老鼠也能感知音樂

曾丹

Rats respond to music as humans do

節(jié)奏感一直被認(rèn)為是人類獨(dú)有的技能，但新的研究表明，老鼠也能隨著節(jié)拍跳動。

1 Rhythm was always thought to be a skill unique to humans， but new research shows rats can also bop to the beat. The new discovery provides further insight into the animal mind as well as the origins of human music and dance.

2 Whether you tap your toes in time or have two left feet， how well you move to music does depend a little on your genetic ability and was previously thought to be a uniquely human trait. While animals do react to noise， make rhythmic sounds and can be trained to respond to music， none of these are the same as the complex neural and motor processes that enable people to recognize the beat in a song， respond to it or even predict it， which is an ability known as “beat synchronicity （同步性）”. Some animals apparently share our human urge to move to the best state. Rats are among them.

3 “Rats， without any training or prior exposure to music， displayed beat synchronicity most distinctly within 120?140 bpm （beats per minute）， to which humans also exhibit the clearest beat synchronicity，” said a researcher. “After conducting our research with 20 human participants and 10 rats， our results suggest that the optimal tempo for beat synchroni?city depends on the time constant in the brain. This demonstrates that the animals brain can be useful in experiencing music.”

4 Human participants also wore accelerometers on headphones. They listened to Mozarts Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major for one minute at four different paces： 75 per cent， 100 per cent， 200 per cent and 400 per cent of the original speed. The original tempo was 132 bpm and results showed that the rats beat synchronicity was clearest within the 120 —140 bpm range. The team also found that both rats and humans shaked their heads to the beat in a similar rhythm， and that the level of head shaking decreased when the music was sped up.

5 Next researchers would like to reveal how other musical properties， such as melody and harmony， relate to the dynamics of the brain.

Detail 1. What was commonly believed in the past？

A. Rats belonged to the cleverest animals.

B. Rats could dance to music as well as humans.

C. Moving to music was unique to human beings.

D. Musical properties depended on genetic abilities.

Detail 2. What plays a key role in the optional tempo for beat synchronicity？

A. The exposure to music.

B. The musics style and rhythm.

C. The experience about music.

D. The time constant in the brain.

Gist 3. What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about？

A. The process of the experiment.

B. The benefits of listening to music.

C. The similarities between man and rats.

D. The different paces of music on rats.

Inference 4. Where is the text probably taken from？

A. An art review. B. A research paper.

C. A biological textbook. D. A science magazine.

Ⅰ. Difficult sentence in the text

While animals do react to noise， make rhythmic sounds and can be trained to respond to music， none of these are the same as the complex neural and motor processes that enable people to recognize the beat in a song， respond to it or even predict it， which is an ability known as “beat synchronicity”. 雖然動物確實(shí)會對噪聲做出反應(yīng)，發(fā)出有節(jié)奏的聲音，通過訓(xùn)練，還可以對音樂做出反應(yīng)，但這些都不同于復(fù)雜的神經(jīng)和運(yùn)動過程，這個過程使人能夠識別歌曲中的節(jié)拍，對它做出反應(yīng)，甚至預(yù)測節(jié)拍，這種能力被稱為“節(jié)拍同步性”。

【點(diǎn)石成金】While animals do react to noise， make rhythmic sounds and can be trained to respond to music為while引導(dǎo)的讓步狀語從句，while在此處意為“盡管”；that enable people to recognize the beat in a song， respond to it or even predict it為定語從句，修飾先行詞processes；which is an ability known as “beat synchronicity”為which引導(dǎo)的非限制性定語從句；known as “beat synchronicity”為過去分詞作后置定語，修飾名詞ability。

Ⅱ. Complete each sentence with the proper word.

1. No one knows for sure why adolescence is uniquehumans.

2. Much to his mothers surprise， the little boy suddenly takes a dislike to foods that hes

（previous） enjoyed.

3. We arethe process of selling our house， so we have no time to attend the party.

4. The report urged that all children（teach） to swim.

5. As we all know，（expose） to lead is known to damage the brains of young children.

6. Dennis had recently begun a successful career in（conduct） opera.

7. 40% of the course（participate） are offered employment with the company.

8. It is one of the most（origin） works of imagination of language.

9. Cars are driven through the mess， splashing everyonerange.

10. A radio signal has both electrical and magnetic（property）.