Human evolution
人類進(jìn)化史
Why music?
偏偏是音樂
Biologists are addressing one of humanity’s strangest attributes, its all-singing, all-dancing culture
生物學(xué)家正在探討人類最耐人尋味的共性之一，緣何人類都愛好歌唱與舞蹈
Dec 18th 2008 | From The Economist print edition
譯者：Wordy_Camel
“IF MUSIC be the food of love, play on, give me excess of it.” And if not? Well, what exactly is it for? The production and consumption of music is a big part of the economy. The first use to which commercial recording, in the form of Edison’s phonographs, was to bring music to the living rooms and picnic tables of those who could not afford to pay live musicians. Today, people are so surrounded by other people’s music that they take it for granted, but as little as 100 years ago singsongs at home, the choir in the church and fiddlers in the pub were all that most people heard.
“如果說音樂滋養(yǎng)著愛情，那好，繼續(xù)播放吧，多多益善?！比绻皇悄兀磕撬烤勾硎裁茨?？對音樂的生產(chǎn)和消費(fèi)構(gòu)成了經(jīng)濟(jì)的重要組成部分。最早用于商業(yè)用途的錄音是以愛迪生的留聲機(jī)的形式出現(xiàn)的，它把音樂帶到了那些看不起現(xiàn)場音樂演奏的人們的起居室中和野餐桌上。如今，人們隨處都能聽到音樂，對此已然司空見慣，可就在100年前，大多數(shù)人還只能從為私家獻(xiàn)唱的歌手，教堂里的唱詩班，以及酒館里的提琴手們那里聽到音樂。
Well, that fact—that he, or she, is a teenager—supports one hypothesis about the function of music. Around 40% of the lyrics of popular songs speak of romance, sexual relationships and sexual behaviour. The Shakespearean theory, that music is at least one of the foods of love, has a strong claim to be true. The more mellifluous the singer, the more dexterous the harpist, the more mates he attracts.
有道是“哪個少女不懷春,哪個少年不鐘情？”這一事實(shí)支持了對音樂的功能做出的一項(xiàng)假設(shè)。流行歌曲的歌詞中約有40%都是以浪漫情懷，性愛關(guān)系和性行為為話題的。如此這般說來，莎士比亞的理論------ 音樂至少是滋養(yǎng)愛情的要素之一是真真理由確鑿了。我們的阿波羅唱得越是柔情蜜意，豎琴撥得越是靈韻動人，他能吸引到的伴侶也就越多。
A second idea that is widely touted is that music binds groups of people together. The resulting solidarity, its supporters suggest, might have helped bands of early humans to thrive at the expense of those that were less musical.
第二種廣為散布的理念是音樂是聯(lián)結(jié)各種人群的紐帶。這一理念的支持者認(rèn)為，現(xiàn)有的團(tuán)結(jié)是人類早期以同化樂感較差的群體為代價(jià)繁榮起來的。
Both of these ideas argue that musical ability evolved specifically—that it is, if you like, a virtual organ as precisely crafted to its purpose as the heart or the spleen. The third hypothesis, however, is that music is a cross between an accident and an invention. It is an accident because it is the consequence of abilities that evolved for other purposes. And it is an invention because, having thus come into existence, people have bent it to their will and made something they like from it.
以上兩種理念都認(rèn)為樂感是單獨(dú)進(jìn)化的。你大可認(rèn)為它類同于一種虛擬的器官，可以簡單地按照目的發(fā)育成像心臟和脾臟那樣的器官。第三種假設(shè)卻認(rèn)為音樂是偶然性與創(chuàng)造性的交融。說樂感是一個意外是因?yàn)樗醋园l(fā)育成其它功能器官的進(jìn)化能力。而說它是一種發(fā)明創(chuàng)造則是因?yàn)樽詮乃嬖谝詠恚藗儼凑兆约旱囊庠附柚鼊?chuàng)造出了他們喜歡的事物。
She loves you
她愛著你
Shakespeare’s famous quote was, of course, based on commonplace observation. Singing, done well, is certainly sexy. But is its sexiness the reason it exists? Charles Darwin thought so. Twelve years after he published “On the Origin of Species”, which described the idea of natural selection, a second book hit the presses. “The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex” suggested that the need to find a mate being the pressing requirement that it is, a lot of the features of any given animal have come about not to aid its survival, but to aid its courtship. The most famous example is the tail of the peacock. But Darwin suggested human features, too, might be sexually selected in this way—and one of those he lit on was music.
