英语听力—环球英语 1190 Too Much Noise

 　　Voice 1

 

　　Welcome to Spotlight¹. I’m Liz Waid.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　And I’m Nick Page. Spotlight uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Through history composers have created many beautiful pieces of music like this. In fact, many composers have become famous for their ability to create music. But, does music even need a composer? Or can music begin in a completely different way? Does music need a person to write it? Or can a computer make music?

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　These are some of the questions two researchers wanted to answer. These researchers are Armand Leroi and Doctor Bob MacCallum. Both teach at Imperial² College London. Both are interested in how the natural world changes, or evolves⁴.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　When something evolves, it changes and improves itself. Often, these changes happen over a long period of time. The changes pass from one generation to the next - from parent to a child, to that child’s child, and so on.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　But Leroi and MacCallum believe that many parts of human culture also evolve³. This includes changes in language, art, and music. Leroi told the BBC:

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　“People do not often think that music evolves. But everybody knows music has a history and it has traditions. But if you think about it, it really has evolved⁶. It continues to change.”

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　So Leroi and MacCallum built a system to test their idea. Their system is a computer called DarwinTunes. DarwinTunes is named after the famous scientist Charles Darwin. He is most famous for his theory of evolution called natural selection⁷. A simple way to describe Darwin’s Theory of natural selection is: “the strongest survive”. Strong living things will continue to survive. But weaker living things will disappear. Using these ideas, Leroi and MacCallum built DarwinTunes.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　In the beginning, the computer created two short loops⁹, or pieces, of sound. The loops were eight seconds long. The sounds were completely random¹⁰. That is, each note or place of the note was by chance. Doctor MacCallum described the process to the BBC.

 

　　Voice 4

 

　　“The notes are in any place, in any order. And the kind of sound - the instrument - is also completely random.”

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Here is what these first kinds of loops sounded like:

 

　　After these loops were created, they had babies! DarwinTunes mated the two loops. The program used a complex method to combine and mix the loops. The program took some parts from each loop⁸. Then it used these parts to create four completely new loops. Each new loop contained some parts of each original loop.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　But there is another thing that also happens in nature – mutations. This is a random change in the genes¹³ of the child. So, the child may develop a gene⁵ that is not present in either parent. DarwinTunes also copied this process from Darwin’s Theory. Sometimes the program added a small mutation¹² to the next generation of loops.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　The next step was for the four new loops to mate¹¹. That process created 16 new loops. DarwinTunes continued mating loops until it had produced 100 different loops.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　Now it was time to start natural selection. Leroi and MacCallum invited people to rate the loops. These volunteers could visit the DarwinTunes website. There, a volunteer listened to 20 loops. Each volunteer rated each loop on how much he liked it or did not like it. About 7,000 volunteers took part in rating¹⁴ the loops of music.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　DarwinTunes used the loops people liked the most. They mated these loops to make more loops. The new loops replaced their parent loops and the loops people did not like. Doctor MacCallum described this process to the BBC:

 

　　Voice 4

 

　　“In the beginning, the loops were horrible. But sometimes, one was a little less horrible than the others. So, the volunteer would give that loop a higher rating. Then that loop and a few others that were also not quite as horrible would go forward. They would produce new loops. And then, as evolution continues, the music does get better.”

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　DarwinTunes repeated this process again and again. Every new set of loops was a new generation. After a few hundred generations, the very bad sounding loops disappeared. The loops began to sound better and better. Here is what the loops sounded like at 150 generations:

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　Now here is what the loops sounded like at 1,700 generations.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　But the researchers discovered that the loops really started to sound like REAL music after about 2,500 generations.

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　And at about 3,000 generations, something very interesting and amazing happened! Doctor MacCallum told the BBC:

 

　　Voice 4

 

　　“After about 3,000 generations, there starts to be a kick drum or a bass¹⁵ drum. That just came out of nowhere. We did not put any drum sounds into the computer program.”

