The
Sound of Your Voice
by Carol Fleming
Look over the following vocabulary items, listen to the recorded passage (second item on side B of your tape), then answer the listening comprehension questions below.
Vocabulary:
| to
imagine awards dinner insurance company to honor top sales people to set the pace standard to aim at proud McKinley Insurance Group to inspire setting to replace energy bored to tears to assault to respond to vocal vitality voice quality in general pattern attractive announcers aspect to hold attention appropriate fluctuations melody dynamic skillfully to enhance to drone on subject matter to communicate |
to
suffocate monotonous monotone end of the continuum emphasis folks vocal punches emphatic ten rounds in the ring disc jockey car dealership commercials to be put off by feedback rate of speech compliment punchy melodic well-paced enthusiasm warmth personality degrees expressiveness to hold back emotion style various exaggerated to have success childlike high-pitched whine |
to
adopt to mumble displeasure to judge commitment message statement Omni magazine settlers to rotate Mars to mine planets asteroids minerals investor frontier capital investment fascinating to massacre to lack to flatter proverbial flapjack matter of fact painful properly delivery quality to come alive to share draggy musical to get it |
Listening comprehension questions:
1. What was wrong with the first awards dinner introduction?
2. What was wrong with the second?
3. What is 'vocal vitality'?
4. Who in particular needs to pay attention to 'vocal vitality'?
5. How does vocal vitality help a listener?
6. What happens if one's speech is overly emphatic?
7. Which aspect of speech do people seem most willing to comment on?
8. What are the characteristics of voices with vocal vitality?
9. What is one way in which cultures differ as regards spoken language?
10. Give three examples of individual speech styles and why a speaker might
adopt them.
11. What was wrong with the first two readings of the passage on space stations?
12. What does 'draggy' mean?
13. Describe a speaking voice you have encountered in your own experience
that was difficult to listen to.