科学家称未来将能记录人类梦境

    Scientists think it will be possible to record people's dreams and then interpret them, according to a new report.
    They claim to have developed a system which allows them to record higher level brain activity.
    Dr Moran Cerf told the journal Nature: "We would like to read people's dreams."Previously(以前) the only way to access people's dreams is for psychologists（心理学家） to ask about them after the event and try to interpret them.
    Dr Cerf hopes to eventually compare people's memories of their dreams with an electronic visualisation（可视化） of their brain activity.
    He told the BBC: "There's no clear answer as to why humans dream. And one of the questions we would like to answer is when do we actually create this dream?"The scientist believes his latest research shows that certain neurons or individual brain cells are linked with specific objects or concepts.
    He found that a particular neuron lit up when a volunteer thought about Marilyn Monroe.
    If a database was built up identifying various neurons with concepts, objects and people it would allow them to "read the subject's minds", according to Dr Cerf.
    However, Dr Roderick Oner, a clinical（临床的） psychologist and dream expert, said that this kind of visualisation would be of limited help when it came to interpreting the "complex dream narrative¹".
    In addition to get a detailed² picture of individual neurons subjects had to have electrodes implanted deep in the brain using surgery.
    The Nature researchers used data from patients who had electrodes implanted to monitor and treat them for brain seizures³.
    However, Dr Cerf said he hoped that it would be possible at a later stage to monitor people without invasive surgery.
    He said it would be "wonderful" to be able to read the minds of coma⁴ patients who are unable to communicate.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

2 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

3 seizures   

n.起获( seizure的名词复数 )；没收；充公；起获的赃物

参考例句：

• Seizures of illicit drugs have increased by 30% this year. 今年违禁药品的扣押增长了30%。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Other causes of unconsciousness predisposing to aspiration lung abscess are convulsive seizures. 造成吸入性肺脓肿昏迷的其他原因，有惊厥发作。 来自辞典例句

4 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。