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The DarwinTunes project is not finished. Today it has produced more than 3,600 generations. The experiment HAS answered one of Leroi and MacCallum’s questions. DarwinTunes WAS able to create music without a composer. But the question now is – can a computer make very GOOD music? Leroi offered his opinion to the BBC.

 

　　Voice 3

 

　　“I have no doubt. If we continued this experiment for longer we could evolve wonderful music. But we would need bigger, faster computers, and millions of people instead of thousands. And we would need to continue the experiment for years instead of months. Would it be music as good as the composer Mozart’s? No, I do not think so. It would have no composer writing it. It would not be the act of any person with great musical ability. Instead, it would be the people’s music in its purest form.”

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　What do you think? Can a computer ever replace the creative abilities of people? What do you think of the loops from DarwinTunes? The samples of DarwinTunes music in this program came from the DarwinTunes website. You can find a link to the DarwinTunes website on the script¹⁶ page of this program. There, you can also hear more samples of DarwinTunes loops, and even take part in rating new loops.

 

　　Voice 2

 

　　The writer and producer of this program was Liz Waid. The voices you heard were from the United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program again on the internet at http://www.radioenglish.net This .program is called, ‘The Future of Music?’

 

　　Voice 1

 

　　We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye.

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 imperial   

adj.帝王的，至尊的；n.特等品

参考例句：

• They made an objection to the imperial system with resolution.他们坚决反对帝制。
• The Prince Imperial passed away last night.皇太子昨晚去世了。

3 evolve   

vt.演化，发展，逐步形成；进化

参考例句：

• How did you evolve this very personal and original style?你是怎样逐步形成这种很有个性且具独创性的风格的？
• It has taken us several million years to evolve from the apes.我们人类从猿类开始进化用了几百万年的时间。

4 evolves   

v.演变，进化( evolve的第三人称单数 )；（动植物等 ）进化，进化形成

参考例句：

• As medical knowledge evolves, beliefs change. 随着医学知识的逐步发展，观念也在发生变化。 来自辞典例句
• Consideration of these actions evolves into a mixed force-displacement analysis. 对于这些作用的考虑导致了一种混合力--移位分析法。 来自辞典例句

5 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

6 evolved   

动词evolve的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The idea evolved from a drawing I discovered in the attic. 这种想法是从我在阁楼里发现的一幅画得到启发的。
• Man was evolved from an ancestor that was probably arboreal. 人大概是从住在树上的祖先进化而来的。

7 selection   

n.选择，挑选，精选品，可选择的东西

参考例句：

• We left the selection of the team to the captain.我们把挑选队员的工作交给了队长。
• The shop has a fine selection of cheeses.那家商店有各种精美乳酪可供选购。

8 loop   

n.圈，环(状物)；回路，循环；v.(使)成环

参考例句：

• Loop the curtains up.把窗帘卷起来。
• He bends a wire into a loop.他将铁线弯成圆圈。

9 loops   

圈( loop的名词复数 )； 环； 回路； 循环

参考例句：

• The wire threaded through small loops. 金属丝穿过许多小环。
• The brook loops around the farm. 小河绕农场流过。

10 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

11 mate   

n.伙伴，同事；配偶；大副；v.(使)交配

参考例句：

• Where is the mate to this glove?这副手套的另一只在哪儿？
• She has been a faithful mate to him.她一直是他忠实的配偶。

12 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

13 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

14 rating   

n.级别，等级，额定值，责骂，收视率

参考例句：

• It is a ship with a rating of 500,000 tons.这是一艘五十万吨级的船。
• The opinion polls gave the president a high rating.民意测验显示人民对总统的支持率很高。

15 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

16 script   

n.剧本，广播稿；文字体系；笔迹，手迹

参考例句：

• It's easy to identify his script.他的笔迹容易辨认。
• The script is massaged into final form.这篇稿子经过修改已定稿。