Is modern life making us tired?
現代生活讓我們太疲憊嗎？
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Alice…
大家好，歡迎收聽六分鐘英語。我是愛麗絲。
… and I’m Neil.
我是尼爾。
So Neil, did you sleep well last night?
尼爾，昨晚睡得好嗎？
Um, yes, thanks. Why do you ask?
恩，很好，謝謝。為什麼這麼問？
Today we’re talking about how much sleep we need.
今天我們討論人類需要多久的睡眠。
I like a good eight hours myself – ten at the weekend. How about you?
我自己喜歡睡八個小時，周末的時候十個小時。你呢？
Six is enough for me.But did you know this? Humans sleep around three hours less than other primates like chimps, who sleep for about ten hours.So you’re a chimp, Neil – at the weekends, at least!Are you ready for the quiz question?
對我來說，六個小時就足夠了。你知道嗎？人類比黑猩猩等靈長類動物少睡3個小時，後者一般睡十個小時左右。所以，你是黑猩猩，至少周末是！準備好回答今天的問題了嗎？
OK, I』ll assume that means yes. Right. What’s another word for sleepwalking? Is it…a) narcolepsy?b) restless legs syndrome?or c) somnambulism?
好吧，我就當這是準備好了。夢遊的另一種說法是什麼？a) 嗜眠發作?b) 多動腿症候群?還是c)夜遊症？
I will go for b) restless legs syndrome, since there’s a connection there with the legs.
我選b) 多動腿症候群，因為這和腿有關係。
Well we』ll find out whether you’re right or wrong later on in the show. So what keeps you awake at night, Neil?
好吧，節目最後我們再看你回答得是否正確。什麼會使你晚上很清醒呢？
Not much, to be honest. I usually sleep like a log – and that means very heavily indeed! But sometimes my own snoring wakes me up, and then I can find it hard to get back to sleep.Snoring, for those of you who don’t know, means breathing in a noisy way through your mouth or nose while you’re asleep.[snores] … like that… How about you, Alice?
老實說，沒有什麼。我睡得像死豬一樣，也就是說睡得很沉。但是有時我自己的鼾聲會把自己吵醒，然後我發現很難再入睡。鼾聲也許你不了解，這是睡覺時從嘴或鼻子中發出的很吵的呼吸聲。就像這樣，你呢，愛麗絲？
Very good, yes. Well, that’s quite ridiculous! Anyway, for me, it’s drinking too much coffee during the day. It’s the caffeine in coffee – a chemical that makes you feel more awake – which can stop you from sleeping at night. But there are so many things that can keep us awake these days.
好吧，這太荒謬了。總之，對我來說，白天喝咖啡我晚上會睡不著。咖啡中的咖啡因，這種化學物質會讓你很清醒，影響你夜間的睡眠。但是如今還有很多東西會讓我們睡不著覺。
Oh yes. Radio, TV… techy stuff like 24-hour internet, computers, smart phones. I love my phone and it’s never far from me!
沒錯。廣播、電視，還有一些高科技的東西像24小時的網絡、電腦和手機。我愛我的手機，從不離身。
Well, let’s hear what Professor Jerome Siegel, from the University of California,found when he studied the sleep habits of three different hunter-gatherer communities who have very little contact with modern society. They don’t have artificial light, electricity, batteries, or any of the gadgets that we rely on today.
我們聽聽加利福尼亞大學Jerome Siegel教授的看法，他以三個遠離現代社會的狩獵部落為研究對象，研究他們的睡眠習慣。他們沒有人造光，沒有電、電池以及任何我們如今依賴的工具。
Their sleep was not that different from ours. The range of sleep period was about 6.9 to 8.5 hours. If you actually measure sleep in current populations in the United States or in Europe they’re definitely at the low end of what’s been reported. They certainly don’t sleep a lot less than we do but they clearly don’t sleep more.
他們的睡眠和我們沒什麼不同。大概睡6.9到8.5個小時。如果你真實地測量如今美國和歐洲人口的睡眠時間，他們的睡眠一定低於報導中的數據。他們當然不會比我們少睡很多，但是很明顯他們並沒有比我們多睡。
Professor Jerome Siegel found that people in these communities don’t go to bed until several hours after sundown – just like us! But one big difference is that very few of them suffer from insomnia– which means having difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep.