莎士比亞的名言毫無疑問是建立在對人之常情的洞察上的。歌唱得好，自然就性感咯。但唱歌的理由就是出于性意味么？查爾斯.達(dá)爾文是這么認(rèn)為的。在他出版了闡明自然選擇的學(xué)說的《物種起源》十二年之后，他的第二本著作《人類的由來及性別選擇》也熱賣起來。書中提出找尋伴侶是一種迫切的需求，列舉了許多特定物種并非出于生存需要，而是為了求偶的行為特征。最著名的例子就是孔雀開屏。并且，達(dá)爾文認(rèn)為人類的求偶行為，按照性別選擇也是以這種方式，同時他重點(diǎn)強(qiáng)調(diào)音樂就是其中一種方式。
這本書中的學(xué)說這不似自然選擇那樣令世界眼前一亮,而今卻在供職于新墨西哥大學(xué),研究進(jìn)化的生物學(xué)家杰佛里.米勒這里得到了復(fù)興. 米勒博士開始了他的觀察,他認(rèn)為音樂是人類的共性,需要消耗大量的時間和能量得以產(chǎn)生,且至少從某些意義上說是由基因左右的.約 有4%的人瘓有不同類別的樂盲癥,而這些中的一部分已獲悉是具有遺傳性的.普遍性,高耗性和基因操控性都顯示音樂對于生存和生育有著明顯的功效,而米勒博士就將研究重點(diǎn)扎在了對生育的影響上.
One reason for believing this is that musical productivity—at least among the recording artists who have exploited the phonograph and its successors over the past hundred years or so—seems to match the course of an individual’s reproductive life. In particular, Dr Miller studied jazz musicians. He found that their output rises rapidly after puberty, reaches its peak during young-adulthood, and then declines with age and the demands of parenthood.
之所以會相信這一論斷的其中一個原因在于音樂的產(chǎn)量似乎與個人的生育能力相對應(yīng)------這點(diǎn)起碼體現(xiàn)在了那些灌唱片的藝術(shù)家身上,從留聲機(jī)時代伊始,他們縱橫樂壇幾百年哉.米勒博士還對爵士樂的音樂家進(jìn)行了特別的研究.他發(fā)現(xiàn)這些音樂家的生育能力在青春期過后猛增,在青壯年時期達(dá)到鼎盛,然后隨著年齡的增長以及受制于為人父母的責(zé)任而下降.
As is often the case with this sort of observation, it sounds unremarkable; obvious, even. But uniquely human activities associated with survival—cooking, say—do not show this pattern. People continue to cook at about the same rate from the moment that they have mastered the art until the moment they die or are too decrepit to continue. Moreover, the anecdotal evidence linking music to sexual success is strong. Dr Miller often cites the example of Jimi Hendrix, who had sex with hundreds of groupies during his brief life and, though he was legally unmarried, maintained two long-term liaisons. The words of Robert Plant, the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, are also pertinent: “I was always on my way to love. Always. Whatever road I took, the car was heading for one of the greatest sexual encounters I’ve ever had.”
