正確發音小技巧
發長音/a:/時，嘴巴放松，自然張開。

發短音/ʌ/時，嘴稍張一點，嘴形比/a:/小得多，從喉嚨后部短促地發出這個音。 初學正確發這個音時，肌肉會比較緊張。

如圖：

/a:/ heart car large park farm
// husband cut lucky pub funny

唇舌訓練：
I love my husband's large car in the park.
/a:/ /a:/ /a:/
She's cutting the picture of heart in the pub.
/a:/
The lucky man who owns a farm wins a funny car.
/a:/ /a:/
The woman and his husband are talking to each other, aren't they?
/a:/ /a:/
Those funny cars are everywhere: in the park, in the farm, even in a pub.
/a:/ /a:/ /a:/ /a:/
單詞中字母的發音規律
一般發長音/a:/的字母 al calm, palm
ar start, farm, large, yard
一般發短音//的字母 o come, month
oo blood, flood
ou rough, trouble, country
u luck, husband, hurry, up

請注意：有很多單詞中的字母“a”在字典可以看到是發/a:/的音，如：dance, grass, plant, fast等等，但在美音發音中，這些音都會發成/æ/， 所以在以上的單詞字母的發音規律表中沒有列出來。同時，有些單詞如：laugh, aunt中的字母“au”，其英式發音也是/a:/，但美式發音會發/æ/的音。

發音與朗讀訓練
（在做以下朗讀練習時，請注意黑體單詞中畫線字母的發音）
Confidence 自信
There's nothing wrong with trying to excel.

試圖超越他人并沒有錯。

But if your best isn't as good as someone else's,

但如果你已經盡了最大的努力，仍不如他人，

don't allow yourself to lose confidence,

請不要丟掉你的自信，

either work harder to reach a new best, or accept that that's the way things are,
/a:/ /a:/
要么更努力一些，要么只要你已經盡了全力，

as long as you're giving your all.

就接受現實。

As I said earlier to my students, I'm not that far from complete confidence,
/a:/
正如我曾對我的學生說過的那樣，我也是一個充滿自信的人，

and that confidence comes from knowing my strengths and weaknesses

那種自信來源于我對自己的優勢與弱勢的認知

and accepting them.

與接受。

I also know I'm not in anything alone, I have friends and family behind me,

我也知道我并不是孤獨一人，我有朋友與家人支持著我。

no matter what I do, and with that kind of support,

無論我做什么，只要有那愛支持伴著我，

why wouldn't I be confident?
我怎能不自信呢？