Pronouncing a language is a skill.Every normal person is expert in the skill of pronouncing his own laguage;but few people are even moderately proficient at pronouncing foreign languages.Now there are many reasons for this,some obvious.But I suggest that the fundamental reason why people in general do not speak foreign languages very much better than they do is that they fail to grasp the true nature of the problem of learning to pronounce,and consequently never set about dealing with it in the right way.Far too many people fail to realize that pronouncing a foreign language in a skill-one that needs careful training of a special kind,and one that cannot be acquired by just leaving it to take care of itself.I think even teachers of language ,while recognizing the importance of a good accent,tend to neglect,in their practical teaching,the branch of study concerned with wpeaking the language.So the first point I want to make is that English pronunciation must tbe taught;the teacher should be prepared to devote some of the lesson time to this,and by his whole attitude to the subjuct he should get the student to feel that here is a matter worthy of receiving his close attention.So,there should be occasions when other aspects of English,such as grammar or speling,are allowed for the ,moment to take second place.

　　Apart from this question of the time given to proninciation,there are two other requirements for the teacher:the first,knowledge,te second,

　　technique.

　　It is important that the teacher should be in possession of the necessayr information.This can generally be obtained from books.It is possible to get from books some idea of the mechanics of speech,and of want we call general phonetic theory.It is also possible in this way to get a clear mental picture of the relationship between the sounds of different languages,between the speech habits and English people and those,say,of your strdents.Unless the teacher has such a picture,any comments he may make on his students'pronunciation are unlikely to be of much use,and lesson time spent on pronunciation may well be time wasted.

　　But it doesn't follow that you can teach pronunciation successfully

　　as soon as you have read the nucessary books.It depends after that what use you make of your knowledge;adn this is a matter of technique.

　　5.According to the author,________pronouncing foreign languages.

　　A.only a few people are really proficient in

　　B.no one is really an expert in the skill of

　　C.there aren't many people who are even fairly good at

　　D.there are even some people who are moderately proficient in

　　6.The author argues that going about the problem of pronunciation in the wrong way is ________.

　　A.an obvious cause of not grasping the problem correctly

　　B.a fundamental result of not speaking well

　　C.a result of not grasping the problem correctly

　　D.not an obvious cause of speaking poorly

　　7.The best way of learning to speak a foreign language is by________.

　　A.picking it up natrallly as a child

　　B.learning from a native speaker

　　C.not concentrating on pronunciation as such

　　D.undertaking systematic work

　　8.Teachers tend to forget________.

　　A.the practical teaching of languages

　　B.the importance of a good accent

　　C.the principles of phonetic theory

　　D.the teaching of prounciation in the classroom

　　9.The value stedents put on correct speech habits depends on________.

　　A.how closely he attends to the matter

　　B.whether it is English that is being taught

　　C.his teacher's approach to pronunciation

　　D.the importance normally given to grammar and spelling

　　10.A teacher might waste his time by________.

　　A.spending lesson time on pronunciation

　　B.making ill-informed comments on pronunciation

　　C.not using books on phonetics in the classroom

　　D.not giving students a clear mental picture of the difference between sounds