英语泛读教程2下课文+译文(Unit 8-15)精选.doc

Unit 8 1 Text Getting Enough Sleep? Dream on. by William C. Dement Christopher Vaughan 　??? Is eight hours sleep enough to everyone? Have you ever heard of sleep debt? The following article warns us of the consequences of sleep deprivation and suggests ways to work off sleep debt. 　??? I once had a patient who was so sleep-deprived that she loaded her dirty dishes into the clothes dryer instead of the dishwasher. She turned on the machine, smashing china and glasses. ??? Another patient went to great lengths to obtain a 50-yard-line ticket to a crucial San Francisco 49ers play-off game, but was so sleepy that he dozed off in his seat in the first quarter and stayed asleep until the game was over. ??? On an everyday level, sleepy people make math errors, break things and become cross with their families, friends and co-workers. Less commonly, they make mistakes with tragic consequences. It is hard to prove how many fatal car accidents are caused by the drivers falling asleep, but my conviction is that the number is high. Laboratory experiments have confirmed that the sleep-deprived mind is prone to microsleeps － lapses of consciousness so brief that the subject may not even be aware of them. ??? In one experiment in our laboratory at Stanford University, a volunteer who had only been allowed four hours sleep the night before had his eyelids taped open (uncomfortable, but it doesnt hurt). He was asked to press a button every time an irregular strobe light flashed. For a few minutes he tapped the switch after each flash, on average every six seconds. Then a bright flash surged into his pupils － but he did nothing. ??? Why didnt you press the switch just now? we asked. ??? Because there was no flash, the young man replied. ??? The machines we used to monitor brain activity showed that at the very moment the light had flashed, the young man had unwittingly fallen asleep, with his eyes wide open, for two seconds. If he had been behind the wheel of a car, those t