Say this sentence aloud and count how many seconds it takes.
大声的朗读这个句子，看你花了多久:
The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.
Time required? Probably about 5 seconds. Now, try speaking this sentence aloud.
多长时间？5秒钟？目前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 . In other languages, such as French or Italian, each syllable receives equal importance .
这个简单的例子说明了大家是如何说和用英语的。在英语中，一些词读的非常快，一些词会重读。在法语和意大利语中，每个音节都同样要紧，没轻重之分，但每一个音节长度不同。
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.
讲这类语言的人就不知道一个句子中的一些词为何需要快读，或者慢下来。对这种语言来讲，每一个音节都同样要紧，所以需要同样的时间。但，英语在一些特别的需要重读的词上花的时间多些，一些无关紧要的词就迅速略过。
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。在大家需要强调can的一定意义的时候就会迅速略过，发音不明显。可是，当你要用can的否定形式的时候，大家就会重点强调不可以这个事实，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
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
那样，什么词需要重读 ，什么词无需呢？对于英语听力来讲，你能正确的讲出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。
无需重读的词有：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 . You should however, concentrate on pronouncing the stressed words clearly.
目前回到大家刚开始的那个例子。尽管第二个句子比第一个长大约30%，但读起来却花了同样的时间。由于在这2个句子中都有5个重音。从这个例子中你可以看出，你无需把每一个单词都发音准确。把重音发音了解就能了。
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 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.
目前，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，听他们是怎么样强调重音。你非常快就会发现你更容易听懂和交流由于你已经开始注意重音了。
重音是发音优美，理解，听懂英语的要紧原因。