新概念英语第四册Lesson 19 The stuff of dreams

Lesson 19
The stuff of dreams
话说梦的本质

First listen and then answer the following question.
听录音，然后回答以下问题。

What is going on when a person experiences rapid eye-movements during sleep?

It is fairly clear that sleeping period must have some function, and because there is so much of it the function would seem to e important. Speculations² about is nature have been going on for literally³ thousands of years, and one odd finding that makes the problem puzzling is that it looks very much as if sleeping is not simply a matter of giving the body a rest. 'Rest', in terms of muscle relaxation⁴ and so on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down. The body's tissues are self-repairing and self-restoring to a degree, and function best when more or less continuously active. In fact a basic amount of movement occurs during sleep which is specifically concerned with preventing muscle inactivity.
If it is not a question of resting the body, then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting? This might be a plausible⁵ hypothesis were it not for two factors. First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording⁶ the electrical activity of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp) shows that while there is a change in the pattern of activity during sleep, there is no evidence that the total amount of activity is any less. The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental. Some years ago an American psychiatrist⁷ named William Dement published experiments dealing⁸ with the recording of eye-movements during sleep. He showed that the average individual's sleep cycle is punctuated¹⁰ with peculiar¹¹ bursts of eye-movements, some drifting and slow, others jerky and rapid. People woken during these periods of eye-movements generally reported that they had been dreaming. When woken at other times they reported no dreams. If one group of people were disturbed from their eye-movement sleep for several nights on end, and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they were no exhibiting eye-movements, the first group began to show some personality disorders¹³ while the others seemed more or less unaffected. The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance¹⁴ of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.
CHRISTOPHER EVANS The stuff of dreams from The Listener

New words and expressions 生词和短语
speculation¹
n. 推测
literally
adv. 确实
odd
adj. 奇特的
tissue
n. 组织
plausible
adj. 似乎有理的
hypothesis
n. 假说
electroencephalograph
n. 脑电图仪
electrode
n. 电极
scalp
n. 头皮
psychiatrist
n. 精神病学家
punctuate⁹
v. 不时介入
jerky
adj. 急动的
disorder¹²
n. 失调
implication
n. 表明

参考译文
很清楚，睡眠必然具有某种作用。睡眠占去那么多时间，所以其作用似乎还是很重要。人们对睡眠作用的种种猜测，确实有数千年之久。一项使人对这个问题感到困惑的奇怪的发现是，睡眠在很大程度似乎并不仅仅是为了使身体得到休息。“休息”，从使肌肉得到放松等方面来看，只要稍微躺一躺，甚至坐一坐就能达到。人体组织在一定程度上有自我修补和自我恢复的能力，有张有弛地连续活动时，其功能最佳。事实上，睡眠状态下仍有着基本的活动量，以防止肌肉活动停止。
如果睡眠的功能不是在于使身体得到休息，那么也许是让大脑得以休息？若不是下面两点，这种假使似乎是有道理的。第一点，脑电图记录仪（不过是一种把电极接到头皮上记录脑电活动的仪器）显示，人在睡眠时大脑活动的方式有变化，但没有迹象表明，其活动总量有任何减少。第二点更有意思，也更重要。前些年，美国一位精神病学者发表了一篇报告，报告中记录了眼球在睡眠时的活动情况。他指出，平常人的睡眠周期中不时伴有一阵阵奇怪的眼球队活动，这些活动有的飘忽而缓慢，有的急剧而快速。在眼球活动期间被叫醒的人都说自己在做梦；在其他期间叫醒他们，则说没有做梦。如果有两组人，一组人连续几夜在眼球队活动时被叫醒；另一组人也是连续几夜被叫醒，但是在眼球队没活动时被叫醒的。结果，第一组人开始出现性格失常，而第二组人似乎没受什么影响。这一切暗示我们：睡眠受到干忧没关系，而做梦受到干忧是有问题的。

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1 speculation   

n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机

参考例句：

• Her mind is occupied with speculation.她的头脑忙于思考。
• There is widespread speculation that he is going to resign.人们普遍推测他要辞职。

2 speculations   

n.投机买卖( speculation的名词复数 )；思考；投机活动；推断

参考例句：

• Your speculations were all quite close to the truth. 你的揣测都很接近于事实。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• This possibility gives rise to interesting speculations. 这种可能性引起了有趣的推测。 来自《用法词典》

3 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

4 relaxation   

n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐

参考例句：

• The minister has consistently opposed any relaxation in the law.部长一向反对法律上的任何放宽。
• She listens to classical music for relaxation.她听古典音乐放松。

5 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

6 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

7 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

8 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

9 punctuate   

vt.加标点于；不时打断

参考例句：

• The pupils have not yet learned to punctuate correctly.小学生尚未学会正确使用标点符号。
• Be sure to punctuate your sentences with the correct marks in the right places.一定要在你文章句子中的正确地方标上正确的标点符号。

10 punctuated   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的过去式和过去分词 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

• Her speech was punctuated by bursts of applause. 她的讲演不时被阵阵掌声打断。
• The audience punctuated his speech by outbursts of applause. 听众不时以阵阵掌声打断他的讲话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

12 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

13 disorders   

n.混乱( disorder的名词复数 )；凌乱；骚乱；（身心、机能）失调

参考例句：

• Reports of anorexia and other eating disorders are on the increase. 据报告，厌食症和其他饮食方面的功能紊乱发生率正在不断增长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The announcement led to violent civil disorders. 这项宣布引起剧烈的骚乱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。