Question

【題目】 Is there a connection between music and language? According to recent studies, the answer is yes: Music helps develop certain language abilities in the brain.

A study from Northwestern University shows that playing a musical instrument can improve a person's hearing ability. As a part of the study, two groups of people listened to a person talking in a noisy room. The people in the first group were musicians, while those in the second group had no musical training. The musicians were found to be able to hear the talking person more clearly.

Musicians hear better, says study leader Nina Kraus, because they learn to pay attention to certain sounds. For example, when the violinists play in an orchestra（管弦樂隊）, they must listen closely to what they are playing and ignore(忽視)the other sounds. In this way, musicians can hear certain sounds better, even in a room with lots of noise.

Gotfried Schlaug, a doctor at Harvard Medical School, works with stroke(中風)patients.

Because of their illness, these people cannot say their names, addresses, or other information normally However, they can till sing. Dr. Schlaug was surprised to find singing words helped his patients finally speak. Why does this work? Schlaug isn't sure. Music seems to be able to make different parts of the brain active, including the bad parts. In some way, this helps patients use those parts of the brain again.

So music is not only enjoyable, but also good for us in many other ways. Playing an instrument or singing, says Nina Kraus, can help us do better in school and keep our brain sharp as we get older.

【1】What were the people in the first group asked to do in the study of Northwestern University?

A.Listen to different kinds of music.B.Make some noise in an empty room.

C.Give the second group musical training.D.Find out what the talking person was saying.

【2】The writer uses the example of violinists in Paragraph 3 to explain________.

A.how musicians play in an orchestraB.how musicians ignore certain sounds

C.why musicians have better hearing abilityD.why musicians are not afraid of loud noise

【3】Gottfried Schlaug helps his stroke patients speak by________.

A.playing music for themB.getting them to sing words

C.teaching them to play instrumentsD.joining the bad parts of their brain

【4】What is the main purpose of the passage?

A.To introduce different ways of playing music.

B.To give some advice about making our brain active.

C.To show the relationship between music and language abilities.

D.To share the results of recent studies on treating stroke patients.

Answer 1

【答案】

【1】D

【2】C

【3】B

【4】C

【解析】

本文談論的是音樂和語言之間的聯(lián)系。結果表明，演奏樂器可以提高一個人的聽力能力，甚至能幫助一個生病的人變得更好。

【1】

細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第二段“The people in the first group were musicians, while those in the second group had no musical training. The musicians were found to be able to hear the talking person more clearly. 第一組是音樂家，而第二組沒有受過音樂訓練。音樂家們被發(fā)現(xiàn)能更清楚地聽到說話的人�！保�可知第一組的人被要求找出談話的人在說什么，故選D。

【2】

細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第三段“For example…In this way, musicians can hear certain sounds better, even in a room with lots of noise. 例如，當小提琴手在管弦樂隊中演奏時，他們必須仔細傾聽他們正在演奏的東西，而忽略其他聲音。這樣，音樂家可以更好地聽到某些聲音，即使是在一個有很多噪音的房間里�！�，可知作者用小提琴手的例子來解釋為什么音樂家有更好的聽力，故選C。

【3】

細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)倒數(shù)第二段“Dr. Schlaug was surprised to find singing words helped his patients finally speak.”，可知Gottfried Schlaug通過讓中風患者唱歌來幫助他們說話，故選B。

【4】

細節(jié)理解題。根據(jù)第一段“According to recent studies, the answer is yes: Music helps develop certain language abilities in the brain. 根據(jù)最近的研究，答案是肯定的：音樂有助于培養(yǎng)大腦的某些語言能力。”，可知這篇文章的主要目的是說明音樂與語言能力的關系，故選C。