Mathematical ability and musical ability may not seem on the surface to be connected, but people who have researched the subject and studied the brain say that they are. Three quarters of the bright but speech-delayed children in the group I studied had a close relative who was an engineer, mathematician or scientist, and four fifths had a close relative who played a musical instrument. The children themselves usually took readily to math and other analytical subjects and to music.
Black, white and Asian children in this group show the same patterns. However, it is clear that blacks have been greatly overrepresented in the development of American popular music and greatly underrepresented in such fields as mathematics, science and engineering.
If the abilities required in analytical fields and in music are so closely related, how can there be this great discrepancy? One reason is that the development of mathematical and other such abilities requires years of formal schooling, while certain musical talents can be developed with little or no formal training, as has happened with a number of well-known black musicians.
It is precisely in those kinds of music where one can acquire great skill without formal training that blacks have excelled popular music rather than classical music, piano rather than violin, blues rather than opera. This is readily understandable, given that most blacks, for most of American history, have not had either the money or the leisure for long years of formal study in music.
Blacks have not merely held their own in American popular music. They have played a disproportionately large role in the development of jazz, both traditional and modern. A long string of names comes to mind—Duke Ellington, Scott Joplin, W. C. Handy, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker...and so on.
None of this indicates any special innate ability of blacks in music. On the contrary, it is perfectly consistent with blacks having no more such inborn ability than anyone else, but being limited to being able to express such ability in narrower channels than others who have had the money, the time and the formal education to spread out over a wider range of music, as well as into mathematics, science and engineering.
1. Why does the author speak about the group of children that he studied in the first paragraph?
2. The word “discrepancy” (Para.3) most probably means ________.
3. What has made blacks earn more achievement in popular music than in math, science and engineering?
4. What do we know about opera from the passage?
5. How can blacks finally achieve greater skills in kinds of music that don’t need formal training?
问题1选项
A.He tries to tell us that more people are better at music than math.
B.He intends to make out that mathematical ability and musical ability are connected.
C.He wants to say that mathematical ability has more to do with brain than musical ability.
D.He calls on more researches on the relationship between mathematical ability and musical ability.
问题2选项
A.difference
B.excellence
C.inborn ability
D.inability
问题3选项
A.Blacks have special innate ability in the music field.
B.Blacks are more interested in music than the other three.
C.Blacks do not have innate ability in the other three.
D.Music doesn’t require formal training while others do.
问题4选项
A.It is disliked by blacks.
B.It requires formal training.
C.It is more difficult to learn than classical music.
D.It is very popular among rich people.
问题5选项
A.They have innate ability in these music fields.
B.They spend more time in these limited fields.
C.They learn them from their ancestors.
D.They practice them through listening to tapes repeatedly.
第1题:B
第2题:A
第3题:D
第4题:B
第5题:B
第1题:
【选项释义】
Why does the author speak about the group of children that he studied in the first paragraph? 为什么作者在第一段提到他研究的那群孩子？
A. He tries to tell us that more people are better at music than math. A. 他试图告诉我们更多的人擅长音乐而不是数学。
B. He intends to make out that mathematical ability and musical ability are connected. B. 他想证明数学能力和音乐能力是有联系的。
C. He wants to say that mathematical ability has more to do with brain than musical ability. C. 他想说数学能力与大脑的关系比音乐能力更大。
D. He calls on more researches on the relationship between mathematical ability and musical ability. D. 他呼吁对数学能力和音乐能力之间的关系进行更多的研究。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词the group of children可以定位到文章第一段，通过研究数据（75%有理工科亲属，80%有音乐亲属，且儿童自身擅长数学与音乐）直接支持数学能力与音乐能力的关联性。因此B选项“他想证明数学能力和音乐能力是有联系的。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“他试图告诉我们更多的人擅长音乐而不是数学。”，文章没有比较擅长音乐与数学的人数，仅强调两者的关联，属于曲解文意；
C选项“他想说数学能力与大脑的关系比音乐能力更大。”，文中未提及数学能力与大脑的关系更密切，属于无中生有；
D选项“他呼吁对数学能力和音乐能力之间的关系进行更多的研究。”，作者未呼吁更多研究，而是用研究结果论证观点，属于无中生有。
第2题:
【选项释义】
The word “discrepancy” (Para.3) most probably means ________. “discrepancy”一词（第3段）最有可能的意思是________。
A. difference A. 差异
B. excellence B. 卓越
C. inborn ability C. 天生的才能
D. inability D. 无能
【考查点】语义推断题。
【解题思路】第三段提出疑问——若数学与音乐能力相关，为何黑人在音乐领域成就突出而在数理领域不足？后文解释两者对教育资源的需求差异，因此“discrepancy”指“差异”。因此A选项“差异”符合题意。
【干扰项排除】
B、C、D选项均与上下文逻辑不符，属于反向干扰。
第3题:
【选项释义】
What has made blacks earn more achievement in popular music than in math, science and engineering? 是什么让黑人在流行音乐方面比在数学、科学和工程方面取得更多的成就？
A. Blacks have special innate ability in the music field. A. 黑人在音乐方面有特殊的天赋。
B. Blacks are more interested in music than the other three. B. 黑人比其他三种人对音乐更感兴趣。
C. Blacks do not have innate ability in the other three. C. 黑人在其他三个方面没有天生的能力。
D. Music doesn’t require formal training while others do. D. 音乐不需要正规的训练，而其他的则需要。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词blacks可以定位到文章第三段，明确说明数学等学科需“多年正规教育”，而音乐（如流行音乐、蓝调）可“无正规训练发展”，结合黑人历史上缺乏资源接受长期教育，因此D选项“音乐不需要正规的训练，而其他的则需要。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“黑人在音乐方面有特殊的天赋。”，末段明确否定黑人音乐天赋的“先天论”，属于反向干扰；
B、C选项在文章中并未提及，属于无中生有。
第4题:
【选项释义】
What do we know about opera from the passage? 从文章中我们对歌剧有什么了解？
A. It is disliked by blacks. A. 黑人不喜欢它。
B. It requires formal training. B. 它需要正式的培训。
C. It is more difficult to learn than classical music. C. 它比古典音乐更难学。
D. It is very popular among rich people. D. 它在富人中很受欢迎。
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词opera可以定位到文章第四段，指出黑人擅长的音乐类型（如流行音乐、蓝调）不需要正规训练，而歌剧属于需要长期正规训练的类型（classical music, violin, opera需要资源支持）。因此B选项“它需要正式的培训。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A、C、D选项在文中均没有提及，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
How can blacks finally achieve greater skills in kinds of music that don’t need formal training? 黑人如何最终在不需要正规训练的音乐中获得更高的技能？
A. They have innate ability in these music fields. A. 他们在这些音乐领域有天赋。
B. They spend more time in these limited fields. B. 他们花更多的时间在这些有限的领域。
C. They learn them from their ancestors. C. 他们从祖先那里学来的。
D. They practice them through listening to tapes repeatedly. D. 他们通过反复听磁带来练习。
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干关键词blacks可以定位到文章最后一段，指出黑人因资源限制，只能在“狭窄渠道”（如无需正规训练的音乐领域）发展，其成就源于对有限领域的专注投入。因此B选项“他们花更多的时间在这些有限的领域。”正确。
【干扰项排除】
A选项“他们在这些音乐领域有天赋。”，末段明确否定黑人音乐天赋的“先天论”，属于反向干扰；
C、D选项在文中均没有提及，属于无中生有。
