Think of how stingy you are with your money: if someone on the street asks for $10, you're not giving it to them. There's no way you're giving a 30% tip for a normal dining experience. And so on.

想想你在花錢(qián)上是多么的吝嗇，如果有人在街上問(wèn)你要10美元，你是不會(huì)給的。普通的一頓飯要收你30%的小費(fèi)，那也是沒(méi)門(mén)。諸如此類的事情還有不少。
And yet so many of us just waste ungodly amounts of our time. We throw it away, every day. I know I do unless I'm careful. What helps me to not waste time is to see it as an investment, and to keep track of the returns I get for my investment.
但是我們大部分人都肆意揮霍著時(shí)間，對(duì)于時(shí)間的浪費(fèi)，每天如此。除非我們刻意留心，不然我們還是明知故犯。怎樣做才能不浪費(fèi)時(shí)間？不如將它看成一種投資，看看它能帶來(lái)多少回報(bào)。
This approach has led me to recognize that some things offer incredible immediate return on investment: a night spent learning a new song on my preferred instruments, for example, gives me a lifetime of being able to play that song. That's an incredible return. Other investments are more like low-interest, high security, long-term investments: going to the gym, eating right, etc. Some, like reading good books, are kind of a combination of both.
在某些方面，讓我覺(jué)得（投資時(shí)間）會(huì)有不可思議的即刻回報(bào)。比如，花一個(gè)晚上的時(shí)間，在我喜歡的樂(lè)器上學(xué)會(huì)一首新的曲子，那我今后的一生中就都會(huì)彈奏這首曲子。這是多么不可思議的回報(bào)。還有一些低利率、高安全率的長(zhǎng)期投資，比如：去健身房鍛煉、健康飲食等等。還有一些，包括閱讀有意義的書(shū)，算是兩者的結(jié)合。
But many activities are worthless from an investment perspective: whatever benefit they seem to give doesn't last any longer than the activity itself."Price is what you pay. Value is what you get." - Warren Buffett. This applies to everything: money, relationships, time. Knowing this changes your life.
但是有很多的活動(dòng)從投資的角度來(lái)說(shuō)是毫無(wú)價(jià)值的，除了活動(dòng)本身的價(jià)值，其他的任何利益都不會(huì)得到延續(xù)�！澳愀冻龅氖莾r(jià)格，買來(lái)的是價(jià)值�！边@是沃倫·巴菲特的名言。這條定律適用于所有事物，金錢(qián)、關(guān)系、時(shí)間。知道這個(gè)會(huì)改變你的人生。Correct intonation and stress are the key to speaking English fluently with good pronunciation. Intonation and stress refer to the music of the English language. Words that are stressed are key to understanding and using the correct intonation brings out the meaning.
正確的語(yǔ)調(diào)和重音對(duì)于掌握流利的發(fā)音來(lái)時(shí)說(shuō)至關(guān)重要。語(yǔ)調(diào)和重音就像英語(yǔ)這首歌的曲調(diào)。重讀的詞語(yǔ)對(duì)于理解至關(guān)重要，發(fā)出正確的語(yǔ)調(diào)也能夠?qū)⒁馑记宄�地表達(dá)出來(lái)。
Say this sentence aloud and count how many seconds it takes.
大聲讀出這句話，并計(jì)算出共耗費(fèi)了多少秒。

The beautiful mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.
（遠(yuǎn)處美麗的山峰巋然不動(dòng)。）

Time required?
時(shí)間要求
Probably about 5 seconds. Now, try speaking this sentence aloud.
可能你用了5秒�，F(xiàn)在，試著大聲讀出這句話。

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening.
只要他晚上沒(méi)有家庭作業(yè)要做，就可以周日過(guò)來(lái)。
Time required? Probably about five seconds.
需要多少時(shí)間呢？大概五秒吧。
Wait a minute. The first sentence is much shorter than the second sentence!
等一下。第一句話比第二句話短得多。

The beautiful Mountain appeared transfixed in the distance.(14 syllables)
遠(yuǎn)處美麗的山峰巋然不動(dòng)。（14個(gè)音節(jié)）

