Question

    A large number of people enjoy listening to various types of music while they paint, write, or draw. Many believe that music helps creativity.

However, an international study conducted by English and Swedish researchers is challenging that opinion. Psychologists from Lancaster University, The University of Gävle, and The University of Central Lancashire say that their findings show music actually blocks creativity.

To come to their conclusions, researchers had participants(参与者) complete verbal insight problems designed to inspire creativity while sitting in a quiet room, and then again while music played in the background. They found that background music “badly affected” the participants’ ability to complete tasks related to verbal creativity.

The tasks were simple word games. For example, participants were given three words, such as dress, dial, and flower. Then, they were asked to find a single word related to all three that could be combined to form a common phrase or word. The single word, in this case, would be “sun” (sundress, sunflower, etc).

Participants completed the tasks in either a quiet room, or while exposed to three different types of music; music with unfamiliar words, instrumental music, or music with familiar words. “We found strong evidence of damaged performance when playing background music in comparison to quiet background conditions,” says co-author Dr. Neil McLatchie of Lancaster University.

To conclude, the findings challenge the popular view that music encourages creativity, and instead prove that music consistently disrupts creative performance in dealing with problems.

1.What’s the main idea of this passage?

A.A new idea about music while working. B.Music encourages creativity while working.

C.Music does harm to creativity while working. D.We’d better not listen to music while working.

2.The underlined word “block” in the 2nd paragraph probably means “________”

A.lift B.strengthen C.raise D.limit

3.How did the researchers get the conclusion according to the paragraph 5?

A.By comparing. B.By following time order. C.By analyzing causes and effects.              D.By presenting the process.

4.Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A.While working, we can listen to some familiar music.

B.Music has no effect on our creativity while working.

C.To improve our creativity, we should choose to work in quiet background conditions.

D.Music does more good than harm to our health.

Answer

1.C

2.D

3.A

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇说明文。文章主要讲述研究人员发现工作时听音乐会对创造力有害，文章还说明了这项研究的具体过程，建议人们为了提高创造力，应该选择在安静的背景条件下工作。

1.主旨大意题。根据文章第二段Psychologists from Lancaster University, The University of Gävle, and The University of Central Lancashire say that their findings show music actually blocks creativity.（兰开斯特大学、加夫勒大学和中央兰开夏大学的心理学家表示，他们的发现表明，音乐实际上会阻碍创造力）以及文章其他内容可知，文章主要说明工作时听音乐对创造力有害。故选C。

2.词义猜测题。结合上文However, an international study conducted by English and Swedish researchers is challenging that opinion.可知，一项由英国和瑞典研究人员进行的国际研究正在质疑上文中“人们认为工作时听音乐有助于创造力”的这种观点，故研究发现的是音乐实际上会阻碍创造力。故划线单词意思为“阻碍；限制”。故选D。

3.推理判断题。根据第五段最后一句“We found strong evidence of damaged performance when playing background music in comparison to quiet background conditions,” says co-author Dr. Neil McLatchie of Lancaster University.(兰开斯特大学的Neil McLatchie博士是该研究报告的合著者，他说：“我们发现，与安静的背景音乐相比，播放背景音乐时，有明显的证据表明，表现受到了损害”)可知，研究人员是通过比较得出结论的。故选A。

4.细节理解题。根据最后一段To conclude, the findings challenge the popular view that music encourages creativity, and instead prove that music consistently disrupts creative performance in dealing with problems.（综上所述，这些发现挑战了流行的观点，即音乐鼓励创造力，相反，证明了音乐在处理问题时不断干扰创造性的表现）可知，为了提高我们的创造力，我们应该选择在安静的背景条件下工作。故选C。