Speaking clearly. Improving voice and articulation: Фонетический практикум. Фомиченко Л.Г. - 78 стр.

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for the flesh we loved too well, it’s already devoured and has rotted.
And we, the bones, now turn to ashes and dust. Don’t mock us or
make us the butt of jokes. The rain has rinsed and washed us; the sun
dried us and turned us black. Magpies and crows have pecked out our
eyes and torn away our beards and our eyebrows. Never are we at rest.
The winds keep swinging us — now here, now there. / /
     Lord, keep us out of hell! There’s nothing for us to do there!
Friends, don’t jeer! May God forgive us! [Villon «Ballard of the
Hanged»].

       A rate of 180—200 w. p. m. may exhaust your listeners. Burning
up the road tells the world that you’re highly nervous, unsure of
yourself, or emotionally rattled. Faster speaking isn’t necessarily bet-
ter speaking. And have you noticed? We tend to be suspicious of fast
talkers; we pigeonhole them as slick operators, shady lawyers or poli-
ticians, or high-pressure used-car salesman.
       Unlike cigarettes, which carry warnings that smoking may be
hazardous to your health, excessively fast talking won’t destroy you
physically. But a 190-word-per-minute speaking rate is apt to pulverize
sounds and is certainly not conducive to sharp articulation and intel-
ligible communication. A few professionals get by with it. But most of
us who speak that rapidly turn our sentences into mush. A fast rate,
however, is proper for some humorous material, elation, excite-
ment, fear, or anger. Even then — use it sparingly.

      The selection will give you a general idea of this rate. It contains
exactly 200 words. The diagonal lines are placed after the 180 th word.


      What is it, then? What do you want? What have you come for?
What do you mean by this flightiness? Bursting in all of a sudden, like
a cat having a fit! Well, what have you seen that’s so surprising? What
kind of an idea has gotten into your head? Really, you know, you act
like a three-year-old child and not in the least like what one would
expect from a girl of eighteen. I wonder when you’ll get more sensible,
and behave as a well brought-up young lady should and learn a few
good manners? Oh, your head’s always empty! You’re coping the
neighbour’s girls. Why are you always trying to be like them? You’ve
no business using them as models. You have other examples, young