3 . According to a recent study in Science, pigs are providing convincing new evidence that animals may respond emotionally to music. The finding may lead to ways to improve their welfare on farms. “It’s a really neat study that shows animals are more emotionally attuned (音感好的) to music than people think”, says Charles Snowdon, an animal behaviour expert at the University of Wisconsin.

Music is sometimes used as enrichment for animals and other captive animals. And Snowball the dancing cockatoo (凤头鹦鹉) likes to dance to the Backstreet Boys. But whether these creatures have a true emotional response to the tunes is unclear. That’s what the new study aimed to do — but with pigs. Coauthor Maria Camila Ceballos, an animal welfare scientist, says she chose these animals because they are intelligent and social, and face serious welfare challenges on factory farms.

The researchers composed music that were either consonant or dissonant. To humans, consonant music generally sounds pleasant whereas dissonance tends to sound uncomfortable. The team then filmed six litters of young pigs listening to the music, which was played in a random order with a break in between.

The researchers scored the pigs’ body language using an approach called QBA. Pieces of consonant music were linked to the pigs experiencing positive emotions, whereas the dissonant music was linked to negative emotions, the team reports this month in Scientific Reports. “So we found that, yes, music generates different emotions,” Ceballos says.

Animal welfare scientist Jun Bao from a university in China is skeptical about whether Ceballos’s team detected emotions, however. He recently found that exposure to music increases play and tail wagging in pigs, which he sees as signs of a “positive mood”. However, he says it’s not clear that pigs labeled as “happy” or “uneasy” through QBA actually experience those emotions.

Ceballos hopes the study will help researchers create welfare-improving music, tailor-made to a specific species. Bao also agrees, adding “It’s really interesting, because if it works, it would be the handiest and cheapest way to enrich their environment.”

6 . There are hundreds of genres (流派) of music, so while some might like one kind, others might like something completely different. Why do people like different kinds of music?

    1     At the same time, music can also help us feel like part of a group or a culture, especially one that shares an interest in a certain kind of music.

Music can also be nostalgic, that is, it creates a kind of longing for the past. Musicians leave behind a footprint with their music.    2     Even long after the musicians are gone, people still find something in the musicians’ recordings that they can enjoy.

We may also find that the music we like is strongly tied to our memory. Maybe there was a song that someone sang to us when we were little that brings up good memories.     3    

When we listen to music that we like, a chemical called dopamine is sometimes released in the brain, which can make us feel good.     4     There are some algorithms (算法) today that can help pick up on the kind of music we like. When we are streaming music, some programs will let us like or dislike songs.

People’s taste in music can remain the same in their whole life or it can change many times. But the truth is, we don’t know all the exact answers to why people like different kinds of music — or sports, or food, or colors.     5     We are all different people who like different things.

7 . Music is considered a great creation. It can be seen as creativity in the pure form. In society, for some people, music is a “pastime (消遣)” while for others, it is a “lifestyle”.     1    

Music is a great source of entertainment (娱乐). Though people are different in culture and language, they enjoy music and get entertainment from it. It may be part of advertisements on TV or ring tones on mobiles.    2    

Music helps communicate thoughts and feelings.    3    In this situation, music is a good way to express them. This is also the reason why some songs get more popular among the public as compared to others. It is so because people connect with some songs more.

Music sends messages to listeners. We all have observed on television many times that in certain background music is played in the scenes (情景) that describe sorrow.     4     In this way, music actually communicates with listeners without the help of words. It is interesting to know that music itself is so powerful that it does not need words.

    5    Music has deep effects on the mind and spirit of people. It directly affects the hormones (荷尔蒙), which creates a feeling of pleasure in the listener. It is because of this reason that listening to peaceful music makes us less worried or nervous.