Jerome Siegel教授發現這些部落的人們在太陽下山幾個小時後才睡覺，和我們一樣！但最大的不同在於他們很少失眠，失眠是指很難入睡和安睡。
Now, I don’t have a problem with insomnia. And hunter-gatherers – people who live by hunting animals and gathering plants to eat – don’t either– probably because they take a lot of physical exercise during the day.
我沒有失眠症。狩獵採集者是指那些依靠捕獵動物頜收集果實生存的人，他們也不會失眠，也許是因為白天他們進行了大量身體活動。
Yes, that’s right. Taking exercise is an important factor in sleeping soundly – or well – at night.But these days our minds can be so active that it becomes very difficult to fall asleep.Let’s listen to Professor Kevin Morgan, from Loughborough University here in England,talking about how cognitive behavioural therapy can be used to help people with insomnia.
沒錯，鍛鍊對於晚上安眠作用很大。但是如今人們的思維非常活躍，使得我們很難入睡。我們聽聽英格蘭拉夫堡大學Kevin Morgan教授的看法，他會講述認知行為療法如何幫助人們治療失眠。
If you have a train of thoughts which would otherwise keep you awake one way of dealing with this is to block those thoughts. What I』d like you to do is repeat the word ’the』 in your mind at irregular intervals – the the the the the the the the the – what you』ll find (is) that the mind space required to do this blocks out almost everything else.
如果你思緒萬千，影響你入睡，那麼解決這一問題的方法就是阻斷這些思緒。我建議你在腦海中以不規律的間隔重複「the」這個詞，the the the the the the the the the，你會發現做這件事會讓你沒空想別的。
So Professor Kevin Morgan suggests saying one word over and over again at irregular intervals – irregular in this context means not spaced out evenly. Doing it can help to block out the thoughts that are stopping you from getting to sleep. It sounds like a very simple solution.I wonder if it works?
所以Kevin Morgan教授建議以不規律的間隔一遍遍重複一個單詞，這裡的不規律是指不均勻的間隔。做這些能夠讓你停止影響睡眠的胡思亂想。這方法聽上去很簡單。我想知道這管不管用？
There’s one way to find out, Neil. Try it yourself!
有一個方法可以測試管不管用，那就是你自己試試。
I will.
我會的。
OK. And cognitive behavioural therapy by the way is a treatment for mental health problems that tries to change the way you think.
好了，認知行為療法是通過改變你的思考方式，治療心理疾病的一種方法。
Well, I usually count sheep if I can’t get to sleep. Do you do that, Alice?
如果我睡不著，我通常會數羊。你會這麼做嗎？
No, not usually. No. OK, I think it’s time for the answer to our quiz question.I asked: What’s another word for sleepwalking?Is it… a) narcolepsy? b) restless legs syndrome? or c) somnambulism?
通常不會。好了，是時候公布今天問題的答案了。我問你：夢遊的另一種說法是什麼？a) 嗜眠發作?b) 多動腿症候群?還是c)夜遊症？
And I said b) restless legs syndrome.
我選的是b) 多動腿症候群。
Sorry, Neil, it’s actually c) somnambulism – the roots of this word come from Latin.Somnus means ’sleep』 and and ambulare means 』walk』.Narcolepsy is a condition where you can’t stop yourself falling asleep, especially during the day.
很抱歉，正確答案是c)夜遊症，這一個詞來源於拉丁文。Somnus是指「睡覺」，ambulare是指「行走」。嗜睡是指人不由自主的犯困睡覺，尤其是白天。
Narcolepsy… (says in a sleepy way)
嗜睡。
And restless legs syndrome is a condition that makes you desperate to move your legs around, especially when you’re sitting quietly or trying to get to sleep.
多動腿症候群是指不自主得抖腿，尤其是靜坐或快睡著的時候。
… get to sleep… (murmuring)
快睡著了。
Neil! Wake up!
尼爾！醒醒！
Oh, hello Alice! Sorry.
噢，嗨，愛麗絲，不好意思。
Hello! Can we hear today’s words again, please?
好了，我們再聽一遍今天的單詞吧？
OK, yeah:
好的：
sleep like a log
睡得沉
snoring
打鼾
caffeine
咖啡因
insomnia
失眠
hunter-gatherers
狩獵採集者
soundly
酣睡地
irregular
不規律地
cognitive behavioural therapy
認知行為療法
Well, that just about brings us to the end of this edition of 6 Minute English.We hope you』ve enjoyed this programme.
好了，今天的六分鐘英語就到這裡。希望你喜歡今天的節目。下次再會！