SSS 2012-03-21-英语课

时间：2018-12-24 作者：英语课 分类：Scientific American(三)月

英语课

This is Scientific Americans 60 second Science, i am Cynthia Graber, this will just take a minute~

When you hear Western music, you generally get the emotional tone. A major key is happy. (music plays) A minor 1 one? That’s sad. (music plays)

And spoken voices reflect this tonality. Here’s someone sounding positive: “I don’t know who made this cake but it is fantastic!” And down on his luck: “The papers finalizing 2 the divorce came today.”

The researchers wanted to know: Are these sounds international? So they turned to classical music from southern India. Here’s one that represents joy. (raga plays) Another displays grief and sadness. (raga plays) As for the spoken word, I bet you can tell the positive speaker (woman speaks) from the negative one (woman speaks).

The researchers analyzed 3 music and 20 native Tamil and American English speakers for a variety of sound and tone parameters 4. The authors say that certain emotional tones seem to be cross-cultural, and that music mimics 5 voice. The research was published in the journal Public Library of Science One.

So we may often be able to understand the moods of a culture in music and even in speech – without understanding a word.

1 minor

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。

2 finalizing

vt.完成（finalize的现在分词形式）

You may edit registered information any time during the finalizing period. 您可以在规定期限内随时编辑修改注册资料。来自互联网
Natsun Trimming & Ironing, Finalizing the Perfection. 40南山整烫，完美在此定格。来自互联网

3 analyzed

v.分析( analyze的过去式和过去分词 )；分解；解释；对…进行心理分析

The doctors analyzed the blood sample for anemia. 医生们分析了贫血的血样。来自《简明英汉词典》
The young man did not analyze the process of his captivation and enrapturement, for love to him was a mystery and could not be analyzed. 这年轻人没有分析自己蛊惑著迷的过程，因为对他来说，爱是个不可分析的迷。来自《简明英汉词典》

4 parameters

因素，特征；界限；（限定性的）因素( parameter的名词复数 )；参量；参项；决定因素

We have to work within the parameters of time. 我们的工作受时间所限。
See parameters.cpp for a compilable example. This is part of the Spirit distribution. 可编译例子见parameters.cpp.这是Spirit分发包的组成部分。

5 mimics

n.模仿名人言行的娱乐演员，滑稽剧演员( mimic的名词复数 )；善于模仿的人或物v.（尤指为了逗乐而）模仿( mimic的第三人称单数 )；酷似