雅思阅读真题（Part 3）
失歌症：天生五音不全的人
本篇也叫：失歌症、音盲、五音不全、音乐聋、先天性失歌症、tone deaf
Part 3 · 考频：高频 · 最近考试：2022.6.16
本篇为雅思阅读真题（Part 3）《When people are deaf to music》，共 14 题，2022.6.16雅思考试真题回忆，页面提供完整原文、题目、答案与解析，并支持在线机考模式免费练习。本页同时提供 Markdown 版本 供 AI 助手与搜索引擎直接读取。
文章讨论先天性失歌症（amusia），即俗称的五音不全。心理学家发现音乐能力是人类普遍本能，但有些人天生无法辨别音高、识别熟悉旋律。蒙特利尔大学Isabelle Peretz博士的研究表明，失歌症者对音高差异的辨别有特定缺陷，且这种缺陷与语言能力无关，他们对语调语言（如中文）的理解并无障碍。
A
Music has long been considered a uniquely human concept. In fact, most psychologists agree that music is a universal human instinct. Like any ability, however, there is great variation in people's musical competence. For every brilliant pianist in the world, there are several people we refer to as " tone deaf". It is not simply that people with tone deafness (or' amusia") are unable to sing in tune, they are also unable to discriminate between tones or recognize familiar melodies. Such a" disorder" can occur after some sort of brain damage , but recently research has been undertaken in an attempt to discover the cause of congenital amusia (when people are born with the condition), which is not associated with any brain damage, hearing problems, or lack of exposure to music.
B
According to the research of Dr. Isabelie Peretz of the University of Montreat, amusia is more complicated than the inability to distinguish pitches. An amusia (a person who has the condition of amusia) can distinguish between two pitches that are far apart, but cannot tell the difference between intervals smaller than a half step on the Western diatonic scale, while most people can easily distinguish differences smaller than that, when listening to melodies which have had a single note altered so that it is out of key with the rest of the melody, do not notice a problem. As would be expected, amusics perform significantly worse at singing and tapping a rhythm along with a melody than do non-amusics.
C
The most fascinating aspect of amusia is how specific to music it is. Because of music’s close ties to language, it might be expected that a musical impairment may be caused by a language impairment. Studies suggest, however, that language and music ability are independent of one another. People with brain damage in areas critical to language are often still able to sing, despite being unable to communicate through speech. Moreover, while amusics show deficiencies in their recognition of pitch differences in melodies, they show no tonal languages, such as Chinese, do not report having any difficulty discriminating between words that differ only in their intonation. The linguistic cues inherent in speech make discrimination of meaning much easier for amusics. Amusics are also successful most of the time at detecting the mood of a melody, can identify a speaker based on his or her voice and can discriminate and identify environmental sounds.
D
Recent work has been focused on locating the part of the brain that is responsible for amusia. The temporal lobes of the brain, the location of the primary auditory cortex, have been considered. It has long been believed that the temporal lobes, especially the right temporal lobe, are most active when activity, so any musical disability should logically stem from here as well. Because it has been shown that there is no hearing deficit in amusia, researchers moved on to the temporal neocortex, which is where more sophisticated processing of musical cues was thought to take place. New studies, however, have suggested that the deficits in amusics are located outside the auditory cortex. Brain scans of amusics do not show any reaction at all to differences smaller than a half step, when changes in tones are large, their brains overreact, showing twice as much activity on the right side of the brain as a normal brain hearing the same thing. These differences do not occur in the auditory cortex, indicating again that the deficits of amusia lie mostly in hearing impairment, but in higher processing of melodies.
E
So what does this all mean? Looking only at the research of Peretz in the field of neuropsychology of music, it would appear that amusia is some sort of disorder. As a student of neurobiology, however, I am skeptical. Certainly the studies by Peretz that have found significant differences between the brains of so-called amusics and normal brains are legitimate. The more important question now becomes one of normality. Every trait from skin color to intelligence to mood exists on a continuum-there is a great idea of variation from one extreme to the other. Just because we recognize that basic musical ability is something that the vast majority of people have, this doesn’t mean that the lack of it is abnormal
F
What makes an amusic worse off than a musical prodigy? Musical ability is culturally valued, and may have been a factor in survival at one point in human history, but it does not seem likely that it is being selected for on an evolutionary scale any longer. Darwin believed that music was adaptive as a way of finding a mate, but who needs to be able to sing to find a partner in an age when it is possible to express your emotions through a song on your IPod?
