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Lesson 19 The stuff of dreams
第19課 話說夢的本質
First listen and then answer the following question.
聽錄音，然后回答以下問題。
What is going on when a person experiences rapid eye-movements during sleep?
當一個人睡著時經歷快速移動眼睛，會發生什么？
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.
很清楚，睡眠必然具有某種作用。睡眠占去那么多時間，所以其作用似乎還是很重要。
Speculations about its 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。
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并不僅僅是為了使身體得到休息。
'Rest', in terms of muscle relaxation and so on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down.
“休息”，從使肌肉得到放松等方面來看，只要稍微躺一躺，甚至坐一坐就能達到。
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。
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。
If it is not a question of resting the body, then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting?
如果睡眠的功能不是在于使身體得到休息，那么也許是讓大腦得以休息？
This might be a plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors.
若不是下面兩點，這種假使似乎是有道理的。
First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording the electrical activity of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp)
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）
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.
顯示，人在睡眠時大腦活動的方式有變化，但沒有跡象表明，其活動總量有任何減少。
The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental.
第二點更有意思，也更重要。
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。
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.
他指出，平常人的睡眠周期中不時伴有一陣陣奇怪的眼球隊活動，這些活動有的飄忽而緩慢，有的急劇而快速。
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；
When woken at other times they reported no dreams.
在其他期間叫醒他們，則說沒有做夢。
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；
and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they were not 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，
the first group began to show some personality disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected.
第一組開始出現一些人格障礙，其他人則似乎多少大提上不受影響。
The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.
這一切暗示我們：睡眠受到干憂沒關系，而做夢受到干憂是有問題的。
