Chapter One Introduction第一章节介绍
在当今社会，英语在世界范围内非常流行，英语的流行也对世界产生了深远的影响。首先，英语促进了不同民族之间的交流和互动，英语作为世界上唯一的通用语言，在国际商务谈判、国事访问和全球文化交流中发挥着越来越重要的作用。此外，英语为那些来自非英语国家的人创造了许多扩展视野和学习世界的机会。显然，由于英语在全球大众传媒，如互联网、出版物和广告中被广泛使用，了解世界的最好方式就是使用英语作为强有力的语言工具。
In present-day society, English is enjoying great popularity around the world.English popularity has a profound influence on the world. First of all，Englishpromotes the communication and interaction among different nations, English, whichis regarded as the only common language around the world，is playing an increasinglyimportant role in international business negotiation, state visits and global cultureexchange. Furthermore，English creates numerous opportunities of broadeninghorizons and learning about the world for those people who come from non-Englishspeaking nations. Apparently, since English has been widely utilized in global massmedia, such as internet, publications and advertisements, the best way to know theworld is to use English as the powerful language tool.
1.1 Background of the study研究背景
英语作为一门全球性语言，其应用范围比其他任何语言都广泛。自1978年改革开放以来，英语被公认为是科学、技术、民族发展和现代化的重要工具。除了给整体发展带来巨大的好处之外，英语水平在个人层面上也有很大的好处。熟练掌握英语使大学或大学入学、毕业、出国旅游、留学、工作、体面工作、晋升变得更加容易，尤其是在从事国际贸易的合资企业和公司中。Being a global language, English is more widely used than any other language.In China, since the implementation of reform and opening up in 1978，English hasbeen widely acknowledged as an important tool for science, technology, nationaldevelopment and modernization. Apart from bringing huge benefits to the wholenation, English language proficiency also has great benefits on an individual level. Agood command of English makes it easier to be admitted to and graduate from acollege or university, travel, study or work overseas, get a decent job，be promoted,especially in joint ventures and companies engaged in international trade.As the vehicle for China's modernization and participation in the process ofeconomic globalization and with China's intent to become a major player ininternational affairs，English language proficiency becomes increasingly necessary foreveryone. Therefore, it is the most widely taught foreign language in China and Chinahas the largest English learning population all over the world. English languageteaching has been and will continue to be, an important part of China's reform andmodernization. In the course of English learning and teaching, pronunciation andintonation play an essential role. And great efforts have been made to promote theEnglish learning and teaching efficiency. However, the results have not beensatisfactory up to now. The acquisition of English intonation always poses an obstacleto Chinese EFL learners. Under such context, the thesis intends to make someexplorations in this respect.
1.2 Significance and Necessity of the Study
The significance of English intonation in communication cannot beoverestimated. The function of intonation can be summarized into four aspects: thesemantic function, which means that intonation may differentiate the meaning of anutterance; the attitudinal function, which means that intonation can indicate speaker'sattitude to a situation, reactions to events and emotions to various responses;grammatical function, which may help to understand the correlation betweenintonation and sentence type; the accentual function, which means that prominence inEnglish is used to highlight what is new and important information in an utterance,place special emphasis and show contrast.In the process of English learning, the intonation is probably the most difficultelement to acquire in the language，without which one can never speak like a nativespeaker. In daily communication, faulty intonation and defects in intonation can soundfunny and even lead to misunderstandings.As is known to all，pronunciation and intonation are two essential elements inEnglish teaching. However, much attention has been paid to the learning and teachingof English pronunciation，while the research and teaching of English intonation h
