新概念英語第四冊
Lesson 19 The stuff of dreams
1 . 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,第一點，腦電圖記錄儀（不過是一種把電極接到頭皮上記錄腦電活動的儀器）顯示，人在睡眠時大腦活動的方式有變化，
2 . Speculations about is nature have been going on for literally thousands of years,人們對睡眠作用的種種猜測，確實有數千年之久。
3 . the first group began to show some personality disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected.結果，第一組人開始出現性格失常，而第二組人似乎沒受什麼影響。
4 . If one group of people were disturbed from their eye-movement sleep for several nights on end,如果有兩組人，一組人連續幾夜在眼球隊活動時被叫醒；
5 . The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental.第二點更有意思，也更重要。
6 . He showed that the average individual's sleep cycle is punctuated with peculiar bursts of eye-movements,他指出，平常人的睡眠週期中不時伴有一陣陣奇怪的眼球隊活動，
7 . It is fairly clear that sleeping period must have some function,很清楚，睡眠必然具有某種作用。
8 . 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.一項使人對這個問題感到困惑的奇怪的發現是，睡眠在很大程度似乎並不僅僅是為了使身體得到休息。
9 . and because there is so much of it the function would seem to e important.睡眠佔去那麼多時間，所以其作用似乎還是很重要。
10 . 'Rest', in terms of muscle relaxation and so on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down.「休息」，從使肌肉得到放鬆等方面來看，只要稍微躺一躺，甚至坐一坐就能達到。
11 . People woken during these periods of eye-movements generally reported that they had been dreaming.在眼球活動期間被叫醒的人都說自己在做夢；
12 . there is no evidence that the total amount of activity is any less.但沒有跡象表明，其活動總量有任何減少。
13 . When woken at other times they reported no dreams.在其他期間叫醒他們，則說沒有做夢。
14 . The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.睡眠受到干憂沒關係，而做夢受到干憂是有問題的。
15 . In fact a basic amount of movement occurs during sleep which is specifically concerned with preventing muscle inactivity.事實上，睡眠狀態下仍有著基本的活動量，以防止肌肉活動停止。
16 . Some years ago an American psychiatrist named William Dement published experiments dealing with the recording of eye-movements during sleep.前些年，美國一位精神病學者發表了一篇報告，報告中記錄了眼球在睡眠時的活動情況。
17 . some drifting and slow, others jerky and rapid.這些活動有的飄忽而緩慢，有的急劇而快速。
18 . 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.如果睡眠的功能不是在於使身體得到休息，那麼也許是讓大腦得以休息？若不是下面兩點，這種假使似乎是有道理的。
19 . and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they were no exhibiting eye-movements,另一組人也是連續幾夜被叫醒，但是在眼球隊沒活動時被叫醒的。
20 . The body's tissues are self-repairing and self-restoring to a degree, and function best when more or less continuously active.人體組織在一定程度上有自我修補和自我恢復的能力，有張有弛地連續活動時，其功能最佳。