He can come on Sundays as long as he doesn't have to do any homework in the evening. (22 syllables)
只要他晚上沒(méi)有家庭作業(yè)要做，就可以周日過(guò)來(lái)。（22個(gè)音節(jié)）
Even though the second sentence is approximately 30 percent longer than the first, the sentences take the same time to speak. This is because there are five stressed words 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.
即使第二句話比第一句話長(zhǎng)大約30%，但說(shuō)出這兩句話仍可以耗費(fèi)相同的時(shí)間。這是因?yàn)椋�這兩句話中都有5個(gè)重讀詞語(yǔ)。例如，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，你不必為了讓別人理解你的意思而將每個(gè)詞語(yǔ)的音都發(fā)出來(lái)。但是，你應(yīng)該將重讀的詞語(yǔ)清晰地發(fā)出來(lái)。
This simple exercise makes a very important point about how we speak and use English.
這個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的練習(xí)，對(duì)于我們應(yīng)該怎樣去說(shuō)英語(yǔ)和使用英語(yǔ)提出了一個(gè)重要的觀點(diǎn)。
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 (there is stress, but each syllable has its own length).
也就是說(shuō)，英語(yǔ)是不像那些音節(jié)式語(yǔ)言，它是一門(mén)強(qiáng)調(diào)重讀的語(yǔ)言。這是什么意思呢？也就是說(shuō)，在英語(yǔ)中，我們會(huì)對(duì)一些特定的詞語(yǔ)進(jìn)行重讀，而其他的詞語(yǔ)就輕輕帶過(guò)。而其它的語(yǔ)言，例如法語(yǔ)或意大利語(yǔ)則要求將每一個(gè)音節(jié)都清晰地讀出來(lái)（雖然也有重讀地情況，但每個(gè)音節(jié)都有自己的音長(zhǎng)）。
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.
許多說(shuō)音節(jié)語(yǔ)言的人都不明白，為什么我們要說(shuō)得那么快，或者講一句話中的許多詞一帶而過(guò)。在音節(jié)語(yǔ)言中，每一個(gè)音節(jié)都要發(fā)出來(lái)，所以需要的時(shí)間是一樣的。但是，英語(yǔ)則需要我們將更多的時(shí)間放在重讀詞語(yǔ)上，并快速帶過(guò)其它不重要的詞語(yǔ)。

Simple Exercise to Help with Understanding
幫助理解的簡(jiǎn)單練習(xí)
The following exercise can be used by students and teachers to further help with pronunciation by focusing on the stressing content words rather than function words in the exercise below.
學(xué)生和老師們可以做做下面的練習(xí)，通過(guò)專注其中地需要重讀地內(nèi)容，而不是功能詞，從而提高自己的發(fā)音。
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.
一起看一個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單的了例子：情態(tài)動(dòng)詞can。當(dāng)我們使用can的肯定形式時(shí)，會(huì)快速地帶過(guò)，幾乎不發(fā)出音。
They can come on Friday. (stressed words in italics)
他們周五能來(lái)。（斜體字需重讀）
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".
另一方面，當(dāng)我們使用否定形式can’t時(shí)，通常會(huì)對(duì)其進(jìn)行重讀以表示強(qiáng)調(diào)。
They can't come on Friday. (stressed words in italics)
他們周五來(lái)不了。（斜體字需重讀）
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.
如同你在以上例句中看到的，They can't come on Friday這句話比They can come on Friday長(zhǎng)，因?yàn)榍懊嬉痪湓捴杏袃蓚�(gè)重讀詞語(yǔ)，can’t和come。

Understanding Which Words to Stress
哪些詞語(yǔ)該重讀
First of all, you need to understand which words we generally stress and which we do not stress.
首先，你要明白，一般情況下，哪些詞需要重讀，哪些不需要重讀。

Stress words are considered content words such as:
實(shí)詞需要重讀，例如：
Nouns e.g. kitchen, Peter
名詞，例如：kitchen，Peter
Main verbs (most) e.g. visit, construct
主動(dòng)詞（大多數(shù)），例如：visit，construct
Adjectives e.g. beautiful, interesting
形容詞，例如：beautiful，interesting形容詞，例如：beautiful，interesting
Adverbs e.g. often, carefully
副詞，例如：often，carefully
Negatives including negative helping verbs, and words with 'no' such as 'nothing', 'nowhere', etc.
否定詞，包括助動(dòng)詞的否定形式，以及帶有no的詞語(yǔ)，例如nothing，nowhere等。
Words expressing quantities e.g. a lot of, a few, many, etc.
表數(shù)量的詞，例如a lot of, a few, many等。

