新概念英语85年上外美音版第四册 第23课

　　Lesson 23 The Stuff of Dreams 说梦话的本质
It is fairly clear that the sleeping period must have some function, and because there is so much of it the function would seem to be important. Speculations² about its 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. In l960 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 not 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.
speculation¹  n. 推测 speculate , predict   ; speculation: without a complete knowledge  / predict: based on solid foundation
.
I can predict in the near future there will be new type of mobilephone that is visible mobilephone.
speculate about/on sth. in stocks/ speculator
literally  ad. 确实 literal / literature / literate¹⁵ / illiterate¹⁶ / illiteracy¹⁷ / antiilliteracy
literal translation 直译法 free translation /paraphrase , I am here today and gone tomorrow.
word to word 逐字翻译法 strict
The children are literally hungry. 孩子们真的饿了。(ambiguous sentence)
odd  a. 奇特的 eccentricity¹⁸ / eccentric   ,  oddity / eccentricity , odd month 大月
leap month 闰月 /even month 小月  ， bizarre/ weird¹⁹ / outlandish 怪
in terms of … 就…而言 In terms of our family, we would like to go on an outing .
As for … with regard to
regarding in respect of / as for
tissue  n. 组织 （纤维，神经，肌肉…组织） face tissue 面巾纸
plausible  n. 似乎有理的   ；区别 reasonable .  plausible : seemingly to
What you said is reasonable. I will accept it.
What you said is plausible, but it is not very practical nowadays.
convincing / persuasive²⁰
hypothesis  n. 假说  thesis / theory  ,  hypo/ under
hypotension 低血压 ，hypocritical， hypocrite 伪君子
hyper  ,  hypertension 高血压 ，hypercritical/picky/finicky 太挑剔 hypersensitive 过敏 I am hypersensitive to beef /
alcohol.
electroencephalograph  n. 脑电图仪 electro / encephalo / graph , encephalitis
electrode  n. 电极 lightning rod 避雷针
scalp  n. 头皮 skull²¹ 头颅 ， have the scalp of sb. 取胜某人
psychiatrist  n. 精神病学家 psychology²²
punctuate⁹ vt. 不时介入 punctuate the passage 给段落加注标点 ，punctuation²³ 标点符号
He punctuates²⁴ in our talk.
butt²⁵ in 插句话
punctual / on the dot / in good time / puncture/ acupuncture²⁶
jerky  a. 急动的 jerk 烦/bore / trial / nuisance  snore / How he snores!
What a jerk / bore / trial / nuisance
on end  连续不断地 I have been learning English for a month on end.
It has been raining for three days on end.
disorder¹²  n. 失调 order , mental disorder , nervous / nerve war
disorderly , disorderly house / casino / gambling²⁷ house
legal / handcuffs / Las Vegas / in rags / as poor as a church mouse
implication  n. 表明 imply , What does the second speaker imply ?
You said it. / You can say it again.
explicate
1. sweet dream / nightmare / nightmarish experience / dream a dream
die a glorious death
live a comfortable life
tie a tie
2. fairly 相当  I am rather sad.  rather clouding
It is fairly sunny.  He is fairly handsome. He is rather mean.
3. some : certain
4. nature : 本质
5. literally: actually
6. dream telling / dream teller²⁸ / fortune teller / palm reader
7. looks as if 看起来像
8. overthrow²⁹ our former hypothesis 推翻了我们以前的论点
9. a brief period of…
10. to a degree : to some extent / in a sense
Everybody is self-repairing.
muscle stretch / flexibility³⁰ / spring / elastic³¹ self-correcting / self-adjusting
11. when more or less continuously active. 省略了主语tissues 和谓语are
如果出现 when / if / though 句型做状语从句，而主句的主，谓语与从句主，谓语相同，则从句的主，谓语可以省略。I got to the school though (I was) late.
12. be concerned with : be about  be concerned about
13. might be 表示虚拟语气 were it not = if it were not
for : because but for 若不是
If it were not for his timely help, I would not survive.
But for his timely help, I would not survive.
14. attaching 连接 attaching to
15. pattern : type lie flat / lie on one’s side / lie on stomach
16. Brain is the center / headquarter
17. fundamental 基本 significant / important The brain does not rest.
18. dealing with : be concerned with
19. average : common
20. ogle³²  , I ogle her.
21. exhibiting : showing　　

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。

15 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

16 illiterate   

adj.文盲的；无知的；n.文盲

参考例句：

• There are still many illiterate people in our country.在我国还有许多文盲。
• I was an illiterate in the old society,but now I can read.我这个旧社会的文盲，今天也认字了。

17 illiteracy   

n.文盲

参考例句：

• It is encouraging to read that illiteracy is declining.从读报中了解文盲情况正在好转，这是令人鼓舞的。
• We must do away with illiteracy.我们必须扫除文盲。

18 eccentricity   

n.古怪，反常，怪癖

参考例句：

• I can't understand the eccentricity of Henry's behavior.我不理解亨利的古怪举止。
• His eccentricity had become legendary long before he died.在他去世之前他的古怪脾气就早已闻名遐尔了。

19 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

20 persuasive   

adj.有说服力的，能说得使人相信的

参考例句：

• His arguments in favour of a new school are very persuasive.他赞成办一座新学校的理由很有说服力。
• The evidence was not really persuasive enough.证据并不是太有说服力。

21 skull   

n.头骨；颅骨

参考例句：

• The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
• He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去，跌裂了颅骨。

22 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

23 punctuation   

n.标点符号，标点法

参考例句：

• My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
• A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。

24 punctuates   

v.（在文字中）加标点符号，加标点( punctuate的第三人称单数 )；不时打断某事物

参考例句：

25 butt   

n.笑柄；烟蒂；枪托；臀部；v.用头撞或顶

参考例句：

• The water butt catches the overflow from this pipe.大水桶盛接管子里流出的东西。
• He was the butt of their jokes.他是他们的笑柄。

26 acupuncture   

n.针灸，针刺法，针疗法

参考例句：

• Written records show that acupuncture dates back to the Song Dynasty.文字记载表明，宋朝就已经有了针灸。
• It's known that acupuncture originated in China.众所周知，针灸起源于中国。

27 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

28 teller   

n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员

参考例句：

• The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
• The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。

29 overthrow   

v.推翻，打倒，颠覆；n.推翻，瓦解，颠覆

参考例句：

• After the overthrow of the government,the country was in chaos.政府被推翻后，这个国家处于混乱中。
• The overthrow of his plans left him much discouraged.他的计划的失败使得他很气馁。

30 flexibility   

n.柔韧性，弹性，（光的）折射性，灵活性

参考例句：

• Her great strength lies in her flexibility.她的优势在于她灵活变通。
• The flexibility of a man's muscles will lessen as he becomes old.人老了肌肉的柔韧性将降低。

31 elastic   

n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的

参考例句：

• Rubber is an elastic material.橡胶是一种弹性材料。
• These regulations are elastic.这些规定是有弹性的。

32 ogle   

v.看；送秋波；n.秋波，媚眼

参考例句：

• He likes to ogle at the pretty girls.他爱盯着漂亮的女孩子。
• All she did was hang around ogling the men in the factory.她所做的就只是在工厂里荡来荡去，朝男人抛媚眼。