时差N小时 大脑是静止的还是变化的?(上)

Scientists used to think that for all its complexity¹, the brain was pretty static.

科学家们过去常常认为，大脑因为其复杂性而呈现出静止状态。

Once the brain matured, it essentially² stopped growing and changing.

一旦成熟，大脑基本上就会停止生长和变化。

And when neurons, or brain cells, were lost or damaged, they were gone for good.

当神经元或大脑细胞丢失或损坏时，大脑就会坏死掉。

But recent discoveries have caused neuroscientists to change their tune³.

但是最近的发现让神经学家改变了看法。

The human brain is anything but static-in fact, it's constantly growing and changing as it adapts to new information and circumstances.

人类的大脑绝不是静止的，事实上，它是随着对新信息和新环境的适应不断生长和变化的。

For example, scientists now know that there's a mechanism⁴ in the hippocampus a brain part involved with memory, among other things that gives birth to new brain cells.

举个例子来说，现在科学家们知道大脑内存在一种叫做海马体的记忆机制，可以产成新的大脑细胞。

Scientists don't know exactly why the brain makes new cells or what the cells do.

但是，科学家们不能确切地知道大脑为什么能生成新细胞，而这些细胞又能做什么。

They may have something to do with forming memories, or be used to replace dead or damaged cells.

它们可能和形成记忆有关，或者被用于代替老去或损坏的细胞。

1 complexity   

n.复杂(性)，复杂的事物

参考例句：

• Only now did he understand the full complexity of the problem.直到现在他才明白这一问题的全部复杂性。
• The complexity of the road map puzzled me.错综复杂的公路图把我搞糊涂了。

2 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

3 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

4 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。