這類觀察聽上去平淡無奇,甚至可以認(rèn)為是地球人都知道的.不過你得承認(rèn),從像烹飪這類與生計(jì)相關(guān)聯(lián)的人類活動之中卻看不出這一規(guī)律.人們從剛學(xué)會做飯,到死亡,或者至少是垂垂老矣,無法行動時,做飯的頻率都是相同的.此外,將音樂和性愛高手湊到一塊兒的花邊新聞是大有合理性可尋的.米勒博士再三舉出Jimi Hendrix這個例子,此人短促的一生中,與上百個少女粉絲有過性關(guān)系,雖說他一生也沒有按法定程序結(jié)過婚,卻一直與兩個情婦保持著關(guān)系. 對此, Led Zeppelin樂隊(duì)的主唱Robert Plant 一席話也可謂一語中的: '我永遠(yuǎn)都在追尋愛的道路上,是的,永遠(yuǎn).不管我把車子開上哪條路,不外乎是我所去過的最最香艷四射的路.'
Another reason to believe the food-of-love hypothesis is that music fulfils the main criterion of a sexually selected feature: it is an honest signal of underlying fitness. Just as unfit peacocks cannot grow splendid tails, so unfit people cannot sing well, dance well (for singing and dancing go together, as it were, like a horse and carriage) or play music well. All of these activities require physical fitness and dexterity. Composing music requires creativity and mental agility. Put all of these things together and you have a desirable mate.
相信音樂滋養(yǎng)愛情這一假說的另一個理由便是音樂大體上符合性別選擇的特征：它是內(nèi)在健康狀況的真實(shí)寫照。正如病怏怏的孔雀開不起華麗的雀屏來，身體不好的人們也唱得不動情，舞得不盡興（須知唱歌和舞蹈的關(guān)系就像馬和馬車一樣），曼妙的音樂也演奏不出來。上述這些活動都講求生理上的健康和靈巧。譜曲則需要創(chuàng)造力和敏捷的思維。將所有的這些因素糅合在一起，你就會擁有滿意的伴侶。
Improve your singing…
唱得更動聽些
相信這一點(diǎn)的第三個理由是音樂以及類似音樂的表達(dá)形式在其它物種身上也得到了進(jìn)化，且似乎也是按照性別選擇的原則進(jìn)行的。如果說袋裝和胎生鼠類動物的平行演化使它們具備了相似的生活方式，那么歌曲在鳥類，鯨類，長臂猿以及人類之中的平行演化也應(yīng)使其具有類似的潛在功能。在上述物種中，雌性動物便是不易取悅的收聽者。譬如，從若干種鳥類中，人們發(fā)現(xiàn)雌鳥喜歡從她們的求愛者那里聽到更為精妙的歌聲，由此給雄性造成的壓力促使雄性的神經(jīng)官能得到了進(jìn)化，從而能醞釀并唱出這些歌聲來。
And yet, and yet. Though Dr Miller’s arguments are convincing, they do not feel like the whole story. A man does not have to be gay to enjoy the music of an all-male orchestra, even if he particularly appreciates the soprano who comes on to sing the solos. A woman, meanwhile, can enjoy the soprano even while appreciating the orchestra on more than one level. Something else besides sex seems to be going on.
不過，怎么說呢, 縱然米勒博士的論斷很有說服力，卻并不能涵蓋所有的問題。即使一個人不是同性戀，甚至他尤其酷愛女高音獨(dú)唱，他也會欣賞清一色由男性演奏的交響樂。與此同時，一個女人也可能在欣賞女高音的同時還欣賞不同級別的交響樂?？梢?，還有另一些與性別無關(guān)的因素在起作用。
The second hypothesis for music’s emergence is that it had a role not just in helping humans assess their mates, but also in binding bands of people together in the evolutionary past. Certainly, it sometimes plays that role today. It may be unfashionable in Britain to stand for the national anthem, but two minutes watching the Last Night of the Proms, an annual music festival, on television will serve to dispel any doubts about the ability of certain sorts of music to instil collective purpose in a group of individuals. In this case the cost in time and energy is assumed to be repaid in some way by the advantages of being part of a successful group.
