A thought of Marilyn Monroe activate particular brain cells
媒体英语会带大家一起学习BBC撰稿人在报道世界大事时常用到的单词和短语。
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。
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The idea of a machine recording 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 concepts.
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 correlate with the accounts of the volunteers actual dreams.
Glossary 词汇表 (收听发音, 请单击英语单词)
- 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
- Why do scientists think that a dream machine is possible?
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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?
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They showed volunteers different pictures and observed brain activity.
- What do scientists want to do next?
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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.
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False. It made a particular neuron in a participant's brain more active.
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