Homophones 同音词
 
Yang Li:  大家好，欢迎收听本周的《你问我答》节目，我是杨莉。
 
Natalie:    And my name is Natalie. 
 
Yang Li:  今天的问题来自郑州的  Ben. 他希望我们能讲解一下英语的同音词，也就是说两个词的拼写不同，意思也不同但是发音却一模一样。比如说  pair  P.A.I.R  和  pear P.E.A.R. Is there a name for these types of words, Natalie?
 
Natalie:  Yes Li, these words are called homophones.
 
Yang Li:  But how can we distinguish between these words?
 
Natalie:  Well  there's not exactly a  rule, you  just have  to  learn  the different words and the contexts that they're used in.
 
Yang Li:  So it is all about practice!
 
Natalie:  Yes  as  always,  it  is  all  about  practice!  Now  let's  listen  to  Dan.  See  how many different homophones you can hear. 
 
Example
 
I hate the weather in Britain! You don't know what to wear! You never know whether to bring a coat or your sunglasses. 
 
One minute the sun is shining, the next it starts to rain! I wonder where the rain comes from sometimes!
 
Yang Li:  I agree the weather is very unpredictable in the UK!
 
Natalie:  Ah  yes  the  infamous  British  weather.  So  did  you  hear  the  different homophones? How many did you get?
 
Yang Li:  我听到了两组同音词，第一对是  weather  W.E.A.T.H.E.R  还有  whether W.H.E.T.H.E.R.
 
Example
 
I hate the weather in Britain! You never know whether to bring a coat or you sunglasses.
 
 
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Natalie:  Did you also hear wear W.E.A.R and where W.H.E.R.E?
 
Example
 
You don't know what to wear!
 
I wonder where the rain comes from sometimes!
 
Natalie:  Homophones are important  in written English and are also something  that native English  speakers  learn at  school. Often we have difficulty deciding which word to use as well! 
 
Yang Li:  看来大家不必太苛求自己了，因为 Natalie 说就连英国人自己有时都是把同音词搞，何况外国人呢!
 
Natalie:  An  important  thing  to  point  out  about  homophones  in  spoken  English  is that they can differ between accents.
 
Yang Li:  Hmmm...that's a good point. 需要说明的是 Homophones 和口音可不是一回。
 
Natalie:  For example I speak in a Northern Irish accent, and in my accent the words pull  P.U.L.L.  and  pool  P.O.O.L  are homophones,  but  in  an English  accent these words are not homophones.
 
Yang Li:  Natalie 讲话是爱尔兰口音，她说他们把拉拽和水池这两个词总混在一起。拉拽是 pull  P.U.L.L. 而水池是  pool  P.O.O.L., 也就是说对于爱尔兰人来说  pull 和  pool 就是同音词，但是对英格兰人来说就不是。请听 Natalie 和 Dan 的发音有什么不。
 
Example
 
A:  pull and pool
B:  pull and pool
 
Yang Li:  听出来了吗？ Natalie 在读这两个词的时候没有什么区别，但是 Dan 的发音就体现出两个词的不同发音，我们再听一遍。
 
Example
 
A:    pull and pool
B:    pull and pool
 
Yang Li:  由此看来确定同音词的时候还要看口音，比如英格兰南方和北方，英格兰和爱尔兰或苏格兰各地的口音都不同，因此都有各自的口音。 By  the way Natalie, what's  the difference between a homophone and a homonym? Because they are very confusing. 
 
Natalie:  Yeah  that's a  really good point  Li. A homonym  refers  to a word  that has two meanings but the word is spelt the same. For example the word ruler R.U.L.E.R. 
 
 
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Yang Li:  Right; Natalie 说 homonym 意思就是拼写一样但是意思不一样的同形异意词，比如说  ruler, 这个词在英语中即可以指尺，量东西的尺，也指统治者，都是  ruler.
 
Natalie:  And quite often homonyms are used in jokes!
 
Yang Li:  是的，人们在说笑话的时候经常使用同形异意词 homonyms!
 
Natalie:  As they allow a play on words.
 
Yang Li:  A play on words 就像我们的象声演员一样玩儿文字游戏。 Have you got a  joke Natalie?
 
Natalie:  Actually I do! OK. So why did the King draw straight lines?
 
Yang Li:  I don't know.
 
Natalie:  Because he was the ruler! Get it? Ruler… ruler...?
 
Yang Li:  Yeah,  but  that wasn't  really  funny…  And  I promise Natalie doesn't have any more jokes on the website!
 
Natalie:    Li what about this one… 
 
Yang Li:  Better go, bye!
 
Natalie:  No honestly Li this joke's really good… come back!