a, an, the, 你必须掌握的冠词的用法和发音技巧

小白老师说：今天来学习冠词的用法与发音技巧。请大家点击文中音频听讲座，这个小讲座是中英文双语的。音频下方有中英文对照的原文。

点这里收听讲座：▼

Welcome to Daily Tips on Learning English. Today’s tip is on using the articles “a”, “an” and “the” correctly.

欢迎来到英语学习小技巧，今天我们要学习如何正确使用冠词 a, an 和 the。

Every student of English has my sympathy in his struggles with the English articles. They are one of the most difficult parts of learning English.

正在苦苦挣扎着学习英语冠词的同学们，心疼你们一秒钟，因为冠词确实是学习英语中最困难的部分之一。

First of all, I urge you to do this. Listen to native speakers. When you listen, listen carefully, since the articles “the” and “a” are almost never emphasized, they do not stand out prominently in speech, but they’re pronounced. You will have to train your ears so that you will recognize that the little sounds before certain words are articles, and not meaningless noises.

首先，我要强烈建议大家听母语人士说话。听的时候，一定要仔细，因为冠词 the 和 a 几乎从不被强调，它们在话语中并不突出，但是它们确实有被读到。你要训练你的耳朵，这样你才能意识到某些单词前的小声音是冠词，而不是毫无意义的噪音。

Also, get in the habit of pronouncing the articles in the way native speakers do. As little sounds that are part of the word they precede.

另外，要养成像以英语母语人士那样发音的习惯，因为冠词也是发音整体的的一部分。

For instance, think of and say “the boy”as one word.

比如，把 “the boy” 看成一个单个的词并发音。

Listen to this short sentence.

请听下面这个短句。

The boy likes the girl.

Say it naturally, “the boy likes the girl”.

请自然地朗读这个句子，“the boy likes the girl”

Did you notice how the articles are just small sounds linked to the nouns? Listen to another example.

你注意到冠词是如何与名词连接在一起的吗？再来听另一个例子。

There is a pen on a desk in the classroom.

Say it naturally, “there is a pen on a desk in the classroom.”

请自然地朗读这个句子，“there is a pen on a desk in the classroom. ”

Did you notice how all the sounds, especially articles are linked together? The article “an” is used before nouns beginning with a vowel sound, such as “an apple”. Notice how the “n” sound is linked to the word which follows it.

你有没有注意到所有的声音，尤其是冠词是如何连接在一起的吗？冠词 an 用在以元音开头的名词前，例如 “apple”。注意 n 是如何和它后面的单词连读的。

Also notice that words that spelled with the letter “h” in the beginning such as “hour” also use the article “an” because the “h” isn’t pronounced. So we say, “an-our”, not “a hour”.

还要注意，像 hour 这样以字母 h 开头的单词也会使用冠词 an，因为 h 不发音，所以我们说 “an-our”, 而不是 “a hour”。

And some words spelled with the letter “u” in the beginning, such as “unicycle” use the article “a” because the first sound is the “y” sound “j”. So we say, “a unicycle”, not “an unicycle”.

有些单词以字母 u 开头，比如 unicycle，它前面要用冠词 a，因为这个单词的第一个音是 /y/。所以我们说 “a unicycle”，而不是"an unicycle"。

It’s also important to note that the pronunciation of the article “the” changes to “δi :” before words beginning with a vowel sound. So we say “δi :” elevator, not “δэ”elevator.

同样，要注意在以元音开头的单词前面，定冠词的发音要变成为 /i:/。所以我们说 “/δi:/ ” elevator, not “δэ” elevator.

Another tip is, do not be misled by newspaper headlines, advertisements and titles of book and so forth. They frequently omit articles which are necessary in complete sentences in both spoken and written English.

另一条建议是，不要被报纸的标题、广告和书名等所误导。在口语和书面语中，他们经常省略完整句子中必须的冠词。

Knowing when to use “a”, when to use “the”, and when not to use any article at all is undoubtably one of the most difficult aspects of learning English. We will talk about this topic more in an upcoming daily tip. Tune in tomorrow for another tip on learning English.

知道什么时候使用 “a”，什么时候使用“the”，什么时候不使用冠词，是英语学习的难点。我们将在接下来的讲座中更多地讨论这个话题。