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  3. One of the liveliest debates in linguistics is over whether all languages share fundamental properties. If so, perhaps language

One of the liveliest debates in linguistics is over whether all languages share fundamental properties. If so, perhaps language

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问题     One of the liveliest debates in linguistics is over whether all languages share fundamental properties. If so, perhaps language is a universal feature of evolution. To find out, scholars have looked to other universal features, and one in particular: no society on Earth lacks music. The comparison illuminates what is special about both.
    Music and language seem intimately linked, but how? Did language start with song, as Darwin believed or is music "auditory cheesecake" that developed from language and other useful faculties, as Steven Pinker, a Harvard psychologist, has said? Is music itself a language, as Stevie Wonder sang? Might the two be fundamentally the same?
    Some similarities are obvious. Both can utilize the unique human vocal tract. Both have a kind of beat. Both can express emotion. Both can be either carefully composed or spontaneously improvised. And both are highly social. Although the origin of music is unclear, it seems likely to have involved celebration, communal worship or martial inspiration and co-ordination.
    At a structural level the parallels are striking, too. With a finite set of notes or words, and a finite set of rules, an inexhaustible variety of novel melodies or sentences can be created. This "discrete infinity" is often said to be the feature of human language. Animal communication, by contrast, is only able to convey a limited number of thoughts (the location of a source of food, for example, or the presence of a predator).
    Aniruddh Patel of Thufts University has argued that music and language, rather than being essentially the same, rely on the same bit of the brain. In an experiment he presented his subjects with a sentence that contained a grammatical trick ("The scientist confirmed the hypothesis was being studied in his lab"), revealing one word at a time. The subjects were to press a button for each word at their own pace. Many paused at the unexpected "was". "The scientist confirmed the hypothesis" seemed a complete sentence.
    They also heard music as they performed this exercise. Some were treated to a new chord in a pleasing progression with every word that was revealed. Others heard a jarring chord at the moment they reached the trick word "was". Both groups slowed down—but those given the inharmonious notes did so much more. Mr Patel hypothesises that this is because sentence structure, and the structure of the harmony, draw on shared, limited resources in the brain.
The original function of music is probably to__________.
选项 A、express emotion
B、boost the spirit
C、pass information
D、record history
答案 B
解析 根据题干关键词original function of music可定位到文章第三段最后一句。该句指出Although the origin of music is unclear it seems likely to have involved celebration，communal worship or martial inspiration and co-ordination(尽管音乐的起源尚不清楚，但很可能与庆祝活动、公众祭祀、鼓舞士气和团结协作有关)，选项[B]boost the spirit对应原文中的martial inspiration，故为答案。
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