本期生词：
1.amnesia　n. 健忘症
2.Wellcome Trust 　维康基金会是一家独立的资助科学研究的慈善机构，由亨利·威康爵士于1936年创办。基金来源于私人捐款并以长期稳定和增殖的方式进行经营管理。其使命是“培育和促进用于改善人类和动物健康的科学研究”。
3.Neuroimaging　神经影像（在网上找的，不知道对不对...）
4.hippocampus　海马体--在医学上，「海马体」是大脑皮质的一个内褶区，在「侧脑室」底部绕「脉络膜裂」形成一弓形隆起，它由两个扇形部分所组成，有时将两者合称海马结构；海马体的机能是主管人类的近期主要记忆，有点像是计算机的内存，将几周内或几个月内的记忆鲜明暂留，以便快速存取。而失忆症病患的海马体中并没有任何近期记忆暂留。由这项实验可以初步证实人类的梦境并非是由海马体中的近期记忆抽取并组织而成。
　　记忆其实就是神经细胞之间的连结形态。不过，要储存或抛掉某些信息，却不是出自有意识的判断，而是由人脑中一个细小的构造──海马体(hippocampus)来处理。海马体在记忆的过程中，充当转换站的功能。当大脑皮质中的神经元接收到各种感官或知觉讯息时，它们会把讯息传递给海马体。假如海马体有所反应，神经元就会开始形成持久的网络，但如果没有通过这种认可的模式，那么脑部接收到的经验就自动消逝无踪。

Amnesia is a loss of memory. But scientists in Britain have found that it can mean a loss of imagination as well. They asked amnesia patients in a study to imagine new experiences and then describe them. The researchers say the patients could not describe what they saw in their minds to the same extent as people without memory loss.
健忘症就是失去记忆。但是英国的科学家发现这同时也意味着想像力的丢失。科学家们在研究中要求健忘症病人想象新的经历并进行描述。他们发现对于同样程度没有失去记忆的人来说，这些病人无法描述在他们脑海中所浮现的景象。

Eleanor Maguire at the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging at University College London was a leader of the study. She says it shows amnesiacs as people trapped in the present. They cannot look back at their past nor ahead to what the future might look like.
Eleanor Maguire是维康基金会在英国大学学院神经影像研究中的领头人。她表示这说明健忘就如人们只陷入现状，他们不能回顾自己的过去或是预见未来是如何的。

The five amnesiacs in the study all had serious damage to the hippocampus. This part of the brain is believed to process experiences into memories. But scientists disagree about the extent to which it also stores memories. All five amnesiacs were men. They were compared with a control group of ten men who had no injury to their hippocampus.
研究中的五名健忘患者其海马体都有严重的损伤。这被认为是大脑中的将经历转换成记忆的部分。但是科学家不同意关于这部分同样还能存储记忆的部分。所有健忘患者均为男性。他们是与十名海马体都没有损伤的对照组相比较的。

The researchers asked all of the men in the study to imagine themselves in different situations. For example, they were asked to picture themselves on a sandy beach along a tropical coast -- or in a museum with lots to see.
研究员让所有人想象自己不同的情景。例如，让他们描绘出在热带海岸的沙滩上，或是在让人目不暇接的博物馆中。

本期作业：
1.The researchers say the patients could not describe what they saw in their minds to the same extent as people without memory loss.

3. For example, they were asked to picture themselves on a sandy beach along a tropical coast -- or in a museum with lots to see.

背景资料：
维康基金会的网站：http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/

posted on 2007-02-04 10:52 akirawaya 阅读(335) 评论(0)  编辑  收藏 网摘收藏