關(guān)于音樂何以萌發(fā)的第二條假設(shè)認(rèn)為音樂所扮演的角色不僅在于幫助人類審度他們的伴侶，而且還在于在過去的演化史中，充當(dāng)聯(lián)結(jié)人與人之間的紐帶。當(dāng)然，音樂即使在如今也時常扮演這一角色。在英國，唱國歌也許已經(jīng)不時興了，但人們會花個兩分鐘去看“最后一夜”這檔年度音樂電視節(jié)目。這一現(xiàn)象將打消對某些類型的音樂能在人群中引起共鳴這點(diǎn)的一切疑慮。這么一來，花費(fèi)在音樂上的時間和能量按照設(shè)想，就會在成為強(qiáng)大的群體中一員的好處上得到償報(bào)了。
The problem with this hypothesis is that it relies on people not cheating and taking the benefits without paying the costs. One way out of that dilemma is to invoke a phenomenon known to biologists as group selection. Biologically, this is a radical idea. It requires the benefits of solidarity to be so great that groups lacking them are often extinguished en bloc. Though theoretically possible, this is likely to be rare in practice. However, some researchers have suggested that the invention of weapons such as spears and bows and arrows made intertribal warfare among early humans so lethal that group selection did take over. It has been invoked, for example, to explain the contradictory manifestations of morality displayed in battle: tenderness towards one’s own side; ruthlessness towards the enemy. In this context the martial appeal of some sorts of music might make sense.
這一假設(shè)中存在著一個問題，即它是建立在人們不欺騙，不巧取豪奪之上的。解決這一兩難的途徑之一是援引被生物學(xué)家們稱作群體選擇(group selection)的現(xiàn)象。這種現(xiàn)象在生物學(xué)里是一種激進(jìn)的理念。這一理念宣揚(yáng)團(tuán)結(jié)的突出優(yōu)勢，甚至于認(rèn)為缺乏團(tuán)結(jié)的種群會一并滅亡。這一套雖然從理論上說得過去，在實(shí)際中卻并不多見。然而，一些研究人員認(rèn)為隨著諸如矛，弓和箭這些武器的發(fā)明，使早起人類部落之間的戰(zhàn)爭甚為慘烈，因而群體選擇發(fā)揮起了效應(yīng)。譬如，這一點(diǎn)被用在解釋對針對戰(zhàn)爭截然不同的道德宣言上：對自己一方來說是義戰(zhàn)，對敵方來說卻是殘酷無情的。在這樣的情景中，某些音樂會起到呼喚武力的作用。
Robin Dunbar of Oxford University does not go quite that far, but unlike Dr Miller he thinks that the origins of music need to be sought in social benefits of group living rather than the sexual benefits of seduction. He does not deny that music has gone on to be sexually selected (indeed, one of his students, Konstantinos Kaskatis, has shown that Dr Miller’s observation about jazz musicians also applies to 19th-century classical composers and contemporary pop singers). But he does not think it started that way.