Non-stressed words are considered function words such as:
非重讀詞語(yǔ)，即虛詞，例如：
Determiners e.g. the, a, some, a few
限定詞，例如the, a, some, a few
Auxiliary verbs e.g. don't, am, can, were
助動(dòng)詞，例如don't, am, can, were
Prepositions e.g. before, next to, opposite
介詞，例如before, next to, opposite
Conjunctions e.g. but, while, as
連詞，例如but, while, as
Pronouns e.g. they, she, us
代詞，例如they, she, us
Verbs 'have' and 'be' even when used as main verbs
have和even甚至?xí)�用作主�?dòng)詞。

Practice Exercise
測(cè)試題目
Identify which words are content words and should be stressed in the following sentences:
找出下面句子中的實(shí)詞，以及需要重讀的詞語(yǔ)。
1. They've been learning English for two months.
他們已經(jīng)學(xué)了兩個(gè)月的英語(yǔ)了。
2. My friends have nothing to do this weekend.
我的朋友們周末無(wú)事可干。
3. I would have visited in April if I had known Peter was in town.
如果我知道皮特也在鎮(zhèn)上，我會(huì)在四月份去拜訪的。
4. Natalie will have been studying for four hours by six o'clock.
娜塔莉會(huì)學(xué)習(xí)四個(gè)小時(shí)，直到六點(diǎn)鐘。
5. The boys and I will spend the weekend next to the lake fishing for trout.
我和那些男孩周末會(huì)去附近的湖泊釣鮭魚(yú)。
6. Jennifer and Alice had finished the report before it was due last week.
詹妮弗和愛(ài)麗絲在上周之前完成了報(bào)告。

答案：
Words initalics are stressed content words while unstressed function words are in lower case.
斜體的詞語(yǔ)為需要重讀的實(shí)詞，不需要重讀的功能詞均為小寫(xiě)。
1. They've beenlearning English for two months.
2. My friends have nothing to do thisweekend.
3. I would havevisited in April if i had known Peter was intown.
4. Natalie will have been studying for fours hours by six o'clock.
5. The boys and i will spend the weekend next to the lake fishing fortrout.
6. Jennifer and Alice had finished the report before it was due last week.

Continue Practicing
繼續(xù)練習(xí)
Speak to your native English speaking friends and listen to how we concentrate on the stressed words rather than giving importance to each syllable. As you begin to listen and use stressed words, you will discover words 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.
和你的外國(guó)朋友進(jìn)行對(duì)話，注意聽(tīng)自己是怎樣重讀詞語(yǔ)，而不是將每個(gè)音都發(fā)出。在你開(kāi)始聽(tīng)并重讀詞語(yǔ)時(shí)，你會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)，自己不認(rèn)識(shí)的詞對(duì)于意義的理解或表達(dá)自己的意思并不重要。重讀詞語(yǔ)對(duì)于好的英語(yǔ)發(fā)音和理解來(lái)說(shuō)至關(guān)重要。
After students have learned basic consonant and vowel sounds, they should move on to learning to differentiate between individual sounds by using minimal pairs. Once they are comfortable with individual words, they should move on to intonation and stress exercises such as sentence markup. Finally, students can take the next step by choosing a focus word to help further improve their pronunciation.
學(xué)生在學(xué)完基本的輔音聲和元音聲后，應(yīng)該繼續(xù)通過(guò)最小對(duì)立體來(lái)對(duì)每一個(gè)音進(jìn)行區(qū)分。在區(qū)分好每一個(gè)單獨(dú)的音之后，應(yīng)該注重語(yǔ)調(diào)和重音的練習(xí)。在發(fā)好每一個(gè)音之后，還可以做一些關(guān)于語(yǔ)調(diào)和重讀的練習(xí)，例如給句子做標(biāo)記等。最后，學(xué)生們可以選擇一個(gè)焦點(diǎn)詞，從而幫助自己進(jìn)一步改善發(fā)音。

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