【英语时差8,16】解读人类心思的仪器（上）

 The electroencephalograph, or EEG, is a machine commonly used by doctors and researchers who want to know what the brain is doing without having to open up someone’s head and look inside. In fact, even if you were to look inside the head, you still couldn’t see the brain “doing” anything — the energy brain uses to operate is not visible. Nevertheless, brain activity can be recorded on an EEG just by taping a few electrodes to someone’s scalp. How is that? The answer is that the brain runs on electrical energy. Individual brain cells, called neurons, regularly discharge tiny electrical impulses¹ among themselves: this is the way they communicate. All these electrical impulses add up to create what are called “brain waves.”

1 impulses   

凭冲动行事( impulse的名词复数 )； 突如其来的念头； 推动； 冲量

参考例句：

• The photochemical reactions transform the light into electrical impulses. 光化学反应使光变为电脉冲。
• His senses and reasons inhibited his wrong desires or impulses. 他的理智抑制了不正当的欲望或冲动。