絶対音感は大人になってからでも身につく？ 中国や日本の音大生に多い理由と、大人の訓練実験

Q1. What is the passage mainly about?

1. AHow to buy a piano
2. BAbsolute pitch and who has it
3. CWhy music lessons are expensive
4. DThe history of music schools in Japan

絶対音感とは何か、どんな人が持っているか、大人でも身につくかを述べているので B。

Q2. How many music students in the Japanese study had absolute pitch?

1. A1 in 10,000
2. B6 percent
3. C30 percent
4. D43 percent

30 percent of music students had it とあるので C。1万人に1人未満はアメリカやヨーロッパの推定。

Q3. In this passage, "name" in "name a note" is closest in meaning to ...

1. Aforget
2. Bsay what it is
3. Csing loudly
4. Dwrite a song

name は動詞で「名前を言う、言い当てる」。音を聞いて「それはソ」と言えることなので B。

Q1. Why does the writer mention the word "ma"?

1. ATo teach a Chinese greeting
2. BTo show how pitch changes meaning in a tone language
3. CTo explain how to sing in Chinese
4. DTo compare Chinese and Japanese grammar

「マー」は声の高さの違いで「母」にも「ののしる」にもなる例で、声調言語では音の高さが意味を変えることを示しているので B。

Q2. What was different about the Japanese students?

1. AThey spoke a tone language.
2. BThey started music earlier.
3. CThey trained for 40 hours as adults.
4. DThey studied in Poland.

The Japanese students had started music earlier とあるので B。日本語は声調言語ではないと書かれている。

Q3. What can we infer from the passage?

1. AOnly people who speak Mandarin can have absolute pitch.
2. BEarly music lessons and language may both play a part in absolute pitch.
3. CAdults can never learn absolute pitch.
4. DAmerican students practice less than Chinese students.

中国の例では声調言語が、日本の例では早い音楽経験が関わっていそうだと述べているので B。大人でも6人が身につけたので C は誤り。

Q1. What is the main idea of the passage?

1. AAbsolute pitch depends only on genes.
2. BLanguage, early training and even adult practice all seem to affect absolute pitch.
3. CPolish music students are better than Japanese students.
4. DAbsolute pitch is equally common everywhere.

中国の声調言語、日本の早期教育、大人の訓練の研究を順に紹介しているので B。

Q2. Why can the percentages from different studies not be compared directly?

1. ABecause the studies used different cutoffs
2. BBecause the students were too young
3. CBecause the tests were not done on site
4. DBecause the studies were done in different years

Because each study set its own cutoff, the percentages cannot be compared directly とあるので A。

Q3. Why does the writer say "Japan complicates the story"?

1. ABecause Japanese students refused the test
2. BBecause Japan has many absolute pitch holders even though Japanese is not a tone language
3. CBecause Japanese is a tone language like Mandarin
4. DBecause Japanese students started music later than Polish students

声調言語で説明する話に対し、日本の音大生にも絶対音感が多く、早期の訓練が関わっていたことを示しているので B。D は本文（2年以上早く始めた）と逆。