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  3. The Biology of Music Humans use music as a powerful way to communicate. It may also play an important role in love. But what

The Biology of Music Humans use music as a powerful way to communicate. It may also play an important role in love. But what

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问题                         The Biology of Music
    Humans use music as a powerful way to communicate. It may also play an important role in love. But what is music, and how does it work its magic? Science does not yet have all the answers.
    What are two things that make humans different from animals? One is language, and the other is music. It is true that some animals can sing(and many birds sing better than a lot of people). However, the songs of animals, such as birds and whales, are very limited. It is also true that humans, not animals, have developed musical instruments.
    Music is strange stuff. It is clearly different from language. However, people can use music to communicate things—especially their emotions. When music is combined with speech in a song, it is a very powerful form of communication. But, biologically speaking, what is music?
    If music is truly different from speech, then we should process music and language in different parts of the brain. The scientific evidence suggests that this is true.
    Sometimes people who suffer brain damage lose their ability to process language. However, they don’ t automatically(自动地)lose their musical abilities. For example, Vissarion Shebalin, a Russian composer, had a stroke(中风)in 1953. It injured the left side of his brain. He could no longer speak or understand speech. He could, however, still compose music until his death ten years later. On the other hand, sometimes strokes cause people to lose their musical ability, but they can still speak and understand speech. This shows that the brain processes music and language separately.
    By studying the physical effects of music on the body, scientists have also learned a lot about how music influences the emotions. But why does music have such a strong effect on us? That is a harder question to answer. Geoffrey Miller, a researcher at University College, London, thinks that music and love have a strong connection. Music requires special talent, practice, and physical ability. That’ s why it may be a way of showing your fitness to be someone’ s mate. For example, singing in tune or playing a musical instrument requires fine muscular control. You also need a good memory to remember the notes(音符). And playing or singing those notes correctly suggests that your hearing is in excellent condition. Finally, when a man sings to the woman he loves(or vice versa), it may be a way of showing off.
    However, Miller’ s theory still doesn’ t explain why certain combinations of sounds influence our emotions so deeply. For scientists, this is clearly an area that needs further research.
What is the main idea of the passage?
选项 A、What are the differences of human music and animal music.
B、What are the differences of human language and animal language.
C、What is music in the aspect of biology.
D、What is music in the aspect of zoology.
答案C
解析 文章第一段提出了什么是音乐这个问题，然后指出音乐是人与动物区别的因素之一。第三段最后一句又再次提出了从生物学上来说音乐是什么这个问题，然后对此进行了分析。由此可知，本篇文章主要讲的是如何从生物学的角度来理解音乐。
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