# 1.1 字母（Alphabet）
英语总计使用 26 个**字母**（*letters*），各有大小写之分。在欧洲语言之中，英语是罕见的不使用**修饰符**（*diacritics*）的文字 —— 所谓修饰符，指的是字母上附加的标记，用以区分发音或者意义，比如，*â*、*é*、*ç*，等等。
Modern English is composed of *26* letters, each with both *uppercase* and *lowercase* forms. English stands out among European languages for not using [diacritics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic), which are special marks added to letters to alter their pronunciation or meaning, such as *â*, *é* or *ç*, etc.
北约（NATO）有一套指称英文字母的系统，用以在仅有语音交流的情况下避免歧义 —— 在军事、航空、紧急救助、无线电或者电话沟通等诸多场合中具备不可或缺作用。
[NATO](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO) has a system that uses common words to identify each letter, which is particularly helpful for military and civil aviation, emergency serivces, radio or phone communication, and many others to avoid confusion when spelling out words.
| Letter | Pronunciation | NATO Phonetic Alphabet |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **A** *a* | `/eɪ/` | *Alpha* `/ˈælfə/` |
| **B** *b* | `/biː/` | *Bravo* `/ˈbrɑːvoʊ/` |
| **C** *c* | `/siː/` | *Charlie* `/ˈtʃɑːrliː/` |
| **D** *d* | `/diː/` | *Delta* `/ˈdeltə/` |
| **E** *e* | `/iː/` | *Echo* `/ˈekoʊ/` |
| **F** *f* | `/ef/` | *Foxtrot* `/ˈfɔːkstrɒt/` |
| **G** *g* | `/dʒiː/` | *Golf* `/ɡɑːf/` |
| **H** *h* | `/eɪtʃ/` | *Hotel* `/hoʊˈtel/` |
| **I** *i* | `/aɪ/` | *India* `/ˈɪndiə/` |
| **J** *j* | `/dʒeɪ/` | *Juliet* `/ˈdʒuːliːˌet/` |
| **K** *k* | `/keɪ/` | *Kilo* `/ˈkiːloʊ/` |
| **L** *l* | `/el/` | *Lima* `/ˈliːmə/` |
| **M** *m* | `/em/` | *Mike* `/maɪk/` |
| **N** *n* | `/en/` | *November* `/noʊˈvembər/` |
| **O** *o* | `/oʊ/` | *Oscar* `/ˈɑːskɑːr/` |
| **P** *p* | `/piː/` | *Papa* `/pəˈpɑː/` |
| **Q** *q* | `/kjuː/` | *Quebec* `/kəˈbek/` |
| **R** *r* | `/ɑːr/` | *Romeo* `/ˈroʊmiːˌoʊ/` |
| **S** *s* | `/es/` | *Sierra* `/siˈerə/` |
| **T** *t* | `/tiː/` | *Tango* `/ˈtæŋɡoʊ/` |
| **U** *u* | `/juː/` | *Uniform* `/ˈjuːnɪfɔːrm/` |
| **V** *v* | `/viː/` | *Victor* `/ˈvɪktər/` |
| **W** *w* | `/ˈdʌbᵊljuː/` | *Whiskey* `/ˈwɪskiː/` |
| **X** *x* | `/eks/` | *X-ray* `/ˈeksreɪ/` |
| **Y** *y* | `/waɪ/` | *Yankee* `/ˈjæŋkiː/` |
| **Z** *z* | `/ziː/` | *Zulu* `/ˈzuːluː/` |
在英式英语中，*z* 被读作 `/zed/`。
In British, letter *z* is pronounced as `/zed/`.
> [!Note]
>
> * 合成语音文件使用的是 OpenAI 的 TTS (Text-to-Speech) 和微软的 Edge's TTS。蓝色喇叭背景图标是男性语音，红色背景喇叭图标是女性语音。
> * The synthesized audio files primarily utilizes OpenAI's TTS (Text-to-Speech) and Microsoft Edge's TTS. The blue background speaker iconrepresents a male voice, whereas the red background speaker iconsignifies a female voice.