How Art Made The World 人、艺术、世界 -12

All our brains work the same way regardless of who we are or where we are from. Physically¹, our brains haven't changed since humans first evolved. This means that if our brains are stimulated³, say, put into a trance, they'd respond in the same way as the brains of our ancient ancestors. It's an intriguing⁴ explanation for the strange patterns, but could it be true?

I've come to London to the Institute of Psychiatry⁵ to find out. They are going to try to induce a trance-like effect in my brain.

So Dominic, can you tell us what's inside this box of yours?

Well, what we have here is an apparatus⁶ that allows me to stimulate² the visual part of your brain in a very specific way.

Dr. Dominic Fitch treats people with a rare type of visual disorder⁷. They don't have a problem with their eyes or such, but with the part of their brain that deals with vision. To investigate their condition, he's designed an unusual device.

That's very simple, essentially⁸ sort of goggle⁹s with some high intensity¹¹ LEDs, light emitting diodes that is collected up to the computer which allows me to control the number of flashes I am presenting to you per second. So you just place them over the eyes.

Yeah.

You are going to beam things into my eyeballs.

That's right. Now, you have to keep your eyes close because, as I said, the flashes are rather bright.

Yup.

His patients had reported seeing peculiar¹² shapes and patterns appearing before their eyes. The goggles¹⁰ are designed to induce these images in the brain.

Is it going to hurt?

It's not going to hurt. So, if you had your eyes closed...

Gotten closed.

What are you seeing now?

Right, what I've got now is sort of throbbing¹³ blobs if that makes any sense. With a sort of network of very fine, black lines. I'm all right, OK, very very vivid colors. All sort of colors and spectrums seem to be... popping up here. And behind all the color, I can't explain it , sort of like a fishing net, or, very fine black lines linking up, like a honeycomb effect I guess that's what it's like .

Now what happens when I just stimulate one eye?

Ah, electric check board, sorry, chessboard electric chessboard, and that sort of dark reminds me of dance floor as one saw.

Is there color in it or is it black and white?

It's black and white, yeah, very very bright, black and white.

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words to remember:

1. goggle: 防护罩，眼罩， 眼睛突出
(eg.) a goggle-eyed weirdo

2. blob: a big and amorphous mass 大而无形状的块体

1 physically   

adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律

参考例句：

• He was out of sorts physically,as well as disordered mentally.他浑身不舒服，心绪也很乱。
• Every time I think about it I feel physically sick.一想起那件事我就感到极恶心。

2 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

3 stimulated   

a.刺激的

参考例句：

• The exhibition has stimulated interest in her work. 展览增进了人们对她作品的兴趣。
• The award has stimulated her into working still harder. 奖金促使她更加努力地工作。

4 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

6 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

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 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 goggle   

n.瞪眼，转动眼珠，护目镜；v.瞪眼看，转眼珠

参考例句：

• His insincerity is revealed by the quick goggle of his eyes.他眼睛的快速转动泄露了他的不诚实。
• His eyes seemed to goggle larger than usual behind the heavy lenses.在厚厚的镜片后面，眼睛瞪得比平时大得多。

10 goggles   

n.护目镜

参考例句：

• Skiers wear goggles to protect their eyes from the sun.滑雪者都戴上护目镜使眼睛不受阳光伤害。
• My swimming goggles keep steaming up so I can't see.我的护目镜一直有水雾，所以我看不见。

11 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

12 peculiar   

adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的

参考例句：

• He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
• He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。

13 throbbing   

a. 跳动的,悸动的

参考例句：

• My heart is throbbing and I'm shaking. 我的心在猛烈跳动，身子在不住颤抖。
• There was a throbbing in her temples. 她的太阳穴直跳。