Patients can recall what they hear while under general anesthetic even if they don’t wake up, concludes a new study.
Several studies over the past three decades have reported that people can retain conscious or subconscious memories of things that happened while they were being operated on. But failure by other researchers to confirm such findings has led skeptics to speculate that the patients who remembered these events might briefly have regained consciousness in the course of operations.
Gitta Lubke, Peter Sebel and colleagues at Emory University in Atlanta measured the depth of anesthesia using bispectral analysis, a technique which measures changes in brainwave patterns in the frontal lobes moment by moment during surgery. Before this study, researchers only took an average measurement over the whole operation, says Lubke.
Lubke studied 96 trauma patients undergoing emergency surgery, many of whom were too severely injured to tolerate full anesthesia. During surgery, each patient wore headphones through which a series of 16 words was repeated for 3 minutes each. At the same time, bispectral analysis recorded the depth of anesthesia.
After the operation, Lubke tested the patients by showing them the first three letters of a word, such as “lim-”, and asking them to complete it. Patients who had had a word starting with these letters played during surgery—“limit”, for example—chose that word an average of 11 percent more often than patients who had been played a different word list. None of the patients had any conscious memory of hearing the wordlists.
Unconscious priming was strongest for words played when patients were most lightly anaesthetized. But it was statistically significant even when patients were fully anaesthetized when the word was played.
This finding which will be published in the journal Anesthesiology could mean that operating theatre staff should be more discreet. “What they say during surgery may distress patients afterwards,” says Philip Merikle, a psychologist at the University of Waterloo, Ontario.
1. Scientists have found that deep anesthesia ______.
2. By the new study the technique of by spectral analysis helps the scientists ______.
3. To test the patients the scientists ______.
4. The results from the new study indicate that it was possible for the patients ______.
5. What we can infer from the finding is ______.
问题1选项
A.is likely to affect hearing
B.cannot block surgeon’s words
C.can cause serious damages to memory
D.helps to retain conscious or subconscious memories
问题2选项
A.acquire an average measurement of brainwave changes over the whole surgery
B.decide whether the patient would retain conscious or subconscious memories
C.relate their measurements and recordings to the verbal sounds during surgery
D.assure the depth of anesthesia during surgery
问题3选项
A.prepared two lists of words
B.used ninety-six headphones for listening
C.conducted the whole experiment for three minutes
D.voiced only the first three letters of sixteen words during surgery
问题4选项
A.to regain consciousness under the knife
B.to tell one word from another after surgery
C.to recall what had been heard during surgery
D.to overreact to deep anesthesia in the course of operation
问题5选项
A.how surgeon malpractice can be prevented
B.why a surgeon cannot be too careful
C.why surgeons should hold their tongues during surgery
D.how the postoperative patients can retain subconscious memories
第1题:B
第2题:B
第3题:B
第4题:C
第5题:C
第1题:
【选项释义】
Scientists have found that deep anesthesia ______. 科学家发现深度麻醉_______。
A. is likely to affect hearing A. 可能影响听力
B. cannot block surgeon’s words B. 不能阻挡外科医生的话
