There are six characteristics of speech, all of which are vital to speak effectively. In this section we'll look at each of them separately. These speech characteristics are basically important to you and your manner of speech. If you are not completely happy with the way your voice sounds, you may need to work on some of them. Remember that although we are going to talk about each characteristic individually, they must ultimately blend into a compelling articulate speech. Let's list them, they are 1)pitch, 2)inflection, energy, 3)duration, 4)tempo, and volume.
Pitch is simply an 5)acoustical property of the voice having to do with its frequency, high to low. The pitch of your speaking voice is determined by a number of factors, including whether you're male or female. Early environment has its effect. If the people around you spoke in high pitches most of the time, chances are that you'll use primarily the upper third of your pitch range. Since Americans prefer voices pitched in the lower third of their range, speaking in such a high pitch voice, should be corrected. Genetic inheritance must also be considered. If father had a very deep voice and sang bass in the church 6)choir, then you, his son, may also sing bass and speak with a deep voice when it has lowered after puberty.
Female voices change during 7)adolescence just as do men's voices although not as noticeably. An adult female's vocal chords normally vibrate about twice as fast as those of an adult male. As a result, her pitch is about an 8)octave higher than a male's pitch. An interesting 9)aside though, contrary to popular opinion, a person's height or weight does not, as a rule, affect the pitch of the voice, or its volume. When you meet a large or tall person, with a tiny high pitched voice, it usually comes as a surprise. And once upon a time it was thought that an opera singer had to be overweight in order to sing with force, not so.
You should usually speak at a comfortable vocal 10)register. That's called your 11)optimum pitch. Your habitual pitch on the other hand is the pitch range that you use most frequently, and a caution is in order, if you speak at too high or too low a pitch, some or most of the time, you may strain your 12)vocal cords. That habitual pitch that you spoke of should not be constant though. Expressive speech requires that pitch be varied. Variety is also the spice of speech.
And that's the second characteristic of speech, pitch variety is technically called inflection. Inflecting your pitch, means that your voice rises and falls to 13)impart added richness and meaning to your speech. Inflection is the most important element giving meaning to our spoken thoughts. I might say,
“Well, isn't this exciting?”
I detect a note of sarcasm. I believe that while you were saying one thing, you meant another. That's a technique used quite often when we are insincere or teasing. Sarcasm can add humor to our speech, but it can also hide true intentions, and confuse our listeners.
Well then how about this,
“Oh isn't this exciting?”
Wow, now that was real excitement and you communicated that excitement through inflection, and also I think you raised your energy level a trifle. And so you see that inflection is a powerful speech tool. Always use it to your advantage in speech.
Let's move on now to the third characteristic of effective speech, energy. That's the level of enthusiasm with which you speak. Your level of energy varies of course to suit the setting in which you are speaking, and the subject matter you are addressing. Your energy level when speaking earnestly and quietly to a child wouldn't be used at a sporting event. That has to do with the speech setting of course.
If your speech doesn't convey interest or enthusiasm, if it's lack 14)luster and boring, you'll need to work on injecting more energy into it. You should always maintain a natural level of excitement and energy when you speak. it must never seem forced or artificial, but when that energy is there, your listeners will pay more attention to what you have to say.
(To be continued)
流利美語訓(xùn)練妙方
說話有六個特點，每一個都十分重要，都能影響談話。在這一部分里，我們將仔細(xì)討論每一個特點。這些特點對你和你說話的方式十分重要，如果你不喜歡自己的發(fā)聲方式，你可以嘗試一下改變這六個特點。記住，我們是逐個逐個討論這些特點，但最后你必須將這些綜合起來。它們是∶音高、變音、力度、持久度、節(jié)奏和音量。
音高與聲音的頻率有關(guān)：高音和低音。音高由許多因素決定，其中包括你的性別和早期成長的環(huán)境的影響。如果你周圍的人們常用高音說話，那你也應(yīng)用音域中的三個音來說話。美國人喜歡用音域中的最低三個音說話，因此說話喜歡用高音的人應(yīng)改正過來?；蜻z傳也是原因之一：如果父親的嗓音很低，在唱詩班里唱低音，那么他的兒子在青春期發(fā)育后很可能也是低嗓音、唱低音。
女性和男性一樣，在青春期會變聲，只不過沒男性那么明顯。成年女性聲帶振動的頻率是成年男性的兩倍，音高要比男子的高八度。說句題外話，有趣的是，一個人的身高和體重對他的音高和音量并沒有規(guī)律性的影響，這和大家普遍所接受的觀點并不一樣。如果你遇到一個高個子或一個胖子，聲音卻又尖又細(xì)，你肯定會很吃驚。很久以前大家都認(rèn)為，歌劇演員都應(yīng)該很胖，這樣唱起來才有力。其實不是這樣。
你說話的音域應(yīng)該令人感到舒適，這個區(qū)域叫”舒適音高”。在另一方面，”習(xí)慣音高”則是你最常用的音高范圍，注意：如果你總是音調(diào)太高或音調(diào)太低，聲帶就會疲勞。說話時不要總是用同一個音調(diào)，是多變一變。音調(diào)的變化是談話的調(diào)味劑。
這也是說話的第二個特征：變音，即聲音的高低升降給你的說話帶來更豐富的含義。變音是表達(dá)人心中所想的最重要的因素，我會說：
“哦，這不是很有趣嗎”？
我聽出了譏諷之意，我相信你說的和你想的并不是一回事。這是我們在表達(dá)非真實意圖、開玩笑時所經(jīng)常用到的技巧。諷刺能增強幽默感，但它同時也隱藏了真實的意圖，使聽者感到迷糊。
那么，這句話又怎么樣呢，
“哦，這不是很有趣嗎”？
哇，這是真正的興奮感，你通過變音表達(dá)了這種興奮，并用了比平常稍強的力度。同時，你也可以看到，變音是一個很好的語言工具，可以多使用以增添語言上的優(yōu)勢。
現(xiàn)在來討論流利談話的第三個特征：力度。也就是你說話時所用到的熱情度，聲音的力度將根據(jù)環(huán)境和你所談?wù)摰脑掝}而變。對一個孩子認(rèn)真地而輕聲地說話時所用的力度與在一場比賽中所用的說話力度是肯定不一樣的。這與說話環(huán)境有關(guān)。
如果你的說話缺乏興趣和熱情，有些枯燥，你可以提高說話力度。說話的時候，你必須維持一種自然的興奮感和力度，永遠(yuǎn)也不要顯得被動和做作，這樣，你的談話將吸引聽者的更多注意力。
（下期待續(xù)）
1) pitch n. （音樂、說話的）音高
2) inflection n. 變音，轉(zhuǎn)調(diào)，語調(diào)的抑揚變化
3) duration n. 持續(xù)，持久
4) tempo n. 節(jié)拍，節(jié)奏
5) acoustical a. 由聲音操縱的，能控制音響的
6) choir n.（教堂的）唱詩班，合唱團(tuán)。亦作quire
7) adolescence n. 青春期，接近成熟的
8) octave n. 八度，八度音程，一音階
9) aside n. 暫時離題；枝節(jié)話
10) register n. （音樂）音域，聲域
11) optimum a. 最適宜的，的
12) vocal cords 聲帶
13) impart vt. 傳遞；告知，通知
14) luster n. 光彩，光澤