Music lessons in early childhood lead to changes in the brain that could improve its performance far into adulthood，researchers say.
Brain scans of young adults showed that those who had formal musical training before the age of seven had thicker brain regions that deal with hearing and self-awareness.The findings stress how brain development can be influenced by the age when children start to learn a musical instrument，and how those changes can go into later life.
"Early musical training does more good to kids than just making it easier for them to enjoy music.It changes the brain and these brain changes could lead to cognitive（認知的）development as well，"said Wang Yunxin of Beijing Normal University.
"Our results suggest it might be better to start musical training before age seven，which agrees with what most piano teachers suggested，"she added.
Wang designed the study to try to find out whether musical training early on in life had any lasting effect on the structure of the brain.She hoped the results might help parents decide what time was best for their children to learn an instrument.
The brain's cortex（皮層）plays a main role in scores of important abilities，from thought and language to memory and attention.The region matures rapidly in the early years of life，and its development could be affected more if a person starts musical training before it fully matures.
Wang studied 48 Han Chinese aged between 19 and 21 who had received formal music training for at least a year sometime between the ages of 3 and 15.After considering gender and the number of years spent having music lessons，Wang found that musical training that was started before the age of seven appeared to thicken areas of the brain involved in language skills and executive function，which is a person's ability to plan and carry out tasks.She presented the results at the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.
（1）A boy with thicker brain regions means he
B
B
.
A．takes great interest in learning music
B．may be good at hearing and self-awareness
C．used to be excellent in his hearing ability
D．is sure to have a great future in music
（2）What does Wang Yunxin suggest in the passage？
A
A
A．Children should be provided with music education in time.
B．The structure of the brain is too complex to understand.
C．Piano teachers will give parents more valuable advice.
D．Music can make a child equipped with best intelligence.
（3）What can be concluded from the passage？
C
C
A．A person's ability mostly relies on music education.
B．Musical training can help parents control their children.
C．Music lessons should be given more attention.
D．Schools must spend a lot of time on music.
