(单词翻译:单击)
Hello, I'm John Russell.
大家好，我是约翰·罗素。
Have you ever wondered about the difference between books and cars?
你有没有想过书和汽车之间的区别？
I'm not talking about the objects themselves.
我说的不是物品本身。
Instead, I'm talking about how the endings of the words are pronounced.
相反，我说的是单词结尾的发音。
They are both plural nouns with an s at the end, but the ending sound different. Books Cars
它们都是以s结尾的复数名词，但末尾的音听起来不同。
Books has a /s/ sound at the end while cars as /z/ sound at the end.
books末尾是/s/的音，而cars末尾是/z/的音。
Why is that?
为什么会这样呢？
In American English, we pronounce the letter "s" in two ways as /s/ and as /z/.
在美式英语中，字母s的发音有两种，分别为/s/和/z/。
How can you tell when?
怎样才能知道什么时候发哪个音呢？
One helpful thing to think about is voicing.
一个可以帮助区分的是是否是“发声的”。
If your vocal cords move, we say a consonant is voiced.
如果发音时你的声带震动，我们就说它是浊辅音。
If your vocal cords do not move, we say it is voiceless.
如果发音时你的声带不震动，我们就说它是清辅音。
When the letter "s" follows of a voiceless consonant, it is often pronounced as /s/.
当字母“s”跟在一个清音辅音后面时，它通常被读成/s/。
Let's think back to the word books.
我们回想一下单词books。
The word book ends in a /k/ sound.
单词book以/k/音结尾。
It is a voiceless sound.
它是清辅音。
When it is plural, the letter "s" is pronounce as a /s/-- another voiceless sound. books
当它是复数形式时，字母“s”发音为/s/——也是清辅音。
You can think of the idea like this: voiceless sounds go with voiceless sounds.
你可以这样想：清辅音与清辅音相连。
Many common words follow this pattern, including verbs.
许多常用词都遵循这种模式，包括动词。
Think about this statement: He eats a lot.
想一下这句话：他吃的很多。
The verb eat ends in a /t/ sound-- a voiceless sound.
动词“eat”以/t/音结尾，是个清辅音。
So the "s" at the end of the verb sounds like a /s/.
所以单词结尾的“s”发/s/的音。
So why does the word cars have a /z/ sound at the end?
那么为什么单词cars结尾会发/z/的音呢？
We'll explore that in a future episode.
我们将在下一集继续探索。
That's all for today.
以上就是今天的全部内容。
Keep up the good work.
继续加油吧。
