The Harvard sentences are hundreds of sentences that have been used for decades to test technologies where speech understanding is critical, such as telephone systems and hearing aids. I recently came across the list and was blown away.
Some example sentences: It is easy to determine the depth of a well. The pigs were fed chopped corn and garbage. Help the woman get back on her feet. The more he tried, the less he succeeded. He got his hind paw stuck in a rusty trap. Write a nice message to a friend you appreciate. Most of the news is easy to hear.
These sentences were not chosen for their meaning, but for their “phonetic balance”, or manner their frequency of sounds is similar to spoken language. They are tools, not advice or koans. But reading them I felt moved like when I read a poem. I found a site where you can listen to people read sentences different accents and tried to see if it was possible to hear a series of lines out loud without them picking up meaning. These tellers were particularly adept at reading without affect, but it is impossible to listen to even the least emotional person recite: “A stray cat has given birth to kittens. The young girl did not give a clear answer. The meal was cooked before the bell. What joy there is in life”, and not to discover a bit of poetry.
Is there a person in the world who does not like to be read to? Children have a story, every night if they’re lucky, but when we learn to read, we usually do it on our own. Last year I wrote about audiobooks as bedtime stories for adultshow can I take advantage of that desire that may be dormant in all of us, the desire to treat our sleep as a project worth persuading and caring for. Every few months I release Joseph Brodsky reads his poem “Song” put me to sleep Recently, a friend and I were reading parts of Walt Whitman’s “Poem of Myself” to each other. Reading to someone is different from simply talking to them. Words are not yours, so you do not own thoughts or meaning, only communication. You are free to interpret, perform. It is a process of shared discovery, intimate, but unlike a conversation, the content comes from a third party. It’s about connecting and also about consuming art together, whether that art is a poem or “The Polar Express” or a novel that you and your significant other take turns reading chapters to each other while cooking dinner.
Now there are so many ways to be read to, if that’s what you like. Audiobooks, articles narrated by humans and artificial intelligence, recordings of author appearances in bookstores, and yes, WAV files of oddly blasé people mumbling Harvard sentences into space. There are few things I love more than reading alone or listening to a book alone on a long car ride. But maybe make an effort to read and have the people in your life read to you. It’s pleasant. It’s weird and exciting if you’re used to reading as a solo activity. You live in your head the whole time with your voice as the narrator. It’s so nice to hear someone else tell stories for a change.
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A WEEK IN CULTURE
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CALENDAR OF CULTURE
🎥 “A Better Man” (out now): in Britain, Robbie Williams is something of a national treasure. The lyrics to his songs “Angels” and “Rock DJ” are etched into everyone’s brains, and his boy band, Take That, was so popular that after it broke up in the 1990s, the charity set up a helpline for distraught fans. However, the press tour for this film revealed it to me many Americans do not know who he is. Get to know Williams’ story in “A Better Man,” a biopic of the director of “The Greatest Showman,” in which Williams is portrayed as a computer-generated primate. (Wild.)
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
Chocolate Grandma
Some weekends are made for long, meditative cooking projects. If that’s what you’re looking for, look no further than my recipe chocolate babka. Yes, it will take up your entire weekend, but that’s the point. After all your mixing and rising, rolling and filling, you’ll have two beautiful streusel-topped loaves — one for you, one to give to anyone in need of a sweet treat. Babka also freezes well, meaning you could save some for future pleasure of the sweetest kind.
Sick or injured abroad? Read what you need to know.
Health: take take better care of your heart this year.
TIP FROM THE CABLE CAR
Replace the shower head
Replacing a boring old shower head with a new, high-performance model is one of the easiest and most satisfying upgrades you can make to your home. Any good is likely to be an upgrade over the one you inherited when you moved into your place—especially if it’s more than a decade old. And it doesn’t have to cost a lot. In Wirecutter the quest to find the best shower headour testing surprised us a little. The budget model caught our attention from the moment we tried it and became our top pick due to its easy installation, sleek design and fantastic 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 historically great records. What happens when they collide? This week, the Cavs outlasted the Thunder 129-122, in a game that was declared the best of the NBA season. (Athletic’s Zach Harper called it “some of the best basketball you’ve seen in a decade.”) Luckily for fans, the rematch is just days away — this time in Oklahoma City. Thursday at 7:30pm Eastern on TNT
NOW IT’S GAME TIME
