LISTEN

Listen to the audio recording below.

PRACTICE

This paragraph has slashes (/) that represent the pauses and dashes (—) that represent where you should stretch the sounds. Stretch the end of each word that has a dash after it. Add a pause after each stretch. Remember to exaggerate your stretching. Read this paragraph three times.
 

Silicon Valley— / is in the southern pa—rt/ of the San Francisco Bay Area—/ in Northern California—/. The term originally refe—rred/ to the region's large numbe—r/ of silicon chip innovato—rs/ and manufacture—rs/, but eventually came to refe—r/ to all the high-tech businesse—s/ in the area—/. Despite the developme—nt/ of other high-tech economic cente—rs/ throughout the United Sta—tes/, Silicon Valley—/ continues to be—/ the leading high-tech cente—r/ because of its large numbe—r/ of enginee—rs/ and venture capitali—sts/.