Try reading the following sentences as fast as you
can. “She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely
seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I’m sure she sells seashore
shells.”
Not very easy, was it? What you’ve just read is called
a tongue twister (繞口令). It is an exercise made up of sou
nds
that are hard to pronounce(發(fā)音,讀) in order to help
people pronounce words faster and more correctly. Try the next example.
“Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper. Did
Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Pete Piper picked a peck of
pickled peppers, where’s the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?”
Tongue twisters usually do not have much meaning. They
are just designed to improve people’s ability to pronounce words.
Although they may be very difficult, these exercises are very important to
people who are trying to speak English correctly. This is because tongue twisters
help people to tell the differences between similar sounds.
So if you wish to pronounce words more smoothly, you’d
better try picking out some tongue twisters and practicing them.
1.Tongue
twisters are helpful in improving ___________ skills.
A. listening
B. writing C.
pronunciation D. communication
2.The
first
tongue twister is hard because ___________.
A. it is very boring to
read B. it
teaches us a lot of knowledge
C. we don’t know who “she”
is D. the sounds of “s” and “sh” are
similar
3.The
passage is probably taken from _________ in a school newspaper.
A. Story Time
B.
Study Garden
C. Latest
News D. Lost and Found