VOA慢速英语2019 文化不同，音乐是否相似？（在线收听）

Is Music Similar Across Cultures?

Love songs, dance tunes, bed time songs for children – all of these kinds of music share patterns across cultures, a new study finds. Researchers who set up the study say this suggests a commonality in the way human minds create music.

一项新的研究发现，儿童的爱之歌，舞蹈曲调，摇篮曲，所有这些音乐在各种文化中都有着共同的模式。 进行这项研究的研究人员称，这暗示了人类大脑创作音乐的共性。

The findings were reported in Science magazine.

该发现发表在《科学》杂志上。 

Samuel Mehr was the lead author of a report on the study.He is a research associate in psychology at Harvard University in Massachusetts.

塞缪尔·梅尔是该研究报告的主要作者。他是马萨诸塞州哈佛大学心理学的研究助理。  

Mehr noted that the study supports "the idea that there is some sort of set of governing rules for how human minds produce music worldwide."

梅尔指出，这项研究支持“全世界人类大脑制作音乐是存在一套规则管理的观念。” 

He and other researchers studied musical recordings and ethnographic records from 60 societies around the world.They looked at a mix of very different cultures, such as the Highland Scots in Scotland, Nyangatom nomads in Ethiopia, and Aranda hunter-gatherers in Australia.

他和其他研究人员研究了来自全球60个地区的音乐唱片和民族志记录。 他们考察了天差地别的文化，例如苏格兰的高地苏格兰人，埃塞俄比亚的尼扬加通部落游牧民族和澳大利亚的阿兰达狩猎采集者。

The researchers found that music had a link with behaviors such as dancing and loving, among others.

研究人员发现，音乐与诸如跳舞和爱恋等行为有联系。 

Manvir Singh is a graduate student in Harvard’s department of human evolutionary biology and a co-author of the study.Singh noted that childrens’ lullabies were likely to be slow and fluid while dance songs tended to be fast and lively.

曼弗·辛格是哈佛大学人类进化生物学系的研究生，也是该研究的合著者。 辛格指出，儿童的摇篮曲大都缓慢流畅，而舞蹈歌曲则倾向于快速活泼。

Another co-author of the study was Luke Glowacki, an anthropology professor at the Pennsylvania State University. He noted that the social purpose of the music influences how it sounds.

宾夕法尼亚州立大学的人类学教授卢克·格洛奇奇是这项研究的另一位合著者。他指出，音乐的社会目的会影响它的发音。

He said: "Dance songs sound a certain way around the world because they have a specific function.Lullabies around the world sound a certain way because they have a specific function ...If music were entirely shaped by culture and not human psychology you wouldn’t expect these deep similarities to emerge in extremely diverse cultures."

他说:“世界各地的舞曲听起来都有特定的方式，因为它们有特定的功能。世界各地的摇篮曲听起来都有特定的方式，因为它们有特定的功能……如果音乐完全是由文化而非人类心理塑造的，那么你将不会指望在极为多样化的文化中出现如此深刻的相似性。”

Glowacki noted how amazing the musical patterns across cultures were.

格洛奇奇指出了跨文化音乐模式是多么令人惊奇。 

He said: “The fact that a lullaby, healing song or dance song from the British Isles or anywhere else in the world has many musical features in common with the same kind of song from hunter-gatherers in Australia or horticulturalists in Africa is remarkable.”

他说:“来自不列颠群岛或世界其他地方的摇篮曲、治愈歌曲或舞蹈歌曲，与来自澳大利亚狩猎采集者或非洲园艺学家的同类型歌曲有许多共同的音乐特征，这一点值得注意。”

Words in This Story

pattern – n. the regular and repeated way in which something happens or is done

author – n. a writer of a book or report

ethnographic – adj. from the noun ethnography, the study of human races and cultures

graduate student – n. a person who has successfully completed a bachelor's degree and is continuing their studies

lullaby – n. a song used to help a child fall asleep

function - n. the special purpose or activity for which a thing exists or is used

amazing – adj. of or involving great surprise or wonder

feature – n. a quality or property of something

horticulturalist -- n. people or scientists who grow fruits, vegetables, and flowers

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