早期音乐教育使人终生受益（英汉对照）
Early Music Lessons Have Longtime Benefits
When children learn to play a musical instrument, they strengthen a range of auditory skills. Recent studies suggest that these benefits extend all through life, at least for those who continue to be engaged with music.

当儿童学习演奏乐器时，他们得到加强的是一系列的听觉能力。已有多项研究表明，这种训练可以使人终生受益，至少对于那些继续从事音乐的人士来说情况如此。

But a study published last month is the first to show that music lessons in childhood may lead to changes in the brain that persist years after the lessons stop.

然而，上个月发表的一份研究报告第一次指出，童年时期的音乐课程可能会使大脑发生变化，这种变化即使在课程结束多年以后依然存在。

Researchers at Northwestern University recorded the auditory brainstem responses of college students - that is to say, their electrical brain waves - in response to complex sounds. The group of students who reported musical training in childhood had more robust responses - their brains were better able to pick out essential elements, like pitch, in the complex sounds when they were tested. And this was true even if the lessons had ended years ago.

美国西北大学(Northwestern University)的研究人员录制了大学生的听觉脑干反应——也就是说，测量他们的脑电波，记录其对复杂声音的反应。曾经在童年时期接受过音乐训练的学生的反应更强烈——在被测试时，他们的大脑能够从复杂的声音中更好地甄别出关键的要素，比如音调。而且，即使所受音乐训练在很多年前就已经结束，结果也是如此。

Indeed, scientists are puzzling out the connections between musical training in childhood and language-based learning - for instance, reading. Learning to play an instrument may confer some unexpected benefits, recent studies suggest.

事实上，科学家对童年时期的音乐训练和以语言为基础的学习——比如阅读之间的联系迷惑不解。最近的研究则表明，学习演奏乐器可能会带来一些意料不到的好处。

We aren't talking here about the "Mozart effect," the claim that listening to classical music can improve people's performance on tests. Instead, these are studies of the effects of active engagement and discipline. This kind of musical training improves the brain's ability to discern the components of sound - the pitch, the timing and the timbre.

我们这里讨论的不是“莫扎特效应”，该效应声称聆听古典音乐可以提高人们在测试中的表现。相反，这里研究的是让人全身心投入和严于律己的作用。这种音乐训练增强了大脑识别声音的各个组成部分的能力——这些成分包括音调、节拍和音色。

"To learn to read, you need to have good working memory, the ability to disambiguate speech sounds, make sound-to-meaning connections," said Professor Nina Kraus, director of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University. "Each one of these things really seems to be strengthened with active engagement in playing a musical instrument."

“学习阅读，你需要有良好的工作记忆力（working memory，是指人们在完成认知任务的过程中将信息暂时储存的系统——译注），以及消除话语中声音的歧义、并把声音和意义联系起来的能力，” 西北大学听觉神经科学实验室(Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory)主任尼娜·克劳斯(Nina Kraus)教授说：“似乎上述能力都在投入地演奏乐器时得到了真正的加强。”

Skill in appreciating the subtle qualities of sound, even against a complicated and noisy background, turns out to be important not just for a child learning to understand speech and written language, but also for an elderly person struggling with hearing loss.

事实证明，在纷繁复杂、人声鼎沸的背景下，对声音的细微变化所传达出来的意义的理解能力，不仅对正在学习听懂说话和看懂文字的儿童至关重要，而且，对于耳朵渐背的老人也很关键。

In a study of those who do keep playing, published this summer, researchers found that as musicians age, they experience the same decline in peripheral hearing, the functioning of the nerves in their ears, as nonmusicians. But older musicians preserve the brain functions, the central auditory processing skills that can help you understand speech against the background of a noisy environment.

今年夏天有一份关于多年演奏乐器不辍的人士的研究报告发表，研究人员发现当音乐家年纪渐长时，他们和不是音乐家的人一样会出现周围性听力（内耳神经功能）损失。但是，老年音乐家仍然具备着相应的中枢听觉处理功能，这有助于你理解讲话的噪音环境背景。