2016年托福阅读材料：音乐训练提高语言能力

　　音乐和外语类培训是当今许多家长热衷给孩子报名的课外培训内容，一项美国最新的研究发现证明了这些家长的明智选择，因为据该项研究称，音乐训练对人类的外语水平提高有很大帮助。

　　音乐才能与外语能力(特殊的语言能力)是人大脑功能的有机组成部分，是人心智发展的生物基础。离开这一物质基础，任何个体的发展都是不可想象的。美国语言学家贾肯多夫和作曲家勒达尔在《有调性音乐的生成理论》一书中列举了人类不同文化共享的与生俱来的60余条音乐规则。同时他们认为人类85%的语言规则是天赋的，其余是后天习得的;95%的音乐规则是先天的;人本身具有某种语言与音乐认知能力。

　　Learning to play a musical instrument can change your brain, with a US review finding music training can lead to improved speech and foreign language skills.

　　美国一项研究表明，学习乐器能够使大脑发生变化，音乐训练能够提高演讲和外语水平。

　　Although it has been suggested in the past that listening to Mozart or other classical music could make you smarter, there has been little evidence to show that music boosts brain power.

　　尽管过去有人认为听莫扎特或其他古典音乐可以让人变得更聪明，但是并没有足够的证据证明音乐能提高智力。

　　But a data-driven review by Northwestern University has pulled together research that links musical training to learning that spills over intoskills including language, speech, memory, attention and even vocalemotion.

　　如今，美国西北大学的一项研究以数据为支持，对音乐训练对语言、演讲、记忆力、注意力甚至情感抒发等能力的影响的相关研究进行了分析。

　　Researcher Nina Kraus said the data strongly suggested that the neural connections made during musical training also primedthe brain for other aspects of human communication.

　　研究人员妮娜?克劳斯说，这些数据充分表明，音乐训练过程中所产生的神经元连接能增强大脑在人际交流其它方面的能力。

　　"The effect of music training suggests that, akin tophysical exercise and its impact on body fitness, music is a resource that tones the brain for auditory fitness and thus requires society to re-examine the role of music in shaping individual development," the researchers said in their study.

　　研究人员在研究报告中说：“音乐训练所产生的这种影响表明，与体育锻炼对身体健康的影响一样，音乐能够增强大脑活力，使听觉更加敏锐。所以我们的社会有必要重视音乐在个人发展中所起的作用。”

　　Kraus said learning musical sounds could enhance the brain's ability to adapt and change and also enable the nervous system to provide a scaffoldingof patterns that are important to learning.

　　克劳斯说，学习声乐能够提高大脑的应变能力，也可以让神经系统建立起一个有利于学习的结构。

　　The study, published in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, looked at the explosionof research in recent years focused on the effects of music training on the nervous system which could have strong implications for education.

　　这一在《神经系统科学自然评论》上发表的研究对近几年来该领域新增的大量研究进行了回顾和分析，这些研究主要关注的是音乐训练对神经系统的影响及其可能会对教育产生的重要影响。

　　The study found that playing an instrument primes the brain to choose what is relevantin a complex process that may involve reading or remembering a score, timing issues and coordination with other musicians.

　　研究发现，演奏乐器能增强大脑在复杂的过程中分辨有价值信息的能力，这一复杂的过程可能包括看谱、记谱，计时或与其他乐师配合等。

　　"A musician's brain selectively enhances information-bearing elements in sound," Kraus said in a statement. "In a beautiful interrelationship between sensory and cognitive processes, the nervous system makes associations between complex sounds and what they mean."

　　克劳斯在一项声明中说：“一个音乐家的大脑能够有选择性地分辨出声音中含有信息的元素。在感觉和认知过程的相互作用下，神经系统能把复杂的声音和它们所表达的意思联系起来。”

　　The study reviewed literature showing, for example, that musicians are more successful than non-musicians in learning to incorporate sound patterns for a new language into words.

　　研究人员对以往的研究资料进行分析后发现，懂音乐的人将一种新的语言的发音拼写成单词的能力强于未接受过音乐训练的人。

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