Foreign visitors to the UK might be disappointed when they learn that not everyone there speaks like Harry Potter and his friends. Usually, there’s an assumption (假设)by many non-Brits that everyone in Br itain speaks with what’s known as the Received Pronunciation (RP)(标准发音)accent,also called “the Queen’s English” . However,while many people do talk this way, most Britons speak with their own regional accents.
Scouse, Glaswegian and the Black Country dialect — from Liverpool, Glasgow and the West Midlands — are just three of the countless non-RP accents that British people speak with. There are even differences in accents between towns or cities just 30 kilometers apart. What is even more disappointing is that not speaking with the RP accent may mean a British person is judged and even treated differently in their everyday life.
In a 2015 study by the University of South Wales, videos of people reading a passage with three different UK accents were shown to a second group of people. The group then rated how intelligent they thought the readers sounded. The lowest-rated accent was the Brummie dialect, native to people from Birmingham, a city whose accent is considered the working class.
However,there is no need to be disappointed though you are not speaking with the RP accent. In fact, doing the opposite may even give you strengths.
Kong Seong-jae, 25, is an Internet celebrity from Seoul. After studying in the UK, he picked up several regional accents. He’s now famous for his online videos, where he shows off the various accents he’s learned. “British people usually get really excited when I use some of their local dialect words, and they become much friendlier. I think it makes a bit of a bond (联系)between local people and foreigners to speak with their local accent,” he said.
So if you’re working on perfecting your British accent,try to speak like someone from Liverpool, Glasgow or Birmingham. You may not sound like Harry Potter, but you are likely to make more friends.
1.What can we learn from Paragraph 1?
A.Only “the Queen’s English” is accepted in the UK.
B.Many non-Brits usually hold that all Britons speak with the RP accent.
C.Foreign visitors are disappointed at their own spoken English.
D.Any standard English around the world is also called “the Queen English” .
2.What do people think of the Brummie accent?
A.Closest to the RP accent. B.Spoken by people of low social status.
C.Easy to understand. D.Favored by foreign visitors to the UK.
3.What does the underlined phrase , “doing the opposite” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A.Speaking with regional accents. B.Speaking with the RP accent.
C.Speaking the Brummie dialect. D.Speaking like Harry Potter.
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A.How much British people value the RP accent.
B.A comparison between different British accents.
C.The impact of regional accents on people’s lives.
D.A study about the most intelligent accent in Britain.