來自牛津大學(xué)的羅賓.鄧巴沒有在這個問題上陷得那么深，與米勒博士不同，他認(rèn)為音樂的起源需要在群居的社會利益中探尋，而不是在對兩性關(guān)系的誘求上。他不否認(rèn)音樂受到性別選擇的影響(因?yàn)槭聦?shí)確實(shí)如此，他的一位學(xué)生Konstantinos Kaskatis 已經(jīng)在米勒博士對爵士樂音樂家進(jìn)行觀察的基礎(chǔ)上，又證實(shí)了這一點(diǎn)在19世紀(jì)的古典作曲家和當(dāng)代的流行樂歌手身上同樣得到了體現(xiàn)。)，但他認(rèn)為這不是音樂的初衷。
…and your grooming
...再來些梳理
鄧巴博士的事業(yè)重心落在了努力致力于研究靈長類動物在社會性方面的發(fā)展。他相信將猴子與猿聯(lián)系在一起的因素之一是梳理皮毛。從表面上看，為其它的動物梳理皮毛是出于一些功能。此舉能夠使皮毛保持清潔，并除去寄生蟲。但這只是一種使其它動物生活得更好的付出，對自己并無益處。甚至于動物們經(jīng)常將遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超過嚴(yán)格意義上用于保持皮毛光潔的時間用在梳理皮毛上。原則上那段時間是可以用來從事別的活動的。因此，社交性質(zhì)的梳理皮毛與性別選擇十分相似，都是一種付出精力（并且表露無遺）的信號。就這方面而言，這種信號對一個種群而言更像是一種付出，而不僅僅是出于繁衍后代的需要。
Dr Dunbar thinks language evolved to fill the role of grooming as human tribes grew too large for everyone to be able to groom everyone else. This is a controversial hypothesis, but it is certainly plausible. The evidence suggests, however, that the need for such “remote grooming” would arise when a group exceeds about 80 individuals, whereas human language really got going when group sizes had risen to around 140. His latest idea is that the gap was bridged by music, which may thus be seen as a precursor to language.
鄧巴博士認(rèn)為隨著人類部落的規(guī)模發(fā)展到不僅限于每個人給其他人梳理時，語言就在進(jìn)化過程中，充當(dāng)梳理的功能應(yīng)運(yùn)而生了。這是一個受到爭議的假設(shè)，卻又看似有幾分道理。有證據(jù)顯示，當(dāng)一個群體的個體數(shù)目超過80，就會產(chǎn)生對“遠(yuǎn)距離梳理”的需求。而當(dāng)群體人數(shù)大于140時，就會產(chǎn)生人類語言。他最新的理念認(rèn)為是音樂填補(bǔ)了這一鴻溝，因此音樂將可能被看作是語言的先導(dǎo)。
The costliness of music—and of the dancing associated with it—is not in doubt, so the idea has some merit. Moreover, the idea that language evolved from wordless singing is an old one. And, crucially, both singing and dancing tend to be group activities. That does not preclude their being sexual. Indeed, showing off to the opposite sex in groups is a strategy used by many animals (it is known as lekking). But it may also have the function of using up real physiological resources in a demonstration of group solidarity.
音樂，連帶配合一起的舞蹈是消耗很大的活動，這點(diǎn)是毫無疑問的，因此這一理念是有些道理的。再者，認(rèn)為語言是由沒有歌詞的哼唱演化而來這一觀點(diǎn)也歷來就存在。最要緊的是，歌唱與舞蹈都是適于群體的活動。這也不能預(yù)先排除它們的性意味。在種群中的異性面前表現(xiàn)的的確確是許多動物使用的招數(shù)（通常被稱作lekking）。但它可能還有充分使用生理機(jī)能確保種群團(tuán)結(jié)的功能。
Like cheesecake, music sates an appetite that nature cannot.
就像奶酪蛋糕一樣,音樂能滿足的胃口是自然無法滿足的.
By side-stepping the genocidal explanations that underlie the classical theory of group selection, Dr Dunbar thinks he has come up with an explanation that accounts for music’s socially binding qualities without stretching the limits of evolutionary theory. Whether it will pass the mathematical scrutiny which showed that classical group selection needs genocide remains to be seen. But if music is functional, it may be that sexual selection and social selection have actually given each other a helping hand.
拋開對種族殺戮的解釋這一經(jīng)典群體選擇理論的基礎(chǔ)論點(diǎn)，鄧巴博士認(rèn)為他在不需進(jìn)一步延伸進(jìn)化理論的前提下，總結(jié)出了音樂作為聯(lián)結(jié)社會關(guān)系的紐帶的特質(zhì)。是否這點(diǎn)在經(jīng)過精確的數(shù)學(xué)計(jì)算后能得出經(jīng)典群體選擇是建立在種族滅絕之上的,還有待求證。倘若音樂是具有功能性的，那么性別選擇和社會選擇就有可能是相得益彰的了。
The third hypothesis, though, is that music is not functional, and also that Dr Dunbar has got things backwards. Music did not lead to language, language led to music in what has turned out to be a glorious accident—what Stephen Jay Gould called a spandrel, by analogy with the functionless spaces between the arches of cathedrals that artists then fill with paintings. This is what Steven Pinker, a language theorist at Harvard, thinks. He once described music as auditory cheesecake and suggested that if it vanished from the species little else would change.
