Say this sentence aloud and count how many seconds it takes.

大声的朗读这个句子，看看你花了多长时间:
The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.

Time required? Probably about 5 seconds. Now, try speaking this sentence aloud.

多久？5秒钟？现在试着大声朗读这个句子：

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.

Time required? Probably about 5 seconds.
多少时间？大约5秒钟.

可是第一个句子比第二个句子短哦。

This simple exercise makes a very important point about how we speak and use English. Namely, English is considered a stressed language while many other languages are considered syllabic. What does that mean? It means that, in English, we give stress to certain words while other words are quickly spoken (some students say eaten!). In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length).

这个简单的例子说明了我们是怎样说和使用英语的。在英语中，一些词读的很快，一些词会重读。在法语和意大利语中，每一个音节都同样重要，没有轻重之分，但是每个音节长度不同。

Many speakers of syllabic languages don't understand why we quickly speak, or swallow, a number of words in a sentence. In syllabic languages each syllable has equal importance, and therefore equal time is needed. English however, spends more time on specific stressed words while quickly gliding over the other, less important, words.

讲这些语言的人就不明白一个句子中的一些词为什么需要快读，或者慢下来。对这类语言来说，每个音节都同样重要，所以需要同样的时间。但是，英语在一些特别的需要重读的词上花的时间多些，一些不重要的词就快速略过。

Let's look at a simple example: the modal verb "can". When we use the positive form of "can" we quickly glide over the can and it is hardly pronounced.

On the other hand, when we use the negative form "can't" we tend to stress the fact that it is the negative form by also stressing "can't".

As you can see from the above example the sentence, "They can't come on Friday" is longer than "They can come on Friday" because both the modal "can't" and the verb "come" are stressed.

举一个简单的例子。情态动词can。在我们需要强调can的肯定意义的时候就会快速略过，发音不明显。可是，当你要用can的否定形式的时候，我们就会重点强调"不能"这个事实，也就是"can't"

So, what does this mean for my speaking skills?

Well, first of all, you need to understand which words we generally stress and which we do not stress. Basically, stress words are considered CONTENT WORDSsuch as
• Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter
• (most) principal verbs e.g. visit, construct
• Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting
• Adverbs e.g. often, carefully

Non-stressed words are considered FUNCTION WORDSsuch as
• Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few
• Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were
• Prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite
• Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as
• Pronouns e.g. they, she, us

那么，什么词需要重读 ，什么词不需要呢？对于英语听力来说，你能正确的说出来的时候才会听的比较准确。
一般名词，主要的动词，形容词，副词需要重读。

不需要重读的词有：冠词，助动词，介词，连词，代词。

Even though the second sentence is approximately 30% longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are 5 stressedwords in each sentence. From this example, you can see that you needn't worry about pronouncing every word clearly to be understood (we native speakers certainly don't). You should however, concentrate on pronouncing the stressed words clearly.

现在回到我们最初的那个例子。尽管第二个句子比第一个长大约30%，但是读起来却花了同样的时间。因为在这2个句子中都有5个重音。从这个例子中你可以看出，你不需要把每个单词都发音准确。把重音发音清楚就可以了。

Now, do some listening comprehension or go speak to your native English speaking friends and listen to how we concentrate on the stressed words rather than giving importance to each syllable. You will soon find that you can understand and communicate more because you begin to listen for (and use in speaking) stressed words. All those words that you thought you didn't understand are really not crucial for understanding the sense or making yourself understood. Stressed words are the key to excellent pronunciation and understanding of English.

现在，回到听力上，做一些听力理解或者和你的语言学习伙伴聊天，听他们是如何强调重音。你很快就会发现你更容易听懂和交流因为你已经开始留意重音了。

重音是发音优美，理解，听懂英语的重要因素。