Question

Why Do You Mishear Popular Song Lyrics （歌词）？

When Lil Nas X's "Old Town Road" topped the charts in early 2019, it seemed like you couldn't go five minutes without hearing "I’m gonna take my horse to the old town road . " But a significant subgroup caught this instead “ I’m gonna take my horse to the hotel room. 1.We've been misunderstanding song lyrics for decades, Elton John's “hold me closer, Tony Danza" —er, "tiny dancer"— included. These modem musical mishearings even have their own name： mondegreens.

2. When noise hits our eardrums, tiny hairs convert it into an electric signal, which travels through the auditory nerve to the temporal lobe （颗叶）. 3. If the sounds are clear and the terms familiar, we then "hear" a mostly accurate translation of what someone is saying. But music can drown out lyrics, and singers can pronounce words with extra ability. The sounds in songs are often muddy and unclear. In this case, our brains struggle to find what makes sense.

In that panic, our head reacts by offering up similar-sounding （but far more familiar） phrases, says Thomas Ethofer, a professor of psychotherapy in Germany. For example, if the mind can't firstly comprehend taking a horse to an old town road, it offers up an alternative to quickly solve the problem. 4.

In fact, according to Ethofer, previous knowledge of the mondegreen will make you more likely to hear it. 5. From a psychological aspect, he says, perhaps these mix-ups are so common because we enjoy resolving unclearness. Regardless — the sky, this guy, tiny dancer, Tony Danza, old town road, hotel room — they are all still songs we'll listen to on repeat.

A.This was far from a first.

B.No wonder you will make this mistake.

C.How can you listen to something more accurately?

D.There, it turns nerve firings into words with meaning.

E.That's because your brain is already prepared for that version.

F.That translation can stick, even after we learn the correct lyrics.

G.So why does the Jimi Hendrix lyric "kiss the sky" often become "kiss this guy"?

Answer

1.A

2.G

3.D

4.F

5.E

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文，我们经常会把流行歌曲的歌词听错，本文解释了这一现象出现的原因。

1.根据上文“ But a significant subgroup caught this instead “ I’m gonna take my horse to the hotel room. ”可知但有相当一部分人把这句歌词听成了:“ I’m gonna take my horse to the hotel room. （我要把我的马带到酒店房间。）”根据后文“We've been misunderstanding song lyrics for decades, ”可知我们听错歌词（这种现象）已经有几十年了。结合前后文可知，听错歌词这件事不是第一次发生了，承上启下，A项（这不是第一次）切题。故选A项。

2.根据本空后的“When noise... sounds in songs are often muddy and unclear. In this case, our brains struggle to find what makes sense.”可知当噪声冲击耳膜时，细小的毛发将其转换为电信号，该信号通过听觉神经传播到颞叶。 如果声音清晰且术语熟悉，那么我们就“听到”对某人所说的话的最准确的翻译。但是音乐可以盖过歌词，歌手可以用额外的能力发音。歌曲的声音往往浑浊不清。在这种情况下，我们的大脑会努力寻找有意义的东西。由此可知，本段主要是在解释人们听歌时的大脑活动，解释为什么会听错歌词。G项（那么，为什么吉米·亨德里克斯的歌词“亲吻天空”经常变成“亲吻这个家伙”呢？）放在段首正好引出下文的解释，故选G项。

3.由前文“When noise hits our eardrums, tiny hairs convert it into an electric signal, which travels through the auditory nerve to the temporal lobe ”可知当噪声冲击耳膜时，细小的毛发将其转换为电信号，该信号通过听觉神经传播到颞叶。D项（在那里，它将神经刺激转化为有意义的词语。）与前文呼应，都是在解释听到歌曲后，大脑的活动过程，D项的there指的就是前文中的“the temporal lobe”，D项的nerve为前文“nerve”的复现。故选D项。

4.根据前文“For example, if the mind can't firstly comprehend taking a horse to an old town road, it offers up an alternative to quickly solve the problem. ”可知如果大脑首先不能理解带一匹马到一条老城路上（这种歌词），它会提供一个快速解决问题的替代方案。F项（甚至在我们学习了正确的歌词之后，这种误解还会继续下去。）与前文呼应，F项的that translation指的就是前文的 an alternative。故选F项。

5.根据前文“In fact, according to Ethofer, previous knowledge of the mondegreen will make you more likely to hear it.”可知实际上，根据Ethofer所说，如果你之前对你听错的词有所了解，你会更有可能把（歌词）听成这个错的词。而E项（那是因为你的大脑已经为那个版本做好了准备。）正好解释了为什么会出现这种现象，E项中的that version指的就是前文中所说的“听错的词”。故选E项。