Read this aloud at a normal pace, as if you were talking to someone across the kitchen table. There is no need to perform it. The recording is only trying to learn how you sound when you are relaxed, so an ordinary speaking voice is better than a careful one. Find a quiet room and hold the phone about a hand width from your mouth. If a car goes by or someone comes in, stop and start over. It is quicker to record it again than to work around the noise later. Read steadily through to the end, and do not worry about small stumbles. A natural pause or a repeated word is fine, and sounds more like you than a perfect take would. When you reach the bottom of this paragraph, keep going for a few more seconds about anything at all: what you had for breakfast, what the weather is doing, what you plan to do this afternoon. Then stop the recording and listen back.

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