Question

    You can’t walk into the office without Rihanna’s voice singing “work work work work work work” in your head. And that one line from Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance” still makes you want to scream. These are commonly known as earworm songs—those sticky tunes that continue to play in your head. A recent study finds that more than 90% of adults report hearing earworm songs on a weekly basis.

Fortunately, most people report earworm songs as pleasant. But others find them annoying or even maddening. “Some people are troubled by them to the point that it disturbs life,” says Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a professor at the University of Arkansas who has studied earworm songs.

Margulis says earworm songs tend to have some predictable characteristics. For one thing, they tend to small parts of a song—not the whole track. And “the songs you’ve heard recently also have the most possibility to get stuck in your memory,” she says.

But sometimes something strange and unpredictable can also start a track paying in your head. “Once I was at the doctor’s office and saw a poster of a man who I thought looked like Gaston—a character from Beauty and the Beast,” Margulis recalls. A couple minutes passed, and she realized she couldn’t get “Be Our Guest”, the song in the movie, out of her head, even though she hadn’t thought of the tune in years. In that instance, she was able to identify her earworm’s trigger: the Gaston-looking man in the poster. “But the connections can be really unclear,” she says.

Margulis points out that, in all of human history, recorded music is a very new phenomenon. She says some have inferred that earworm songs are also new—the unintended consequence of being able to hear the same song played everywhere in the same way over and over again. So far, the convincing explanation for why human beings experience earworm songs remains a mystery. But there are some well-established ways to cast off the earworm songs.

“Finding a mentally demanding task and putting your mind on it usually shifts attention away from internal music. People tend to get earworms when performing tasks that don’t require their full attention—stuff like doing the dishes,” Margulis says.

Chewing gum can also help. When a song is stuck in our heads, it’s almost like we’re singing along with it. If you make your mouth do something else—chewing gum, eating a meal or talking with a friend—that can kick out the earworm.

You could also face your enemy. By listening to the full track that includes the passage stuck in your head, you may find “closure” and relief.

1.Which of the following is most likely to be an earworm song?

A.A song made up of simple words.

B.A song heard frequently these days.

C.A song sung by a most famous singer.

D.A song learned during one’s childhood.

2.What does the underlined word “trigger” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A.Type. B.Tune.

C.Cause. D.Characteristic.

3.We can infer that earworm songs may ________.

A.result from modern technology B.be experienced over meals

C.help regain lost memories D.hurt one’s hearing

4.What is mainly talked about in the last three paragraphs?

A.Why we hear earworm songs. B.Where to find earworm songs.

C.When we hear earworm songs. D.How to get over earworm songs.

Answer

1.B

2.C

3.A

4.D

【解析】

本文是一篇说明文。文章主要讲了耳朵虫歌曲，即歌曲的某个片段不由自主地反复在脑子里出现且不受控制的现象。针对这种现象，作者提出了几条行之有效的方法。

1.细节理解题。 根据第一段These are commonly known as earworm songs—those sticky tunes that continue to play in your head.可知耳朵虫歌曲指的是“一直黏在脑袋里的音乐”，即最近经常听到的歌曲，故选B。

2.词义猜测题。 In that instance, she was able to identify her earworm’s trigger: the Gaston-looking man in the poster.句子后半句the Gaston-looking man in the poster解释了为什么“Be Our Guest” 这首歌一直出现在Margulis脑海里：海报中那个看起来像Gaston的人。所以此处trigger有“原因”之意，故选C。

3.推理判断题。 从第五段可知录制的音乐和耳朵虫音乐都是一种新现象，无论走到哪里都能反复听到同一首歌，这是人类发展、科技发展的结果。故选A。

4.主旨大意题。 第五段最后一句话But there are some well-established ways to cast off the earworm songs.是对下面三段的总结。最后三段列举了摆脱耳朵虫歌曲行之有效的方法，故选D。