Extract from a Spy Story

Angus Pym | woke up on the dot of six o’clock, | as he always did, | no matter where he was | or what he had been doing the previous day. His first thought | was the realization that he was still wearing shirt and trousers, | and when his eyes fell on the reports | piled up around him on the bed, | the events of the previous evening came back to him. He had gone to his club for supper, | had just finished his steak tartar | and was looking forward to a splendid zabaglione | when his meal was rudely interrupted by a call from M., | his controller.

After an ice-cold shower, | Pym thought carefully about which suit to put on. He was seeing M. at nine o’clock that morning, | and he wanted to make a good impression. Glancing at himself in the mirror, | he noticed that he had put on weight recently. He would have to pay more attention to his diet in the future.

An hour later, | as he was driving through the rush-hour traffic on his way to meet M, | Pym carefully considered the contents of the files. So Zircon, | the organization which sought to control the free western world, | was back in business?

Its founder, | Leon Biarrowitz, | was dead. Pym knew this, | because he had personally arranged his death. But who controlled Zircon now? Doubtless M would tell him.

[28]

II. Skills Development

2.1. You are going to listen to two samples of ‘every day talks’. Try not to forget that this is the most situationally influenced kind of English. In this style variation will be at its most consistent level.

2.2. Listen to the samples observing the timing specifics. Delimit the messages observing the use of silent and hesitation pauses. Why do you think the hesitation phenomenon is so frequent here? Is it conditioned by the degree of spontaneity? Focus on the hesitation areas of the messages.

2.3. Try to listen to the samples again to consider the rate (tempo) variability.

2.4. Focus on the volume variability while listening to the messages. Try and identify the correlation between the speaker’s attitude and the volume characterization.

2.5. Listen to the samples to try the pitch patterns:

Sample A

e.g. … how’s your new job going?

… the works really interesting

… you know there’s lots of planning projects

… and going out and meeting different people

… yeah, all that side of things is fine

… yeah it’s just …

… well, I don’t want to sound as if I’m moaning already or anything but

… she got this way of kind of ignoring whatever I say

… she doesn’t actually criticize me

… you know I’m supposed to be her deputy manager

… do you know what I mean?

… especially when you’re new to the job

… in meetings

… she’ll just kind of cut straight in and interrupt what I’m saying

… like I’m an idiot or something!

… she sounds awful

… the boss from hell!

Sample B

e.g. … profits have been lower than expected

… you said it would be at least eight per cent!

… can hardly afford to pay their bills

… I’m not having a rise at all

… the company would have to close

… for the next twelve months

… you’re just trying to keep the pay rise

… you could have a strike on your hands

2.6. Try and learn to develop fluency skills. Focus on reduced articulation (ra) of the unstressed, weakform words to avoid a mechanical “rattling” sound. Failure to employ adequate articulation forms can cause misunderstandings. Vary your rate to pronounce unstressed and stressed wordforms:

e.g. … how’s your new job

(ra)

…you know there’s lots of …

(ra)

… and going out and meeting different

(ra) (ra)

… all that side of things is fine

(ra)

… well I don’t want to sound as if I’m moaning …

(ra) (ra)

… moaning already or anything but

(ra) (ra)

… she’s got this way of kind of ignoring …

(ra) (ra)

… especially when you are new …

(ra)

… like I’m an idiot or something

(ra)

… do you know what I mean?

(ra) (ra)

… she’ll just kind of …

(ra)

… interrupt what I’m saying

(ra)

… profits have been lower …

(ra)

… you said it would be at least eight …

(ra) (ra)

… can hardly …

(ra)

… I’m not …

(ra)

… not having a rise …

(ra)

… the company would have to close

(ra) (ra)

… for the next …

(ra)