发布时间 : 星期四 文章北京市朝阳区2020届高三英语上学期期中试题更新完毕开始阅读
Although there are obvious similarities between mathematical and musical activity, there is no direct evidence for the kind of magical connection many people seem to believe in.
I’m partly referring here to the “Mozart effect”, where children who have been played Mozart compositions are supposedly more intelligent, including at maths, than other children. It is not hard to see why such a theory would be popular: we would all like to become better at maths without putting in any effort. But the conclusions of the experiment that expressed the belief in the Mozart effect were much more modest. If you want your brain to work better, you clearly have to put in hard work. As for learning to play the piano, it also takes effort.
Surely a connection is quite reasonable. Both maths and music deal with abstract structures, so if you become good at one, then it is likely that you become good at something more general that helps you with the other. If this is correct, it would show a connection between mathematical and musical ability. It would be more like the connection between abilities at football and tennis. To become better at one, you need to improve your fitness and coordination (协调). That makes you better at sport and probably helps with the other.
Abstract structures don’t exist only in maths and music. If you learn a
language then you need to understand its abstract structures like grammar. Yet we don’t hear people asking about a connection between mathematical and linguistic (语言的) ability. Maybe this is because grammar feels mathematical, so it wouldn’t be surprising that mathematicians were better at learning grammar. Music, however, is strongly tied up with feelings and can be enjoyed even by people who know little about it. As such, it seems different from maths, so there wouldn’t be any connection between the two.
Let’s see how we solve problems of the “A is to B as C is to D” kind. These appear in intelligence tests but they are also central to both music and maths. Consider the opening of Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik (小夜曲). The second phrase is a clear answer to the first. The listener thinks: “The first phrase goes upward and uses the notes of a G major chord (和弦); what would be the corresponding phrase that goes downward and uses the notes of a D7?” Music is full of puzzles like this. If you are good at them, expectations will constantly be set up in your mind. The best moments surprise you by being unexpected, but we need the expectations in the first place.
42. What does the author say about “Mozart effect”？ A. The goal of it was not carefully thought about.
B. The interest people showed in it was unexpected. C. The way it was carried out proved to be ineffective. D. The findings from it gave people wrong information.
43. The author mentioned football and tennis in Paragraph 3 to show that ______.
A. music and maths have something in common B. football and tennis are played in a similar way C. certain skills may be developed through practice D. abstract structures bring benefits to various fields 44. We can infer from Paragraph 4 that ______. A. language is less attractive to learners B. mathematicians are good at music learning C. language seems more like maths than music does
D. the structure of language is easier to learn than that of music 45. What is the writer’s main purpose in the last paragraph? A. To prove how music finally differs from maths.
B. To describe the mathematical processes musicians may have.
C. To show how abstract thinking applies to both music and maths. D. To explain why Mozart is so highly considered by mathematicians.
第二节（共5小题；每小题2分，共10分）
根据短文内容，从短文后的七个选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Gardening 380 Kilometers above Earth
Astronauts have to go through physical, psychological, and technical training. They also go through training in how to care for plants. These “astronaut gardeners” share their work and living space with plants.
Taking seeds and plants along on a trip isn’t a new idea. As space trips become longer, it will be necessary to grow food in space. ___46___ Because of this, it’s not practical to send everything needed for a long journey, only to be used once and thrown away.
Plants can serve many uses on a space journey. They can provide more fresh things. ___47___ Also, plants can help to make air quality better because they produce oxygen. They can improve the quality of the air inside the spacecraft—the only air the astronauts can breathe.
___48___ Due to the lack of gravity in space, the oxygen that the plants produce stays around the plants. This can actually kill them, so fans are needed to circulate the air. Without gravity, roots don’t “know” to grow down, leaves don’t “know” to grow up, and water doesn’t easily travel up the roots to the leaves. ___49___ Besides, soil is too heavy to send to