【今日英語】Baby Mozart 蘇格蘭啟發嬰兒音樂細胞

　　Vocabulary: music 詞匯：音樂

　　Every baby born in Scotland in the next year will receive a CD to inspire a love of classical music.

　　The discs will be distributed to all 220 register offices across the country and are expected to reach up to 60,000 families.

 

　　The compilation titled Astar, Gaelic for 'journey', features Scottish songs, nursery rhymes and classical works by Tchaikovsky, Debussy and Mozart – himself a child prodigy.

　　The CD was recorded by the Royal Scottish NationalOrchestra (RSNO) and its Junior Chorus, led by music director Peter Oundjian.

　　He said: "When I was an infant my godfathergave me a tiny record player. I have found that the power and beauty of music can truly transform lives."

　　According to the RSNO, recent studies have shown that listening to music has a positive impact on young children's cognitive development.

　　Some researchers have even suggested that playing music to babies in the womb can be beneficial as it may help build their neural bridges along which thoughts travel.

　　The Scottish government doesn't go as far as embracing controversial theories like that, but is hoping that families may become more in tunewith each other.

　　Fiona Hyslop, Cabinet Secretary for Culture, said: "It will help to give babies the best possible start in life, strengthen the building of parent-child bonds, and encourage families to use music to enhance learning in the home."

　　But some commentators don't sing from the same hymn sheet as the authorities and are not sure if it's worth making a song and dance about this initiative.

　　Fraser McAlpine, a blogger specialising in music, suggests that Scottishcharity shops might be full of never-played CDs in the future.

　　Quiz 測驗

　　1. How will the CDs be given away?

　　2. Look at the article. Music by which famous composers will be included in the CD?

　　3. Is the following statement true, false or not given? The initiative to give classical CDs to every baby born in Scotland won public acclaim everywhere.

　　4. Where might the CDs end up, according to the blogger mentioned in the article?

　　5. What word in the text means a group of singers who sing together?

　　Glossary 辭匯表

　　· to inspire激發

　　· classical music古典音樂

　　·，中英互譯; a disc碟片

　　· a register office註冊機構

　　· a compilation匯編

　　· Gaelic蓋爾語

　　· a nursery rhyme童謠

　　·，日譯中; a child prodigy神童

　　· an orchestra筦弦樂隊

　　· a chorus獨唱隊

　　· an infant嬰兒

　　· a godfather教女

　　· a record player留聲機

　　· cognitive development年夜腦認知的發展

　　· a neural bridge神經橋樑

　　· in tune不合

　　· parent-child bond親子紐帶

　　· to sing from the same hymn sheet同聲同氣，持相同觀點

　　· to make a song and dance about (something)小題大年夜做

　　· a charity shop慈善店