Welcome to New Concept English Book 3, Lesson 29 Reading Session. Today we will focus on proper pronunciation, intonation, and comprehension through careful reading practice. This lesson will help you develop natural English rhythm and flow, which are essential skills for fluent English communication.
Now let's prepare for the reading session. The complete text of Lesson 29 will be presented with clear paragraph structure. Focus on proper pacing and rhythm as we read. Pay attention to sentence stress, intonation patterns, and natural pauses between ideas. These reading techniques will help you develop fluent and natural English pronunciation.
Whether we find a joke funny or not largely depends on where we have been brought up. The sense of humour is mysteriously bound up with national characteristics. Notice how the stress falls on key words like 'funny', 'largely', 'depends', 'brought up', 'sense', 'humour', 'mysteriously', 'bound', and 'characteristics'. Pay attention to the natural pauses and the rising and falling intonation patterns.
Let's focus on key vocabulary and pronunciation. The word 'largely' has primary stress on the first syllable: LARGE-ly. 'Brought up' is a phrasal verb meaning raised or educated. 'Mysteriously' has stress on the second syllable: mys-TER-ious-ly. 'Bound up' means connected or linked. 'Characteristics' has primary stress on the fourth syllable: char-ac-ter-IS-tics. Practice these stress patterns for natural pronunciation.
Whether we find a joke funny or not largely depends on where we have been brought up. The sense of humour is mysteriously bound up with national characteristics. A Frenchman, for instance, might find it hard to laugh at a Russian joke. In the same way, a Russian might fail to see anything amusing in a joke which would make an Englishman laugh to tears. This complete reading demonstrates natural English rhythm, proper word linking, and fluent expression that you should aim to achieve in your own practice.