第三種假設(shè)不承認(rèn)音樂的功能性，而且鄧巴博士把事情給弄反了。不是音樂派生了語言，而是語言派生了音樂-----即所謂的光輝的偶然，同時也被史蒂芬.杰伊.古德爾稱作spandrel，類似于天主教堂的穹頂上不承擔(dān)力學(xué)作用，布滿了畫作的地方。這就是哈佛大學(xué)的語言理論學(xué)家Steven Pinker的觀點(diǎn)。他曾經(jīng)將音樂描述為一種聽覺上的奶酪蛋糕，同時認(rèn)為一旦它從物種之中消失了,對人類也沒有什么影響。
Dr Pinker’s point is that, like real cheesecake, music sates an appetite that nature cannot. Human appetites for food evolved at a time when the sugar and fat which are the main ingredients of cheesecake were scarce. In the past, no one would ever have found enough of either of these energy-rich foods to become obese, so a strong desire to eat them evolved, together with little limit beyond a full stomach to stop people eating too much. So it is with music. A brain devoted to turning sound into meaning is tickled by an oversupply of tone, melody and rhythm. Singing is auditory masturbation to satisfy this craving. Playing musical instruments is auditory pornography. Both sate an appetite that is there beyond its strict biological need.
史蒂芬.平克博士的觀點(diǎn)是對音樂就像對奶酪蛋糕一樣，能夠滿足人類的胃口，而大自然則不能。當(dāng)人類對食物的胃口開始進(jìn)化時,糖和脂肪作為奶酪蛋糕的主要配方,其產(chǎn)量還很低。在過去，還沒有人發(fā)現(xiàn)將這兩種物質(zhì)中的任何一種攝取過量會導(dǎo)致肥胖，因此就演化出了想要大量食用這些的胃口，整個胃中都沒有限制人們將這些吃得太多的指令。對音樂也是如此，大腦吸收了過多的音調(diào)，旋律而節(jié)奏，樂此不疲地將聲音轉(zhuǎn)化為含義。歌唱便是滿足這一聽覺渴求的自慰。演奏樂器則是一種聽覺上的調(diào)情。這二者都嚴(yán)格以生物原理上的需要為基礎(chǔ)，有各自的胃口。
Of course, it is a little more complicated than that. People do not have to be taught to like cheesecake or sexy pictures (which, in a telling use of the language, are sometimes also referred to as “cheesecake”). They do, however, have to be taught music in a way that they do not have to be taught language.
當(dāng)然，真實(shí)情況要比這更為復(fù)雜一些。人們在沒有教的情況下就會喜歡奶酪蛋糕和性感圖片（在很多口頭用語中，經(jīng)常是用奶酪蛋糕表示后者的）。不過對音樂，人們還是需要教才能掌握的，這可不像語言不教也能掌握。
Words and music
音樂與文字
Aniruddh Patel, of the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, compares music to writing, another widespread cultural phenomenon connected with language. True language—the spoken languages used by most people and the gestural languages used by the deaf—does not have to be taught in special classes. The whole of a baby’s world is its classroom. It is true that parents make a special effort to talk to their children, but this is as instinctive as a young child’s ability (lost in his early teens) to absorb the stuff and work out its rules without ever being told them explicitly.
