英语听力精选进阶版 7177

Background:美国加利福尼亚州的研究人员最近称，在不久的将来很可能会出现能精确记录人类梦境的技术。这种技术还可以记录人类大脑的活动。

The idea of a machine recording¹ dreams sounds fanciful but a research team in California is to explore whether it might be possible - at least in a limited way.

A study by the team suggests that the activity of individual brain cells, or neurons, is associated with specific objects: for example when a volunteer was thinking of the actress Marilyn Monroe - a particular neuron lit up.

By showing volunteers a series of images the team was able to identify neurons associated with a wide range of objects and concepts².

The next step for the researchers is to see whether they can make sense of the brain waves of sleeping volunteers and if so whether they correlate³ with the accounts of the volunteers actual dreams.

Glossary⁴ 词汇表

fanciful 富于幻想的 

to explore 探索，研究 

brain cell 脑细胞 

neuron 神经细胞 

to light up （使）兴奋起来 

volunteer 志愿者 

associated with 与…相联系 

to make sense of 讲得通，解释清楚 

to correlate with 相互关联影响 

account of 故事，叙述

Questions and Answers

Why do scientists think that a dream machine is possible? 

Scientists found out that some brain cells become more active when people see particular objects.

What did scientists do to find out what brain cell is linked to which object? 

They showed volunteers different pictures and observed brain activity.

What do scientists want to do next? 

They want to know if it's possible to match brain waves with specific dreams.

True or False: The thought of Marilyn Monroe made a participant go to sleep. 

False. It made a particular neuron in a participant's brain more active.

1 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。

2 concepts   

n.概念( concept的名词复数 )；观念；想法；总的印象

参考例句：

• He speaks in concepts rather than specifics. 他讲话时尽用抽象概念，而不谈具体。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The word "beauty" comprehends various concepts. “美”这个词包括许多概念。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 correlate   

n.相互关联的事物；v.（with，to）（使）互相关联

参考例句：

• These figures seem to correlate.这些数字看来是相关的。
• Research workers find it hard to correlate the two sets of figures.研究人员发现很难使这两组数字互相关连。

4 glossary   

n.注释词表；术语汇编

参考例句：

• The text is supplemented by an adequate glossary.正文附有一个详细的词汇表。
• For convenience,we have also provided a glossary in an appendix.为了方便，我们在附录中也提供了术语表。