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　　Sometimes they can even answer questions

　　有时，他们甚至能够回答问题

　　Dreams are clearly important. All humans have them, as do animals from cats to elephants. Neuroscientists believe they are involved in the processing of memories. Yet studying them is limited by the fact that dreamers themselves cannot talk to anyone while they are asleep.

　　梦显然是很重要的。所有人都会做梦，从猫到大象的各种动物也都会做梦。神经科学家认为梦关乎于记忆的加工。然而，有关梦境的研究却一直深受限制，因为人们在睡觉时通常无法与他人交流。

　　Researchers must rely on the unreliable recollections of people who have woken up. Now, though, a team of scientists led by Ken Paller, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University, think they may have found a way around that problem.

　　研究人员只能依靠人们醒来后不可靠的回忆进行研究。不过，现在，由美国西北大学神经科学家肯·帕勒领导的研究小组认为，他们或许已经找到了解决这一问题的办法。

　　Dr Paller's starting point was the fact that lucid dreams—in which sleepers are aware they are dreaming—seem to be associated with only one kind of sleep, known as "rapid eye movement" (REM) sleep. During REM sleep, brain activity looks similar to that seen during waking hours.

　　帕勒的出发点基于这样一个事实，清醒梦(入睡着意识到自己在做梦)仅能发生在所谓的“快速眼动”(REM)睡眠阶段。人们在REM睡眠阶段下的大脑活动与清醒状态下类似。

　　Past research has shown that it is possible for people to be influenced by events taking place in the outside world during REM sleep. So Dr Paller speculated that it might be possible to reach out to people in such states, and to get answers back.

　　既往研究表明，在REM睡眠阶段，人们可能会受到外界的影响。因此，帕勒认为，他们或许可以与处于REM睡眠阶段的人们进行交流，从而得出答案。

　　As described in Current Biology, Dr Paller, along with colleagues in France, Germany and the Netherlands, gathered 35 volunteers. All were trained to be mindful of their mental state, and to analyse whether they thought they were awake or in a dream.

　　正如在《现代生物学》上所描述的那样，帕勒与来自法国、德国和荷兰的同事一同招募了35名志愿者。所有参与者都经过训练能够注意到自己的精神状态，并能够得知自己是处于清醒状态还是睡梦中。

　　In some labs (though not all) that training was accompanied by a distinctive sound. That same sound was repeated, as a cue, while the participants were in REM sleep.

　　在一些实验室(虽然不是全部)，参与者在训练过程中会伴随着一种独特的声音。当参与者处于REM睡眠阶段时，研究者会重复播放同样的声音作为提示。

　　Participants were also trained to make distinct left/right eye movements to indicate they were aware they were dreaming, and in response to questions. They practised interpreting numbers conveyed as flashes of light, taps on their arm, or even as spoken words.

　　经过训练，参与者能够通过左/右眼的显著运动来表明他们意识到自己正处于睡梦中，并回答问题。此外，经过训练，他们还能通过眨眼、拍手甚至说话来表达数字。

　　Thus prepared, the volunteers were wired up with electrodes and sent back to the land of Nod. Sometimes the researchers would initiate contact with their dreamers by playing the sound cue and waiting for an eye signal in response.

　　在做好这些准备工作后，研究者便给参与者接上了电极，然后等待他们进入梦乡。有时，研究人员会通过播放声音提示他们正在与睡梦中的参与者进行接触，然后等待他们的眼神回应。

　　At other times, the participants themselves sent an eye signal of their own accord. Once it was clear that contact had been made, the researchers asked their questions, and waited for answers.

　　还有些时候，参与者会主动发出眼神信号。一旦确定已经建立联系，研究人员便会开始提问，并等待参与者回答。

　　Interviewed upon waking, the participants reported that the questions had been incorporated into their dreams. One said an audio question was heard through a car radio; another that flashes of light sent by the researchers manifested as a flickering light.

　　醒来后，参与者在接受采访时表示，这些问题已经融入了他们的梦境。其中一位参与者表示，他是在汽车的收音机里听到一个音频问题的;另一位参与者表示，研究人员发出的闪光在他的梦境中是有一台闪光灯发出的。

　　One of the numerical questions even manifested as the street number of a house. Intriguingly, participants occasionally “remembered” a mathematics problem different from the one they had been asked—despite having given the correct answer, via eye movements, at the time.

　　其中一道数字问题甚至在参与者梦境中表现为房屋的门牌号。有趣的是，参与者偶尔会“记住”一道不同于他们被问到的数学问题——尽管他们当时通过眼球运动给出了正确答案。

　　The method often did not work. Participants signalled that they were engaged in lucid dreaming in just 26% of the sessions. Of that group, 47% answered at least one question put to them correctly. But it proves a point.

　　这种方法常常不能起效。实验表示，参与者在睡梦中仅有26%的时间在做清醒梦。在这期间，47%的参与者至少正确回答了一个问题。但这至少证明了一点。

　　Dr Paller and his colleagues say their findings refute the notion that attempting communication with dreamers is pointless. And that, in turn, may help researchers shed some light on what dreams are for, and how they work.

　　帕勒和他的同事们认为，他们的发现驳斥了那些认为与梦境中的人交流毫无意义的观点。反过来，这一发现或将有助于研究人员阐明梦的意义和由来。

　　重难点词汇：

　　accompany [əˈkʌmpəni] v. 陪伴;伴随;伴奏

　　manifest [ˈmænɪfest] v. 表明;证明

　　intriguingly [ɪnˈtriːɡɪŋli] adv. 有趣地;有魅力地

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