來自圣地亞哥神經(jīng)科學(xué)學(xué)會的Aniruddh Patel 將音樂與另一種廣為傳播，且與語言息息相關(guān)的文化現(xiàn)象-----寫作聯(lián)系在了一起。真正的語言-----大多數(shù)人所使用的口頭表達(dá)，耳聾者所使用的手語是無須通過特定的課程教授的。對一個嬰孩來說，課堂就是它的整個世界。誠然，父母會做出特別的努力與他們的孩子展開對話，但幼兒與生俱來的本能（在少年早期喪失）使他們在沒有受到明確指導(dǎo)的情況下就已經(jīng)能夠吸收信息，總結(jié)規(guī)律。
Learning to write, by contrast, is a long-winded struggle that many fail to master even if given the opportunity. Dyslexia, in other words, is common. Moreover, reading and writing must actively be taught, usually by specialists, and evidence for a youthful critical period when this is easier than otherwise is lacking. Both, however, transform an individual’s perception of the world, and for this reason Dr Patel refers to them as “transformative technologies”.
相比之下，學(xué)習(xí)書寫就顯得任重而道遠(yuǎn)了，甚至于許多人即使擁有機(jī)會也未能掌握得很好。換言之，閱讀障礙是很常見的現(xiàn)象。此外，必須對閱讀和寫作實(shí)施主動性的教育，并且通常是請專業(yè)人士擔(dān)任教育者，沒有證據(jù)顯示，在青年時期實(shí)施嚴(yán)格教育要比不在這個時期要容易些。不過這兩種情況都是對個人世界觀的改變?；谶@個理由，Patel 博士將這類教育稱之為“具有改造性的技術(shù)”。
In difficulty of learning, music lies somewhere in between speaking and writing. Most people have some musical ability, but it varies far more than their ability to speak. Dr Patel sees this as evidence to support his idea that music is not an adaptation in the way that language is, but is, instead, a transformative technology. However, that observation also supports the idea that sexual selection is involved, since the whole point is that not everyone will be equally able to perform, or even to learn how to do so.
論掌握的難度，音樂介于說與寫之間。絕大多數(shù)人多少有點(diǎn)音樂方面的能力，只不過論及能力的差異，這方面因人而異的程度要遠(yuǎn)大于說話的能力。Patel博士將其看做是對他理念的一種支持，他認(rèn)為音樂不像語言那樣是一種適應(yīng)能力。而相反，它是一種具有改造性的技術(shù)。不過，既然整個觀點(diǎn)都是在說并非人人在表演方面的能力甚至在學(xué)習(xí)表演上的能力都是相同的，這一觀點(diǎn)也同樣適用于性別選擇。
Do they know it’s Christmas?
他們知道現(xiàn)在是圣誕節(jié)么？
What all of these hypotheses have in common is the ability of music to manipulate the emotions, and this is the most mysterious part of all. That some sounds lead to sadness and others to joy is the nub of all three hypotheses. The singing lover is not merely demonstrating his prowess; he also seeks to change his beloved’s emotions. Partly, that is done by the song’s words, but pure melody can also tug at the heart-strings. The chords of martial music stir different sentiments. A recital of the Monteverdi Vespers or a Vivaldi concerto in St Mark’s cathedral in Venice, the building that inspired Gould to think of the non-role of spandrels, generates emotion pure and simple, disconnected from human striving.
所有的假設(shè)都是建立在一個共同點(diǎn)之上的，即認(rèn)為音樂具有操控情感的能力，這是它在整個體系種最具有神秘色彩的一部分。一些聲音使人傷感，而另一些又使人愉悅，這乃是這三個假說的核心部分。愛唱歌的人表現(xiàn)出來的不僅有他的演唱功力，同時他還力求改變心上人的思想感情。歌曲的歌詞能夠起一部分作用，但純粹的旋律亦能動人心弦。一曲軍樂能激起人的各種情懷；而在威尼斯的圣馬克大教堂聽蒙泰威爾第作品獨(dú)奏會，或是維瓦爾第的協(xié)奏曲時，則會抒發(fā)出純凈，簡樸的情感，而且是毫無人為矯飾的，這一建筑還曾激起古德爾想出the non-role of spandrels.
