【英语时差8,16】音乐家能够更好地辨认情感

Don: Hi Ya?l, what's up? Ya?l: Well Don, I just got off the phone with my friend. She's had a run of bad luck with relationships. She says that from now on she's only going to date musicians! D: Why? She really loves music? Y: No, that's not it. She thinks that somehow musicians are better than non-musicians at understanding emotions. That seems a little far-fetched to me. D: Actually Ya?l, there is some evidence¹ that people with musical training are better at picking out emotional² cues³ in sound than people without the same musical background. A team of neuroscientists at Northwestern University compared the auditory brainstem responses of musicians and non-musicians to different emotion-laden human sounds, like crying babies. The results were not exactly what the researchers expected. They found that musicians' brainstems paid attention to a more complex⁴ part of the sound known⁵ to carry more emotional elements⁶. But their brains tended to de-emphasize the simpler part of the sound, which carries less emotional content. This wasn't true for non-musicians. The more musical experience and training a musician had, the more their nervous systems seemed able to process emotion in sound. The auditory centers in their brainstems showed a greater response than those of the non-musicians to these complex sound cues. Y: Wow Don, that's really interesting. Those results seem to suggest that more experience and expertise⁷ with sound can actually change how your brain works⁸. Maybe my friend is onto something with her plan to only date musicians. D: Well, musicians might be better at hearing the emotions in your voice, but that doesn't mean they're any better at knowing what to do about it!

1 evidence   

n.明显，显著，明白，迹象，根据，[物]证据，证物

参考例句：

• The first signs of spring are in evidence.春天的最初迹象已显然可见。
• From the evidence I must conclude that you are wrong.从证据看，我敢断定你错了。

2 emotional   

adj.令人动情的；易动感情的；感情(上)的

参考例句：

• Emotional people don't stop to calculate.感情容易冲动的人做事往往不加考虑。
• This is an emotional scene in the play.这是剧中动人的一幕。

3 cues   

n.尾白( cue的名词复数 )；提示；暗示；（台球等的）球杆v.向…发出指示信号( cue的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Without him they forgot their cues and garbled their lines. 一旦没有了他，她们就忘掉了她们的结尾语，或者弄错了台词。 来自辞典例句
• She does not tiptoe through life taking cues from others. 她从来不依葫芦画瓢小心翼翼地生活。 来自互联网

4 complex   

adj.复杂的，合成的，综合的；n.联合体

参考例句：

• What he said was too complex for me to understand.他说的太复杂了，我无法了解。
• Justice is part of the complex machinery of the law.正义是复杂的法律机器的一部分。

5 known   

adj.大家知道的；知名的，已知的

参考例句：

• He is a known artist.他是一个知名的艺术家。
• He is known both as a painter and as a statesman.他是知名的画家及政治家。

6 elements   

原理，基础； 要素（旧时认为土、空气、火和水是构成一切物质的四大要素）( element的名词复数 )； （化学）元素； 基础； 成分

参考例句：

• Oxygen is one of the basic elements of substance. 氧是物质的基本元素之一。
• A language teacher should initiate pupils into the elements of grammar. 语言老师应该把基本语法教给学生。

7 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

8 works   

n.作品，著作；工厂，活动部件，机件

参考例句：

• We expect writers to produce more and better works.我们期望作家们写出更多更好的作品。
• The novel is regarded as one of the classic works.这篇小说被公认为是最优秀的作品之一。