C. can cause serious damages to memory C. 会对记忆造成严重损害
D. helps to retain conscious or subconscious memories D. 帮助保持有意识或潜意识的记忆
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据题干可以确定答案所在区域为第一段。根据第一段内容“一项新的研究表明，即使病人没有醒来，他们也能回忆起在全身麻醉下听到的声音”可知全麻不会阻止病人听到医生说的话，所以可推测出深度麻醉应该不会阻挡医生的话。B选项为正确答案。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“可能影响听力”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
C选项：“会对记忆造成严重损害”，根据第二段第一句“过去30年的几项研究表明，人们在接受手术时可以保留有意识或潜意识的记忆”，可知并没有对记忆造成损害，该选项属于曲解原文；
D选项：“帮助保持有意识或潜意识的记忆”，根据第二段第一句“过去30年的几项研究表明，人们在接受手术时可以保留有意识或潜意识的记忆”，可知人在深度麻醉的情况下能够保留意识，但是深度麻醉无益于保留记忆，该选项属于曲解原文。
第2题:
【选项释义】
By the new study the technique of by spectral analysis helps the scientists ______. 通过这项新的研究，光谱分析技术帮助科学家______。
A. acquire an average measurement of brainwave changes over the whole surgery A. 获得整个手术期间脑电波变化的平均测量值
B. decide whether the patient would retain conscious or subconscious memories B. 判断病人是否会保留有意识的记忆或潜意识的记忆
C. relate their measurements and recordings to the verbal sounds during surgery C. 将他们的测量和录音与手术过程中的语音联系起来
D. assure the depth of anesthesia during surgery D. 确保手术过程中的麻醉深度
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据第三段第一句“亚特兰大埃默里大学的吉塔·吕布克、彼得·塞贝尔和同事们使用双谱分析技术测量了麻醉深度，这种技术可以在手术过程中时刻测量额叶脑电波模式的变化”可知这种技术可以帮助科学家检测人们麻醉时脑电波的变化。第六段为该研究得出的结论，结合本文第六段内容“当病人处于最轻微的麻醉状态时，玩文字游戏的潜意识启动效果最强。但即使在病人完全麻醉的情况下，当播放这个词时，它也具有统计学意义”可知该技术通过检测脑电波的变化，帮助科学家判断病人是否会保留有意识或潜意识的记忆。正确答案为B选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“获得整个手术过程中脑电波变化的平均测量值”，根据第三段最后一句“在这项研究之前，研究人员只得到了整个手术过程中的平均测量值，吕布克说道”，可知“平均测量值”并不是在题干中的研究下进行的，该选项属于张冠李戴；
C选项：“将他们的测量和录音与手术期间的口头声音联系起来”，原文没有提及，该选项属于无中生有；
D选项：“保证手术时麻醉深度”，原文没有提及，该选项属于无中生有。
第3题:
【选项释义】
To test the patients the scientists ______. 为了测试这些患者，科学家_______。
A. prepared two lists of words A. 准备了两份单词表
B. used ninety-six headphones for listening B. 使用了96副耳机（给病人）去听
C. conducted the whole experiment for three minutes C. 整个实验进行了三分钟
D. voiced only the first three letters of sixteen words during surgery D. 在手术中只会发音16个单词的前三个字母
【考查点】判断推理题。
【解题思路】根据第四段前两句“吕布克研究了96名接受急诊手术的创伤患者，其中许多人伤势严重，无法忍受完全麻醉。在手术过程中，每个病人都戴着耳机，耳机中重复16个单词，每个单词重复3分钟”可知科学家用了96副耳机，所以正确答案为B选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“准备了两张单词表”，根据第五段第二句“在手术过程中，使用了以这些字母开头的单词的病人——例如‘limit’——选择这个单词的频率比使用其他单词列表的病人平均高出11%”，可知文中没有说明有几份单词表，该选项属于曲解原文；
C选项：“整个实验进行了三分钟”，原文没有提及，属于无中生有；
D选项：“在手术中只会发音16个单词的前三个字母”，根据第五段第一句“手术后，吕布克对患者进行测试，向他们展示一个单词的前三个字母，比如‘lim’，并要求他们完成它。”由此可知，是手术中播放以这三个字母开头的单词，而不是前三个字母，该选项属于偷换概念。
第4题:
【选项释义】
The results from the new study indicate that it was possible for the patients ______. 这项新研究的结果表明，对患者来说，_______是可能的。
A. to regain consciousness under the knife A. 在手术刀下恢复意识
B. to tell one word from another after surgery B. 在手术后可以分辨出不同的单词
C. to recall what had been heard during surgery C. 回忆起手术期间听到的内容
D. to overreact to deep anesthesia in the course of operation D. 对深度麻醉反应过度
【考查点】事实细节题。
【解题思路】根据题干可定位答案所在区域为第一段。根据第一段内容“一项新的研究表明，病人在全身麻醉的情况下，即使他们没有醒来，也能回忆起他们听到的东西”可知正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】
A、B、D选项，原文均没有提及，属于无中生有。
第5题:
【选项释义】
What we can infer from the finding is ______. 我们可以从这一发现中推断出______。
A. how surgeon malpractice can be prevented A. 如何预防外科事故
B. why a surgeon cannot be too careful B. 为什么外科医生再小心也不为过
C. why surgeons should hold their tongues during surgery C. 为什么外科医生在手术时要保持缄默
D. how the postoperative patients can retain subconscious memories D. 术后患者如何保留潜意识记忆
【考查点】推理判断题。
【解题思路】根据题干可定位答案所在区域为最后一段。根据最后一段内容“这项将发表在《麻醉学》杂志上的发现可能意味着手术室工作人员应该更加谨慎。安大略省滑铁卢大学的心理学家菲利普·梅克尔说：‘他们在手术中说的话可能会让病人在手术后感到痛苦。’”由此可推断医生在手术中最好保持沉默。正确答案为C选项。
【干扰项排除】
A选项：“如何预防外科事故”，原文没有提及，该选项属于无中生有；
B选项：“为什么外科医生再小心也不为过”这个发现是指手术后病人能恢复意识，与外科医生小心无关，该选项属于曲解原文；
D选项：“术后患者如何保留潜意识记忆”，这个发现并不能推断出患者如何保留意识，该选项属于过度推断。
