Lesson 23 The Stuff of Dreams 說夢話的本質(zhì)
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. Speculations about its nature have been going on for literally 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 relaxation 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 plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors. First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording 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 psychiatrist named William Dement published experiments dealing with the recording of eye-movements during sleep. He showed that the average individual's sleep cycle is punctuated with peculiar 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 disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected. The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming. speculation n. 推測 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. 確實 literal / literature / literate / illiterate / illiteracy / antiilliteracy literal translation 直譯法 free translation /paraphrase , I am here today and gone tomorrow. word to word 逐字翻譯法 strict The children are literally hungry. 孩子們真的餓了。(ambiguous sentence) odd a. 奇特的 eccentricity / eccentric , oddity / eccentricity , odd month 大月 leap month 閏月 /even month 小月 , bizarre/ weird / 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. 組織 (纖維,神經(jīng),肌肉…組織) face tissue 面巾紙 plausible n. 似乎有理的 ;區(qū)別 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 / persuasive hypothesis n. 假說 thesis / theory , hypo/ under hypotension 低血壓 ,hypocritical, hypocrite 偽君子 hyper , hypertension 高血壓 ,hypercritical/picky/finicky 太挑剔 hypersensitive 過敏 I am hypersensitive to beef /
alcohol. electroencephalograph n. 腦電圖儀 electro / encephalo / graph , encephalitis electrode n. 電極 lightning rod 避雷針 scalp n. 頭皮 skull 頭顱 , have the scalp of sb. 取勝某人 psychiatrist n. 精神病學家 psychology punctuate vt. 不時介入 punctuate the passage 給段落加注標點 ,punctuation 標點符號 He punctuates in our talk. butt in 插句話 punctual / on the dot / in good time / puncture/ acupuncture jerky a. 急動的 jerk 煩/bore / trial / nuisance snore / How he snores! What a jerk / bore / trial / nuisance on end 連續(xù)不斷地 I have been learning English for a month on end. It has been raining for three days on end. disorder n. 失調(diào) order , mental disorder , nervous / nerve war disorderly , disorderly house / casino / gambling 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 相當 I am rather sad. rather clouding It is fairly sunny. He is fairly handsome. He is rather mean. 3. some : certain
4. nature : 本質(zhì)
5. literally: actually
6. dream telling / dream teller / fortune teller / palm reader
7. looks as if 看起來像
8. overthrow our former hypothesis *了我們以前的論點
9. a brief period of…
10. to a degree : to some extent / in a sense Everybody is self-repairing. muscle stretch / flexibility / spring / elastic self-correcting / self-adjusting
11. when more or less continuously active. 省略了主語tissues 和謂語are 如果出現(xiàn) when / if / though 句型做狀語從句,而主句的主,謂語與從句主,謂語相同,則從句的主,謂語可以省略。I got to the school though (I was) late.
12. be concerned with : be about be concerned about
13. might be 表示虛擬語氣 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 連接 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. ogle , I ogle her.
21. exhibiting : showing
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. Speculations about its nature have been going on for literally 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 relaxation 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 plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors. First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording 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 psychiatrist named William Dement published experiments dealing with the recording of eye-movements during sleep. He showed that the average individual's sleep cycle is punctuated with peculiar 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 disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected. The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming. speculation n. 推測 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. 確實 literal / literature / literate / illiterate / illiteracy / antiilliteracy literal translation 直譯法 free translation /paraphrase , I am here today and gone tomorrow. word to word 逐字翻譯法 strict The children are literally hungry. 孩子們真的餓了。(ambiguous sentence) odd a. 奇特的 eccentricity / eccentric , oddity / eccentricity , odd month 大月 leap month 閏月 /even month 小月 , bizarre/ weird / 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. 組織 (纖維,神經(jīng),肌肉…組織) face tissue 面巾紙 plausible n. 似乎有理的 ;區(qū)別 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 / persuasive hypothesis n. 假說 thesis / theory , hypo/ under hypotension 低血壓 ,hypocritical, hypocrite 偽君子 hyper , hypertension 高血壓 ,hypercritical/picky/finicky 太挑剔 hypersensitive 過敏 I am hypersensitive to beef /
alcohol. electroencephalograph n. 腦電圖儀 electro / encephalo / graph , encephalitis electrode n. 電極 lightning rod 避雷針 scalp n. 頭皮 skull 頭顱 , have the scalp of sb. 取勝某人 psychiatrist n. 精神病學家 psychology punctuate vt. 不時介入 punctuate the passage 給段落加注標點 ,punctuation 標點符號 He punctuates in our talk. butt in 插句話 punctual / on the dot / in good time / puncture/ acupuncture jerky a. 急動的 jerk 煩/bore / trial / nuisance snore / How he snores! What a jerk / bore / trial / nuisance on end 連續(xù)不斷地 I have been learning English for a month on end. It has been raining for three days on end. disorder n. 失調(diào) order , mental disorder , nervous / nerve war disorderly , disorderly house / casino / gambling 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 相當 I am rather sad. rather clouding It is fairly sunny. He is fairly handsome. He is rather mean. 3. some : certain
4. nature : 本質(zhì)
5. literally: actually
6. dream telling / dream teller / fortune teller / palm reader
7. looks as if 看起來像
8. overthrow our former hypothesis *了我們以前的論點
9. a brief period of…
10. to a degree : to some extent / in a sense Everybody is self-repairing. muscle stretch / flexibility / spring / elastic self-correcting / self-adjusting
11. when more or less continuously active. 省略了主語tissues 和謂語are 如果出現(xiàn) when / if / though 句型做狀語從句,而主句的主,謂語與從句主,謂語相同,則從句的主,謂語可以省略。I got to the school though (I was) late.
12. be concerned with : be about be concerned about
13. might be 表示虛擬語氣 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 連接 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. ogle , I ogle her.
21. exhibiting : showing