Sing. By Sacha Langton-Gilks. Headline Home(英国Headline出版集团旗下的生活类图书品牌); 288 pages; £20
《歌唱》。萨沙·兰顿-吉尔克斯著。Headline Home出版社；288页；20英镑
Singing has provided a soundtrack(配乐；背景音乐) to human history. Songs tell people about their past and their values. Ancient epic(史诗；史诗般的作品)s, which placed societies in mythic time, were sung or chant(吟诵；反复唱)ed. “I sing of arms and the man,” begins Virgil’s “Aeneid”(古罗马史诗《埃涅阿斯纪》，开篇名句“我歌唱战争和人”)—not “I speak.” Singing has long been a way to bind ideological communities, from the hymn-singing early Protestants(早期新教徒，以唱赞美诗凝聚信仰群体) to pro-democracy demonstrators in Belarus(白俄罗斯民主示威者，用歌唱表达政治诉求).
歌唱为人类历史提供了配乐。歌曲向人们讲述过去和价值观。将社会置于神话时代的古代史诗，都是唱出来或吟诵出来的。维吉尔的《埃涅阿斯纪》开篇是“我歌唱战争和人”，而不是“我说”。长期以来，歌唱一直是凝聚意识形态群体的方式，从早期唱赞美诗的新教徒到白俄罗斯的民主示威者，莫不如此。
It can help people at all stages of life. Singing seems to hold babies’ attention, and prevent them from crying, longer than speech. A study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that singing groups were better than playgroups at alleviating severe postnatal depression(产后抑郁症). The act of singing can help rehabilitate(使康复；使恢复正常生活) people who have suffered horrendous(可怕的，骇人的) injuries, including Gabrielle Giffords(美国前女议员，2011年头部中弹后通过音乐疗法恢复语言能力), an American congresswoman who was shot in the head in 2011. (Music therapy helped her recover verbal fluency(语言流畅性).)
歌唱能在人生的各个阶段帮助人们。相比说话，唱歌似乎更能吸引婴儿的注意力，让他们更久不哭。发表在《英国精神病学杂志》上的一项研究发现，歌唱小组在缓解严重产后抑郁方面比游戏小组更有效。唱歌还能帮助遭受可怕创伤的人康复，包括2011年头部中弹的美国女议员加布里埃尔·吉福兹。（音乐疗法帮助她恢复了语言流畅性。）