This is an area that is only beginning to be investigated. Among the pioneers are Patrik Juslin, of Uppsala University, and Daniel Vastfjall, of Gothenburg University, both in Sweden. They believe they have identified six ways that music affects emotion, from triggering reflexes in the brain stem to triggering visual images in the cerebral cortex.
對這一領(lǐng)域的探尋才剛剛開始。其中先鋒人物包括有來自烏普薩拉大學(xué)的Patrik Juslin和哥特堡大學(xué)的Daniel Vastfjall，這兩人都是瑞典人。他們堅(jiān)信他們已經(jīng)確定了音樂影響情感的六種方式，從觸發(fā)腦干產(chǎn)生條件反射到觸發(fā)大腦皮層對視圖的反映。
Such a multiplicity of effects suggests music may be an emergent property of the brain, cobbled together from bits of pre-existing machinery and then, as it were, fine-tuned. So, ironically, everyone may be right—or, at least partly right. Dr Pinker may be right that music was originally an accident and Dr Patel may be right that it transforms people’s perceptions of the world without necessarily being a proper biological phenomenon. But Dr Miller and Dr Dunbar may be right that even if it originally was an accident, it has subsequently been exploited by evolution and made functional.
如此復(fù)雜的效應(yīng)表明，音樂有可能是大腦中意外累積生成的一種產(chǎn)物，原本就存在的體系中因子匯聚在一起，終以謂之協(xié)調(diào)。因此，諷刺的是，大家也許都是對的------ 或者至少算是各執(zhí)牛耳。平克可能是對的，因?yàn)橐魳返脑揪褪桥既欢?；Patel 也可能是對的，因?yàn)橐魳分鴮?shí)在未被定義為相應(yīng)的生物學(xué)現(xiàn)象的前提下改變了人們的世界觀。但是米勒博士和鄧巴博士同樣可能是對的-----即便音樂本身就是出自偶然，起碼爾后它在進(jìn)化中得以大力發(fā)展并行使著功能。
Part of that accident may be the fact that many natural sounds evoke emotion for perfectly good reasons (fear at the howl of a wolf, pleasure at the sound of gently running water, irritation and mother-love at the crying of a child). Sexually selected features commonly rely on such pre-existing perceptual biases. It is probably no coincidence, for instance, that peacocks’ tails have eyespots; animal brains are good at recognising eyes because eyes are found only on other animals. It is pure speculation, but music may be built on emotions originally evolved to respond to important natural sounds, but which have blossomed a hundred-fold.
構(gòu)成這一偶然的一部分內(nèi)容在于許多天然的聲音以完美的理由喚起了人們的感情（聽到狼嚎會產(chǎn)生恐懼，聽到細(xì)水長流會心曠神怡，聽到孩子的哭聲會心煩意亂或者母性大發(fā)）。性別選擇的特性就是基于這些先入為主的感性認(rèn)識而產(chǎn)生的。這也許并不是巧合，比如，孔雀的尾巴上有眼睛一樣的花紋，動物的大腦擅于識別眼睛是因?yàn)樗鼈冎荒茉谄渌鼊游锷砩习l(fā)現(xiàn)眼睛。雖然純屬猜測，但也許音樂產(chǎn)生的基礎(chǔ)，正是人類最初進(jìn)化出來應(yīng)對重要的自然聲響的感情，然而后來卻綻放成滿樹繁花。
The truth, of course, is that nobody yet knows why people respond to music. But, when the carol singers come calling, whether the emotion they induce is joy or pain, you may rest assured that science is trying to work out why.
不用說，事實(shí)是現(xiàn)在尚無人知曉緣何人類會對音樂產(chǎn)生反應(yīng)。當(dāng)頌歌響徹耳際，不論它將人們引入快樂還是悲傷，你可以確信的是科學(xué)正在盡力弄清這一原委。
