HMT 2024

Part 2

You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It's the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age, there are recordings and books to help you to enjoy the power of Mozart's music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you cleverer, the picture is more mixed.

The phrase "the Mozart effect" was first used in 1991, but it is a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that seems likely to be true. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, a little of that intelligence might rub off on us.

The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. In fact, it's not just babies and children who were deliberately exposed to Mozart's melodies. When Sergio Della Sala, the psychologist and author of the book Mind Myths, visited a mozzarella farm in Italy, the farmer proudly explained that the buffalos were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce tastier milk.

What about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? When you look back at the original paper, the first surprise is that the authors from the University of California didn't even use the "Mozart effect" phrase in the paper. The second surprise is that it wasn't conducted on children at all: it was conducted on 36 young adult students, who, in fact, scored significantly higher on the tests after listening to Mozart's Sonata. But unfortunately, this effect lasted just for about fifteen minutes.

In 2006, a large study was conducted in Britain involving eight thousand children. They listened either to Mozart, or to one of the pop songs: Blurs Country House, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison and PJ or Duncan's Stepping Stone. Once again music improved the ability to perform tasks better, but this time it wasn't a Mozart effect but a Blur effect. The children who listened to Mozart did well, but with pop music they did even better. Then it began to emerge that perhaps Mozart wasn't so special after all. One study found that listening to Schubert was just as good, and so was hearing a passage read aloud from a Stephen King novel, but only if you enjoyed it.

So, what can we take away from this? Even if music doesn't scientifically make people smarter, it teaches us about life, and we can't put an IQ number on that knowledge.

Which of the advertisements mentions?

Part 2

You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It's the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age, there are recordings and books to help you to enjoy the power of Mozart's music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you cleverer, the picture is more mixed.

The phrase "the Mozart effect" was first used in 1991, but it is a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that seems likely to be true. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, a little of that intelligence might rub off on us.

The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. In fact, it's not just babies and children who were deliberately exposed to Mozart's melodies. When Sergio Della Sala, the psychologist and author of the book Mind Myths, visited a mozzarella farm in Italy, the farmer proudly explained that the buffalos were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce tastier milk.

What about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? When you look back at the original paper, the first surprise is that the authors from the University of California didn't even use the "Mozart effect" phrase in the paper. The second surprise is that it wasn't conducted on children at all: it was conducted on 36 young adult students, who, in fact, scored significantly higher on the tests after listening to Mozart's Sonata. But unfortunately, this effect lasted just for about fifteen minutes.

In 2006, a large study was conducted in Britain involving eight thousand children. They listened either to Mozart, or to one of the pop songs: Blurs Country House, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison and PJ or Duncan's Stepping Stone. Once again music improved the ability to perform tasks better, but this time it wasn't a Mozart effect but a Blur effect. The children who listened to Mozart did well, but with pop music they did even better. Then it began to emerge that perhaps Mozart wasn't so special after all. One study found that listening to Schubert was just as good, and so was hearing a passage read aloud from a Stephen King novel, but only if you enjoyed it.

So, what can we take away from this? Even if music doesn't scientifically make people smarter, it teaches us about life, and we can't put an IQ number on that knowledge.

What does the Mozart effect refer to?

Part 2

...

The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. In fact, it's not just babies and children who were deliberately exposed to Mozart's melodies. When Sergio Della Sala, the psychologist and author of the book Mind Myths, visited a mozzarella farm in Italy, the farmer proudly explained that the buffalos were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce tastier milk.

....

Which statement is true, according to paragraph 3?

Part 2

You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It's the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age, there are recordings and books to help you to enjoy the power of Mozart's music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you cleverer, the picture is more mixed.

The phrase "the Mozart effect" was first used in 1991, but it is a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that seems likely to be true. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, a little of that intelligence might rub off on us.

The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. In fact, it's not just babies and children who were deliberately exposed to Mozart's melodies. When Sergio Della Sala, the psychologist and author of the book Mind Myths, visited a mozzarella farm in Italy, the farmer proudly explained that the buffalos were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce tastier milk.

What about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? When you look back at the original paper, the first surprise is that the authors from the University of California didn't even use the "Mozart effect" phrase in the paper. The second surprise is that it wasn't conducted on children at all: it was conducted on 36 young adult students, who, in fact, scored significantly higher on the tests after listening to Mozart's Sonata. But unfortunately, this effect lasted just for about fifteen minutes.

In 2006, a large study was conducted in Britain involving eight thousand children. They listened either to Mozart, or to one of the pop songs: Blurs Country House, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison and PJ or Duncan's Stepping Stone. Once again music improved the ability to perform tasks better, but this time it wasn't a Mozart effect but a Blur effect. The children who listened to Mozart did well, but with pop music they did even better. Then it began to emerge that perhaps Mozart wasn't so special after all. One study found that listening to Schubert was just as good, and so was hearing a passage read aloud from a Stephen King novel, but only if you enjoyed it.

So, what can we take away from this? Even if music doesn't scientifically make people smarter, it teaches us about life, and we can't put an IQ number on that knowledge.

What information did the original article provide?

Part 2

You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It's the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed by Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick internet search reveals plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age, there are recordings and books to help you to enjoy the power of Mozart's music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you cleverer, the picture is more mixed.

The phrase "the Mozart effect" was first used in 1991, but it is a study described two years later in the journal Nature that sparked real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that seems likely to be true. Mozart was undoubtedly a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, a little of that intelligence might rub off on us.

The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the US, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. In fact, it's not just babies and children who were deliberately exposed to Mozart's melodies. When Sergio Della Sala, the psychologist and author of the book Mind Myths, visited a mozzarella farm in Italy, the farmer proudly explained that the buffalos were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce tastier milk.

What about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? When you look back at the original paper, the first surprise is that the authors from the University of California didn't even use the

"Mozart effect" phrase in the paper. The second surprise is that it wasn't conducted on children at all: it was conducted on 36 young adult students, who, in fact, scored significantly higher on the tests after listening to Mozart's Sonata. But unfortunately, this effect lasted just for about fifteen minutes.

In 2006, a large study was conducted in Britain involving eight thousand children. They listened either to Mozart, or to one of the pop songs: Blurs Country House, Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison and PJ or Duncan's Stepping Stone. Once again music improved the ability to perform tasks better, but this time it wasn't a Mozart effect but a Blur effect. The children who listened to Mozart did well, but with pop music they did even better. Then it began to emerge that perhaps Mozart wasn't so special after all. One study found that listening to Schubert was just as good, and so was hearing a passage read aloud from a Stephen King novel, but only if you enjoyed it.

So, what can we take away from this? Even if music doesn't scientifically make people smarter, it teaches us about life, and we can't put an IQ number on that knowledge.

What evidence did the researchers fail to find?

Part 5

In many ways, we are just like more than thirty ___of dolphins that swim in the world's oceans and rivers.

Dolphins are mammals, like we are, and just as we might, they team up in pods, or groups, to ___ tasks. 

They also __ to each other. Starting from birth, dolphins squawk, whistle, click, and squeak. "Sometimes one dolphin will vocalise, and then another will seem to answer," says Sara Waller, who studies bottlenose dolphins off the California coast.

"And sometimes members of a pod vocalise in different patterns at the same time, much like many people chattering at a party." And just as we gesture and change facial ____ body postures, jaw claps, bubble blowing, and fin caresses. 

As we speak, dolphins ___nonverbally through.