Today's tip is on sound linking. （連音）今天的小貼士是關于連音。

Although in written English, there're spaces between every word, in spoken English there're always never pauses between words. 雖然在書面英語當中，每個單詞之間是有空的，而在英語口語中經常是單詞之間是沒有停頓的。

In order to understand spoken English, it is essential to understand how this linking is done. 為了能懂英語口語，懂得如何連音是非常重要的。

Today let's concentrate on the most common sound linking situation. 今天我們來關注最普通的連音情況。

Whenever a word ending in a consonant sound is followed by a word beginning with a vowel sound, the consonant sound is linked to the vowel sound as if they were part of the same word. 若以輔音結尾的單詞后面跟著以元音開頭的單詞，這個輔音就和后面的元音連在一起發音，如同這兩個音構成了一個單詞。

Let's look at some examples.  讓我們來看一些例子。

I'd like another bowl of rice, please. 我想再要一碗飯。

First, note that although there're six words in the sentence, all the words are linked together without pause. 首先，注意下雖然這個句子里有六個單詞，但是所有的單詞都沒有停頓地連在一起。

Listen again. 再聽一遍。

I'd like another bowl of rice, please. 我想再要一碗飯。

Now listen to how the words “like” and “another” are linked. 現在聽下單詞 “like”和 “another”是如何連在一起的。

“Like another”, “like-another”. “Like” ends in a consonant sound, and “another” begins with a vowel sound. 單詞 “like” 是以輔音結束的，而單詞 “another” 是以元音開始的。

So the “k” from “like” is linked to the “a” from “another” to produce “kanother”. 因此，單詞 “like” 中的 “k” 和單詞 “another” 中的 “a” 連在一起發 “kanother”.

Listen to the example sentence again. 再聽下這個例句。

I'd like another bowl of rice, please. 我想再要一碗飯。

In the sentence there is another example of a consonant being linked to a vowel. 在這個句子里有另外一個輔音與元音相連的例子。

A bowl of, a bowl-of. A bowl of, a bowl-of.

It sounds like that you're saying the word “love”. 聽起來像在說單詞 “love”。

Here's another example. 另外一個例子。

I'd love a bowl of rice. 我想要一碗飯。

This sound linking is probably the biggest problem for learners of English when they try to understand native speaker's talking. 這個連音可能是英語學習者努力去弄懂以英語母語的人的話遇到的最大問題。

We'll talk more about sound linking in future daily tips, as this is an extremely important feature of spoken English. 我們將在以后的日常小貼士中會學習更多關于連音的，因為這是口語中的一個很重要的特點。

Today's tip is to link consonants to vowels which come after them. Till then, tomorrow, for another daily tip. 今天的小貼士是關于輔音與它后面的元音的連音。