第19课

旁白 neutral

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，睡眠期一定有某种功能，而且由于睡眠期很长，这种功能似乎很重要。

旁白 neutral

Speculations about its nature have been going on for literally thousands of years,

关于其本质的猜测已经持续了几千年，

旁白 neutral

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.

一个令人困惑的奇怪发现是，睡眠似乎不仅仅是让身体休息。

旁白 neutral

'Rest', in terms of muscle relaxation and so on, can be achieved by a brief period lying, or even sitting down.

从肌肉放松等方面来看，“休息”可以通过短暂的躺卧，甚至坐下来实现。

旁白 neutral

The body's tissues are self-repairing and self-restoring to a degree, and function best when more or less continuously active.

身体的组织在一定程度上是自我修复和自我恢复的，并且在或多或少持续活动时功能最佳。

旁白 neutral

In fact a basic amount of movement occurs during sleep which is specifically concerned with preventing muscle inactivity.

事实上，在睡眠期间会发生一定程度的运动，这尤其旨在防止肌肉不活动。

旁白 neutral

If it is not a question of resting the body, then perhaps it is the brain that needs resting?

如果不是身体休息的问题，那么也许是大脑需要休息？

旁白 neutral

This might be a plausible hypothesis were it not for two factors.

要不是有两个因素，这可能是一个合理的假设。

旁白 neutral

First the electroencephalograph (which is simply a device for recording the electrical activity of the brain by attaching electrodes to the scalp)

首先，脑电图仪（它只是一种通过将电极连接到头皮来记录大脑电活动的设备）

旁白 neutral

shows that while there is a change in the pattern of activity during sleep,

表明虽然睡眠期间的活动模式有所变化，

旁白 neutral

there is no evidence that the total amount of activity is any less.

但没有证据表明总活动量有所减少。

旁白 neutral

The second factor is more interesting and more fundamental.

第二个因素更有趣也更具根本性。

旁白 neutral

Some years ago an American psychiatrist named William Dement published experiments dealing with the recording of eye-movements during sleep.

几年前，一位名叫威廉·德门特的美国精神病学家发表了关于记录睡眠期间眼球运动的实验。

旁白 neutral

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.

他表明，普通人的睡眠周期会伴随着奇特的眼球运动爆发，有些是漂移而缓慢的，有些是抽搐而快速的。

旁白 neutral

People woken during these periods of eye-movements generally reported that they had been dreaming.

在这些眼球运动期间被唤醒的人通常报告说他们一直在做梦。

旁白 neutral

When woken at other times they reported no dreams.

而在其他时候被唤醒时，他们报告说没有做梦。

旁白 neutral

If one group of people were disturbed from their eye-movement sleep for several nights on end,

如果一组人在连续几个晚上被从眼动睡眠中打扰，

旁白 neutral

and another group were disturbed for an equal period of time but when they were not exhibiting eye-movements,

而另一组人在相同的时间内被打扰，但当时他们没有表现出眼球运动，

旁白 neutral

the first group began to show some personality disorders while the others seemed more or less unaffected.

第一组人开始表现出一些人格障碍，而其他人则或多或少地未受影响。

旁白 neutral

The implications of all this were that it was not the disturbance of sleep that mattered, but the disturbance of dreaming.

所有这些都表明，重要的不是睡眠受到干扰，而是做梦受到干扰。