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"I couldn't get my body to stop shaking. I was trembling constantly, trembling and...memories of it would just come back, reoccurring over, over and over."

Beatriz Arguedas is a subway conductor, driving her normal route on the Red Line in Boston, when one of her worst fears came to pass.

"For I'm entering, one of the busiest stations, a man jumped in front of my train to commit suicide."

(Entering, path three ...)

"You actually saw him jumping?"

"I saw him jump, we, sort of made eye contact. And then I felt the thud, found him hitting the train, and then the crackling sound underneath¹ the train. And then, of course, my heart started thumping²."

"She came into our, into our emergency room afterwards, very upset, no physical injury, entirely⁴, a psychological trauma⁵."

Doctor Roger Pitman is a psychiatrist⁶ at Harvard Medical School who has studied and treated patients with Post-traumatic Stress Disorder⁷, or PTSD for 25 years.

"They are caught up so much with this past event that is constantly in their mind. They are living in it over and over and over as if it's happening again, and they just can't get involved in real life."

When Beatriz arrived in the emergency room, Pitman enrolled⁸ her in an experimental study of a drug called propranolol, a medication commonly used for high-blood pressure and unofficially for stage fright. Pitman thought it might do something almost magical: Trick Beatriz's brain into making a weaker memory of the event she had just experienced. In the study that is still underway, half the subjects get propranolol, half get placebo⁹.

"Did you know whether she got the drug?"

"No, I didn't."

"You have no idea?"

"We have no idea, and she has no idea."

"Till this day?"

"And we'll have it for another two years."

"Almost she finds out ..."

If Pitman is right, the results could fundamentally change the way accident victims, rape¹⁰ victims, even soldiers are treated after they experienced trauma. The story begins with some surprising discoveries about memory. It turns out our memories are sort of like jello¹¹, they take time to...and while they are setting , it's possible to make them stronger or weaker. It all depends on the stress hormone--adrenalin.

The man who discovered this is James McGaugh, a professor of neurobiology at the University of California, Irvine. McGaugh studies memory in rats, and he invited us to watch the making of a rat memory. In this case, how a rat who's never been in this tank of water before learns how to find a clear plastic platform just below the surface.

"Well, he'll swim around, randomly¹², and he does not..."

"Can he not see the platform?"

"No, he can't see the platform. His eyes are on the top of his head."

The rat will swim around the edge for a long time, until eventually, he ventures out, and by chance bumps into the platform. The next day, he'll find the platform a little bit faster. But watch this rat, who learnt where the platform was yesterday, then received a shot of adrenalin immediately afterward³.

"Notice it starts out not on the edge."

"Wow!"

"There you go!"

"Oh! That's impressive."

Adrenalin actually made this rat's brain remember better, and McGaugh believes the same thing happens in people.

"Suppose I said to you: You know, I've, I've watched your programs a lot over the years. And although it pains me that I have to tell you this I think you are one of the worst people I've ever seen on...(Ha ha..) And don't take it, don't take it personally."

"So my stress system would go into overdrive, no question."

"Even, even with my telling you that it's not true. There is nothing to keep you from blushing, from feeling warm all over."

"I am warm all over."

"Yeah!"

"I am, no joke. Really."

"That's your adrenalin. And I dare say that you are going to remember my having said that long after you've forgotten the other details of our discussion here, I guarantee it."

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thud:a low sound made by something heavy falling or hitting something 抨击声
trauma:medical a serious injury 外伤
propranolol:a beta-blocker used to treat hypertension, angina pectoris, and cardiac arrhythmia 心得安
placebo:a substance that is not medicine but that a patient who is taking it believes is medicine, so they get better 安慰剂
jello:a soft solid food made from fruit juice, sugar,and gelatin that you can see through and that shakes when you touch it 凝胶物
neurobiology:the branch of biology that deals with the anatomy and physiology and pathology of the nervous system神经生物学

1 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

2 thumping   

adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持

参考例句：

• Her heart was thumping with emotion. 她激动得心怦怦直跳。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• He was thumping the keys of the piano. 他用力弹钢琴。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

3 afterward   

adv.后来；以后

参考例句：

• Let's go to the theatre first and eat afterward. 让我们先去看戏，然后吃饭。
• Afterward,the boy became a very famous artist.后来，这男孩成为一个很有名的艺术家。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

6 psychiatrist   

n.精神病专家；精神病医师

参考例句：

• He went to a psychiatrist about his compulsive gambling.他去看精神科医生治疗不能自拔的赌瘾。
• The psychiatrist corrected him gently.精神病医师彬彬有礼地纠正他。

7 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

8 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

10 rape   

n.抢夺，掠夺，强奸；vt.掠夺，抢夺，强奸

参考例句：

• The rape of the countryside had a profound ravage on them.对乡村的掠夺给他们造成严重创伤。
• He was brought to court and charged with rape.他被带到法庭并被指控犯有强奸罪。

11 jello   

n.凝胶物，果冻

参考例句：

• We have ice cream,pie,cake or jello.我们要冰淇淋、馅饼、蛋糕或是果冻。
• She likes jello very much.她很喜欢吃果冻。

12 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句