Reading Aloud – New York Times

the Harvard sentences These are hundreds of sentences that have been used for many decades to test technologies where speech understanding is necessary, such as telephone systems and hearing aids. I recently came across the list and was blown away by it.

Some sample sentences: It is easy to know the depth of a well. The pigs were fed chopped corn and litter. Help the woman get back on her feet. The more effort he puts in, the less he gets done. She caught her back paw in a rusty snare. Write a beautiful message to your friend whom you cherish. Most news is easy for us to hear.

These sentences were not chosen for their meaning but for their “phonetic balance,” by the way The frequency of sounds is similar to spoken language. They are tools, not advice or koans. But when I read it, I felt moved as if I was reading a poem. I found a site where you can Listen to people read the sentences in different accents and tried to see if it was possible to hear a series of lines out loud without putting together the meaning. These narrators were particularly skilled at reading without affect, but it would be impossible to listen to even the least emotional person reading: “The stray cat gave birth to kittens. The girl made no intelligible reply. The meal was cooked before the bell rang. How sweet it is to live, and no You discover some poetry.

Is there a person on earth who does not like to be read to? Children get reading time every night if they are lucky, but once we know how to read we usually do it ourselves. Last year I wrote about it Audio books as bedtime stories for adultsHow can they tap into that desire that perhaps lurks in all of us, the desire to treat our sleep as a project worthy of persuasion and guardianship? Every few months you let me Joseph Brodsky reading his poem “Song” Soothe me to sleep. Recently, a friend of mine and I read other parts of Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself.” Reading to someone is different from just talking to them. Words are not yours, so you don’t have ideas or meaning, only communication. You are free to interpret and perform. It is a shared, intimate process of discovery, but, unlike conversation, the content comes from a third party. It’s about connection and it’s also about consuming art together, whether that art is a poem or “The Polar Express” or a novel from which you and your lover read alternating chapters to each other while you cook dinner.

There are many ways it can be read now, if that’s your thing. Audiobooks, articles narrated by people and artificial intelligence, recordings of author appearances in libraries, and yes, WAV files of strangely apathetic people muttering Harvard sentences into the void. There’s nothing I love more than reading alone, or listening to a book alone during a long car ride. But maybe you can still make the effort to read and be read by the people in your life. It’s comfortable. It’s strange and exciting if you’re used to reading as a solitary activity. You live in your head all the time with your narrating voice. It’s so nice to hear someone else tell stories for a change.

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Week in culture

film

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Cultural calendar

🎥 “The Best Man” (now): In Britain, Robbie Williams is a national treasure. The lyrics to his songs “Angels” and “Rock DJ” are seared into almost everyone’s minds, and his boy band, Take That, was so popular that when they broke up in the 1990s, a charity set up a helpline to offer advice. Stunned fans. But the press tour for this film revealed this to me Many Americans don’t know who he is. Learn Williams’ story in Better Man, a biopic from the director of The Greatest Showman, in which Williams is presented as a computer-generated president. (Wild.)

Recipe of the week

Jeddah chocolate

Some weekends are devoted to long, meditative cooking projects. If this is what you’re looking for, look no further than my recipe Jeddah chocolate. Yes, it will take you all weekend, but that’s exactly the point. After all the kneading, lifting, rolling and filling, you’ll end up with two gorgeous streusel-topped loaves — one for you, and one to give to anyone who needs some sweet cheer. Babka freezes well, too, which means you can save some for future satiations of the fuzzier kind.

Sick or injured abroad? Read what you need to know.

health: takes Better care for your heart this year.

TIP FROM WIRECUTTER

Replace your shower head

Replacing your old, dripping shower head with a new, high-performance model is one of the simplest and most satisfying upgrades you can make for your home. Any good upgrade will likely be an upgrade to the one you inherited when you moved in – especially if it’s more than a decade old. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. At Wirecutter’s The quest to find the best shower headOur testers left us a little surprised. An inexpensive model caught our attention from the moment we tried it, becoming our top pick for its easy installation, sleek design, and great flow. — Tim Heffernan

Game of the week

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder, NBA: Cleveland has the best offense in the league. Oklahoma City has the best defense. Both have great historical records. What happens when they collide? This week, the Cavaliers defeated the Thunder, 129-122, in a game considered the best of the NBA season. (The athlete Zach Harper called it “Some of the best basketball I’ve seen in a decade.”) Fortunately for fans, a rematch is only a few days away — this time in Oklahoma City. Thursdays at 7:30pm EST on TNT