Question

Our love of music and appreciation of musical harmony is learnt and not based on natural ability, a new study by University of Melbourne researchers has found. The researchers said previous theories about how we appreciate music were based on the physical functions of sound, the ear itself and a born ability to hear harmony.

The study shows that musical harmony can be learnt, and it is a matter of training the brain to hear the sounds. So if you thought that the music of some foreign culture (or Jazz) sounded like the crying of cats, it’s simply because you haven’t learnt to listen by their rules.

The researchers used 66 volunteers with a range of musical training and tested their ability to hear combinations of notes(音符) to determine if they found the combinations familiar or pleasing. They found that people needed to be familiar with combinations of notes. If they found the notes unfamiliar they also found the sound unpleasant. This finding put an end to centuries of theories claiming that physical functions of the ear determine what we find attractive.

The study found that trained musicians were much more sensitive to unpleasant notes than non-musicians. When they couldn’t find the note, the musicians reported that the sounds were unpleasant, while non-musicians were much less sensitive. This shows the importance of training or nurturing(培養(yǎng)) the brain to like particular sound of combinations of notes, like those found in jazz or rock.

Depending on their training, a strange chord(和弦) sound was pleasant to some musicians, but very unpleasant to others. This showed us that even the ability to hear a musical note is learnt.

To confirm this finding, they trained 19 non-musicians to find the notes of a random selection of western chords. Not only did the participants’ ability to hear notes improve rapidly, afterward they reported that the chords they had learnt sounded more pleasant -- regardless of how the chords were played.

The question of why some combinations of musical notes are heard as pleasant or unpleasant has long been debated. “We have shown in this study that for music, beauty is in the brain of the beholder(觀看者)”, a researcher said.

1.According to the study, people find foreign music quite unpleasant because_____.

A. they hear the music much too often

B. they don’t like the person playing it

C. they have no idea about how to listen

D. they have no born musical ability at all??

2.Although non-musicians were less sensitive to music, they can still_____.

A. be trained to like particular music

B. make friends with real musicians

C. find the beauty of chords without training

D. enjoy the beauty of music when played by musicians

3.The 19 non-musicians were trained in order to show_____.

A. the brain likes particular combinations of notes

B. not a strange note was pleasant to all musicians

C. how the chords were played was very important

D. people’s ability to hear a musical note can be learnt

4.What is the main idea of the passage?

A. Love of musical harmony can’t be taught.

B. Love of music is not natural but nurtured.

C. Listening to music can improve your brain.

D. You can be a musician without being trained.

 

Answer 1

【答案】

1.C

2.A

3.D

4.B

【解析】

試題分析: 本文是說明文，提到對音樂的喜愛是可能過能培養(yǎng)獲得。

1.C細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段提到if you thought that the music of some foreign culture (or Jazz) sounded like the crying of cats, it’s simply because you haven’t learnt to listen by their rules.如果你認(rèn)為外國的音樂象貓叫，那就是僅僅因為你聽不懂他們的規(guī)則，所以選C項。

2.A細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第四段提到This shows the importance of training or nurturing(培養(yǎng)) the brain to like particular sound of combinations of notes, like those found in jazz or rock.這就表明訓(xùn)練與后天培養(yǎng)的重要性，所以選A項。

3.D 細(xì)節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第六段提到Not only did the participants’ ability to hear notes improve rapidly, afterward they reported that the chords they had learnt sounded more pleasant -- regardless of how the chords were played. 不僅是參與者聽記迅速提高超過十短的會話能力，之后他們說他們已經(jīng)知道和弦聽起來更加愉快——不管和弦進(jìn)行調(diào)整 所以選D項。

4.B 主旨大意。本文開篇提到對于音樂的愛好不僅僅是天生的，還是可能通過培養(yǎng)與訓(xùn)練能得到，通過舉例及對于研究對象的分析，The study found that trained musicians were much more sensitive to unpleasant notes than non-musicians.被訓(xùn)練的音樂人能對不是那么動聽的音樂比不被訓(xùn)練的人更為敏感，所以B項對于音樂的愛好不是天生的而是可有后天培養(yǎng)出來的。

考點 ：科普類閱讀。