G
While the idea of amusia is interesting, it seems to be just one end of the continuum of innate musical ability. Comparing this ‘disorder’ to learning disorders like a specific language impairment seems to be going too far. Before, amusia can be declared a disability, further research must be done to determine whether lack of musical ability is actually detrimental in any way. If no disadvantages can be found of having amusia, then it is no more a disability than having poor fashion sense or bad handwriting.
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答案：They have several inabilities in regard to music.
原文定位：It is not simply that people with tone deafness (or' amusia") are unable to sing in tune, they are also unable to discriminate between tones or recognize familiar melodies
同义替换：「tone deafness」↔「tone deafness」，「inabilities」↔「unable to」，「in regard to music」↔「sing in tune，discriminate between tones，recognize familiar melodies」
答案：summarising some findings about people with amusia
原文定位：According to the research of Dr. Isabelle Peretz;amusia is more complicated than the inability to distinguish pitches;An amusia can distinguish between two pitches that are far apart;but cannot tell the difference between intervals smaller than a half step;amusics perform significantly worse at singing and tapping a rhythm along with a melody than do non-amusics
同义替换：「summarising some findings」↔「According to the research」，「people with amusia」↔「amusics」
答案：People who are unable to speak can sometimes sing.
原文定位：People with brain damage in areas critical to language are often still able to sing, despite being unable to communicate through speech
同义替换：「language ability and musical ability」↔「language and music ability」，「unable to speak」↔「unable to communicate through speech」，「can sometimes sing」↔「are often still able to sing」
答案：distinguish a sad tone from a happy tune
原文定位：Amusics are also successful most of the time at detecting the mood of a melody
同义替换：「amusics」↔「Amusics」，「are able to」↔「are successful most of the time at」，「distinguish a sad tone from a happy tune」↔「detecting the mood of a melody」
答案：outlining progress in understanding the brains of amusics
原文定位：Recent work has been focused on locating the part of the brain that is responsible for amusia;Researchers moved on to the temporal neocortex;New studies;however;have suggested that the deficits in amusics are located outside the auditory cortex
同义替换：「understanding the brains of amusics」↔「located outside the auditory cortex」
答案：NO
原文定位：Looking only at the research of Peretz in the field of neuropsychology of music, it would appear that amusia is some sort of disorder. As a student of neurobiology, however, I am skeptical
同义替换：「Peretz's research」↔「research of Peretz」，「suggesting that amusia is a disorder」↔「it would appear that amusia is some sort of disorder」，「is convincing」↔「I am skeptical」
答案：NOT GIVEN
同义替换：「musical ability」↔「」，「happier」↔「」
答案：YES
原文定位：While the idea of amusia is interesting, it seems to be just one end of the continuum of innate musical ability;Comparing this ‘disorder’ to learning disorders like a specific language impairment seems to be going too far
同义替换：「inappropriate」↔「going too far」，「consider」↔「comparing」，「disorder」↔「impairment」
答案：NOT GIVEN
原文定位：If no disadvantages can be found of having amusia, then it is no more a disability than having poor fashion sense or bad handwriting
同义替换：「people with amusia」↔「having amusia」，「often have bad handwriting」↔「bad handwriting」
答案：not yet well understood.
原文定位：recently research has been undertaken in an attempt to discover the cause of congenital amusia
同义替换：「born with」↔「congenital」，「the reason why」↔「cause」，「not yet well understood」↔「research has been undertaken in an attempt to discover」
答案：an inability to follow the beat of music.
原文定位：As would be expected, amusics perform significantly worse at singing and tapping a rhythm along with a melody than do non-amusics
同义替换：「One of the difficulties amusics experience」↔「perform significantly worse at」，「follow the beat of music」↔「tapping a rhythm along with a melody」，「an inability to follow the beat of music」↔「」
答案：not a problem.
原文定位：The linguistic cues inherent in speech make discrimination of meaning much easier for amusics
同义替换：「discrimination of meaning in speech」↔「discriminating between words」，「amusics」↔「amusics」，「not a problem」↔「do not report having any difficulty」
答案：more marked that with other people.
原文定位：when changes in tones are large, their brains overreact, showing twice as much activity on the right side of the brain as a normal brain hearing the same thing
同义替换：「certain reactions in the brain」↔「brains overreact」，「more marked than with other people」↔「twice as much activity as a normal brain」
答案：considered to be desirable.
原文定位：Musical ability is culturally valued
同义替换：「In most cultures」↔「culturally valued」，「musical ability」↔「Musical ability」，「considered to be desirable」↔「culturally valued」