小天的週記

之前外國朋友教我一個英文單字 - mellifluous。

我就馬上上網查 "mellifluous"到底是什麼意思、聽起來又是如何。

於是在Google查到這個解釋:

"A mellifluous voice or piece of music is smooth and gentle and very pleasant to listen to. [formal]

I grew up around people who had wonderful, mellifluous voices.

Soon the room is filled with Bates' mellifluous tones.

Synonyms: sweet, soft, smooth, honeyed More Synonyms of mellifluous."

但我還是很納悶: 究竟mellifluous的聲音，聽起來如何?

於是我上YouTube搜尋，看到這則影片，但這種短影片會不間斷重複播放，很煩，你們可能需要自己按暫停。

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lFPiScDuWag

那為何我外國朋友要特別跟我提到這個字呢?

外國朋友如此描述:

"[...] yesterday I was watching an episode of the detective series

'Father Brown', and there was an actor in it who I recognised but

couldn't think where. When I looked him up, he was in 'The Bank of

Dave', the film I watched on the plane. That's a funny coincidence. He

is called Angus Wright, and he has a distinctive appearance and very

distinctive voice. I wondered where his accent is from, and found that

he is the son of a top British diplomat so lived in many countries as

a child. You can see his showreel here ('Father Brown'is actually at 4:55):

https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/angus-wright

His father was said to have a 'mellifluous' voice, but I can't find

any clips at the moment, but there is a good word for you."

一開始，他是看電影"Father Brown"，覺得某演員看起來很眼熟，

但一時之間，他也想不起來曾在哪部影片看過這位演員。

後來，他上網搜尋，才發現這演員是Angus Wright，

而巧的是他之前飛去美國參加弟弟婚禮的時候，

就在飛機上看過另一部Angus Wright演過的電影 "The Bank of Dave"。

我外國朋友覺得Angus Wright不論外型還是聲音都很獨特，於是他爬文瞭解這位演員的背景，

發現Angus Wright的父親是英國外交官，而Angus Wright小時候也在國外長大，造就了他的口音。

(坦白說我實在聽不出來Angus Wright口音在英國人耳裡到底有多殊異。)

網路上說，Angus Wright的外交官父親有著mellifluous voice。

起初，我外國朋友在網路上並沒找到這位英國外交官講話的影片。

所以他只能跟我分享Angus Wright的影片:

https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/angus-wright

不過沒幾天後，我外國朋友就把Google功能發揮淋漓盡致，

終於讓他找到這位英國外交官在國會發表的片段。

外國朋友說:

"I managed to find a video of his father, Lord Wright of Richmond,

speaking in the House of Lords in 2015. You can definitely see where

Angus gets his voice from!

https://tinyurl.com/yeykdt5y

He mainly spoke about foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East, 

as he had been a diplomat."

我聽完Angus Wright的父親Lord Wright of Richmond講話片段，

真心覺得八十幾歲高齡的人講話還能如此清楚，真的是很有福氣。

跟外國朋友討論mellifluous voice的時候，差不多是杭州亞運期間。

那陣子我在老家都陪爸媽看杭州亞運。

聽到體育主播田鴻魁講話，想說這音質聽起來很舒服，

所以我跟外國朋友分享體育主播田鴻魁的聲音。

但那支影片，體育主播田鴻魁講話甚快，不像他在播報體育競講話的速度。

所以不符合我外國朋友mellifluous voice的定義。

因為mellifluous voice需要很舒緩、輕鬆的口吻。

他說:

"I didn't really think what type of men's voices are 'mellifluous'.

I guess the men's voices that are considered most pleasant are deep,

smooth sounding ones. For example, John Brunning from Classic FM

(a bit like the man in the video you linked describes a presenter on a

jazz radio station). Some black American actors have great voices,

for example Morgan Freeman who you mentioned, and James Earl Jones.

Many people think Welsh accents are particularly pleasant, because they

have that slightly 'sing-song' quality. Maybe you would like the voice

of Richard Burton, which is both deep and Welsh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7meFOWOdw0

I don't think the Taiwanese man in the video you linked songs

mellifluous. His voice is quite fast and not at all smooth."

但我看到他特別點出也許我會因為Richard Burton的威爾斯口音而愛上Richard Burton的聲音。

我就忍不住碎碎念，這有可能嗎?

我會因為威爾斯口音而喜歡Richard Burton的聲音嗎?

我就在那邊該該叫(台語)。

於是外國朋友連忙解釋道:

"What I really meant was that Welsh accents are considered pleasant and

also interesting because of the way they sort of 'sing'.

That's why I thought it might sound pleasant in general.

I didn't mean to you specifically.

Interestingly, in the 2005 film version of 'War of the Worlds',

the same quotation is read at the start of the film by Morgan Freeman.

He also narrates the closing lines, which are quite famous and taken straight from H. G. Wells's book."

聽到外國朋友特別提非裔美籍演員Morgan Freeman，

還提及電影「世界大戰」很有名的引言就是Morgan Freeman念的。

這是Morgan Freeman講述電影「世界大戰」很有名的開場白。 

後來，外國朋友又看了另一部電影，Anthony Hopkins主演的 - "The Remains of the Day" (長日將盡)，

外國朋友說，Anthony Hopkins的聲音也算是mellifluous。

"Anthony Hopkins has one of those mellifluous, subtle Welsh accents

that we were talking about the other week, like Richard Burton.

You can hear it in any trailer or clip of the film.

It's annoying that all the trailers seem to be for American audiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jALmEb72beg"

講了那麼落落長，還好是靠外國朋友的文字撐場面跟充實本文實質內容，

我個人簡結mellifluous voice對我而言是怎樣的聲音:

mellifluous voice基本上在英國佬耳裡，就是要低沉、渾厚的聲音，且用不徐不疾的速度講話。

但，本人喜歡的聲音是像廣播人員劉傑那樣的聲音啊!XDDD

對我來說，劉傑的聲音比較好聽。