two -year program at a trade school can cost a fraction of a four -year university degree,
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and the graduates often find work quickly in fields where skilled workers are genuinely needed.
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In America, there has been a long cultural assumption that a four -year college degree is the path to a good life, and that trade work, working with your hands,
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That assumption is being questioned loudly.
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A skilled electrician in Chicago can earn more than many people with college degrees.
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And they didn't take on $30 ,000 of student loan debt to get there.
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Here is my personal take: I went to college.
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I don't regret it.
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The network I built, the way of thinking I developed, the experiences I had, those things shaped me.
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And they've helped me professionally.
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But I've also been involved in hiring.
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And I can tell you honestly, a degree tells me very little about whether someone will be good at the job.
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look for is can this person think clearly can they communicate well do they show up
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and follow through do they keep learning those qualities come from many places college is one of them
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but it's not the only one
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if I were advising someone today especially someone who is uncertain about what they want to study
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or someone who would need to take on a lot of
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debt I would say this a degree is worth it
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when you know why you are getting it when you have a clear direction when the
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What degree is a harder call when you are going because it feels expected, because everyone else is going, because you are not sure what else to do.
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The question is not, "Is college worth it in general?" The question is, "Is college worth it for you, right now, for the specific thing you want to do?" That's a harder question,
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and it deserves a real answer, not just the default assumption that everyone should go.
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Let's do a quick review.
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1. Student loan debt in America totals $1 .7 trillion.
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with $30 ,000 in debt.
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College is expensive and that cost shapes everything.
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Two, a college degree gives you four things: knowledge and transferable skills, a credential, a network, and time and experience.
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Some of these are more valuable than others depending on your path.
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Three, the picture is changing.
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Major companies are dropping degree requirements.
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Trade schools are growing.
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The idea question.
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Four, the right question is not "is college worth it?" The right question is, "is college worth it for me for this specific goal at this specific cost?" Five,
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vocabulary from today.
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Tuition, the cost of education at a university.
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Student -owned, money borrowed to pay for college, paid back after graduation.
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Credential, official proof of a qualification.
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Transferable skills, skills that work across many different jobs and situations.
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Alumni, people who graduated from the same school.
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Trade school, a school that teaches specific job skills, usually in two years or less.
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That's everything for today.
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If this episode made you think about your own education or the system itself, I'd love to hear what came up for you.
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Leave it in the comments.
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And if you are finding these episodes useful, please subscribe.
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New episodes come out every week.
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Next week, I want to talk about the gig economy.
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Driving for a ride share company, delivering food, freelancing online, working on your own terms.
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It sounds like freedom.
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And sometimes it is.
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But T, there is another side that doesn't get talked about as much.
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That's next week on Cindy in Chicago.
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I'll see you then.
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本课的词汇与口语要点
这节 B2 级别的口语课以视频“【English Podcast】Is a College Degree Still Worth It? — 4 Things to Consider”为素材。 视频中反复出现的词有：degree, skill, cost, student, network。 这段视频共有 146 个句子、1615 个单词可供跟读。 讲话部分时长为 9:42。 说话人语速自然，每分钟约 167 个词，接近日常对话。 87% 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 15 个单词，附发音和释义：
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| credential 名词 | /kɹɪˈdɛnʃəl/ | 证书 |
| borrow 动词 | /ˈbɑɹ.oʊ/ | 借, 貸 /贷 |
| tuition 名词 | /tjuːˈɪʃən/ | 講課 /讲课, 補習 /补习 |
| assumption 名词 | /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/ | 假設 /假设 |
| qualification 名词 | /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/ | 資格 /资格 |
| predict 动词 | /pɹɪˈdɪkt/ | 預言 /预言 |
| classmate 名词 | /ˈklæs.meɪt/ | 同學 /同学, 同班同學 /同班同学 |
| collaborator 名词 | /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/ | 合作者 |
| electrician 名词 | /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/ | 電工 /电工 |
| multiply 动词 | /ˈmʌltɪplaɪ/ | 增長 /增长 |
| underrated 形容词 | /ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/ | 被低估 |
| disadvantage 名词 | /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/ | 不利 |
| seminar 名词 | /ˈsɛmɪnɑɹ/ | 講座 /讲座 |
| loudly 副词 | /ˈlaʊdli/ | 大聲 /大声, 高聲 /高声 |
| vocabulary 名词 | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | 詞匯 /词汇, 語匯 /语汇 |
视频中出现的短语动词
| 单词 | 发音 | 释义 |
|---|---|---|
| pay back 动词 | /peɪ bæk/ | 賠 /赔, 報償 /报偿 |
| come out 动词 | /ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/ | 出, 出來 /出来 |
| figure out 动词 | 弄清楚 | |
| show up 动词 | 露面 |
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：
- Today I'll cover three things.
- We'll come back to this.
- Let's do a quick review.
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 |
|---|---|
| 被动语态 be + 过去分词 — 强调发生了什么，而不是谁做的 | has been involved · are called · is required |
| 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 | you've ever wondered · I've been · has been involved |
| 定语从句 who / which + 从句 — 补充说明人或事物 | someone who went · people who graduated · students who help |
需要注意的发音
说话人用了 12 次缩略和弱读形式，例如 don't, I'll, I've。请按听到的简短形式来说。
- “sh” 和 “zh” 音: credential /kɹɪˈdɛnʃəl/, tuition /tjuːˈɪʃən/, assumption /əˈsʌm(p).ʃ(ə)n/, qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, electrician /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/
- 长单词——注意重音位置: qualification /ˌkwɑlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/, collaborator /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/, electrician /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/, underrated /ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/, disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/
中文母语者容易读错的音：
- /v/ — 不要读成 /w/，上齿轻触下唇: disadvantage /ˌdɪsədˈvæntɪd͡ʒ/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/, advise /ədˈvaɪz/
- 词尾辅音 — 要读清楚，后面不要加元音: alumnus /əˈlʌmnəs/, predict /pɹɪˈdɪkt/, classmate /ˈklæs.meɪt/, underrated /ʌn.dɚˈɹeɪ.təd/, freelance /ˈfɹiˌlæns/
- /r/ 和 /l/ 的区别: credential /kɹɪˈdɛnʃəl/, transferable /trɑːnsˈfɜːrəbl̩/, collaborator /kəˈlæbəɹeɪtɚ/, electrician /ɪˌlɛkˈtɹɪʃən/, freelance /ˈfɹiˌlæns/
如何用这段视频练习
- 先完整听一遍视频，不要开口，记下不认识的单词。
- 先用 0.75 倍速逐句跟读，熟练之后再回到正常速度。
- 录下自己的声音并与原声对比，特别注意 credential, borrow, tuition 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。