The relationship between shale toughness and its mechanical parameters is of significant importance to predict the shale toughness at great depth based on geophysical logging data. In this paper, a large number of experiments are performed for toughness measurement of artificial shale specimens of thick-wall cylinder, with internal pressures applied. And the finite element method is used to interpret the toughness. The acoustic speeds of the specimens are gauged with the acoustic instruments made by Hewlett Packard, and the relationship between the shale toughness and its mechanical parameters were determined.