Guidance

Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.

—Benjamin Franklin

早睡早起使人健康、富有和聪明。

——本杰明·富兰克林

I’m sure a lot of subway riders are skilled nappers, but this car seemed to be particularly talented. Going over the Brooklyn Bridge on a recent morning, just as the sun was coming up,a row of men in nearly identical black suits held on to the straps with their eyes closed. Thei necks were bent at the slightest of angels, like a row of daises in a breeze and as the car clanged over the tracks and the sun pierced through the grimy train windows, it finally dawned on me that they were all sound asleep. Not even the bumps and the light could stop them from sneaking in 15 more minutes of shut-eye before work.

We take it for granted, but most people have to wake up for work (or school or other morning obligations) before they want to. Sleeping is treated as a cherished luxury—it’s somehow become normal that people wake up still exhausted and anything but is a notable exception.

But rising before the body wants to affects not only our mood and energy, but brain function as well, says an article from The Atlanti.①

“The practice of going to sleep and waking up at ‘unnatural’ times could be the most prevalent high-risk behavior in modern society,” the article quotes Till Roenneberg, a professor of chronobiology at the Institute of Medical Psychology at Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich in Germany, as saying.

According to Roenneberg’s groundbreaking study recently published in Current Biology,about one-third of people living in first-world countries are required to wake up two hours before their circadian clocks, or “natural waking times,” tell them to, and 69 percent of people have to wake up one hour before their bodies would like them to.

Sleepless night have serious downsides. Although there’s no universal rule for how long we should all be sleeping, it’s becoming increasingly clear that staying up late and waking early can cause serious problems.②It’s not just repeated sleep deprivation that harm people. Just one restless night can seriously affec us in the morning.

Side effect from missing sleep include:

If all these still can’t motivate you to get enough sleep, consider this: Not sleeping enough makes you fat. Sleep deprivation compromises your body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates and control food intake.③When you sleep less you eat more and have more difficul burning the calories you consume.

(Selected from 21st Century . December 24, 2014)
(453 words)

Notes

① But rising before the body wants to affects not only our mood and energy, but brain function as well, says an article from The Atlanti.《大西洋报》上的一篇文章说，但是在身体想要起床之前起床不仅会影响你的心情和精力，而且也会影响大脑功能。

② Although there’s no universal rule for how long we should all be sleeping, it’s becoming increasingly clear that staying up late and waking early can cause serious problems.虽然没有统一的规定要求我们每天应该睡多长时间，但越来越清楚的是熬夜早起会带来严重后果。

③ Sleep deprivation compromises your body’s ability to metabolize carbohydrates and control food intake. 缺乏睡眠会危害你身体新陈代谢碳水化合物和控制食物摄入的能力。

Practice

Ⅰ. Reading comprehension

1. According to Till Roenneberg, what could be the most widespread dangerous behavior nowadays?

A. Going to bed on time.

B. Getting up on time.

C. Repeated sleep deprivation.

D. Working extremely hard.

2. Th underlined word “downside” in Paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .

A. disadvantage B. positive aspect

C. impact D. situation

3. What could be the harmful effec from missing sleep according to the passage?

A. Brain damage.B. Leaking memory.

C. Increased creativity.D. Malnutrition.

4. Which of the following statements is incorrect?

A. Rising before circadian clocks has negative effec both on the mood and brain function.

B. About one-third of people around the world wake up two hours before the “natural waking times” tell them to, according to Roenneberg’s recent study.

C. Ther is no definit answer to how long we should be sleeping.

D. When you sleep less, you burn fewer calories.

5. According to the text, not sleeping enough makes you fat. How does it happen?

Ⅲ. Writing practice

Afte reading the text, what changes do you want to have in your lifestyle? 1K5SULl4xXsmk0h0Jo96qz60bX4+K9TvDKZxQk96ZJGJrmiTBsWd1n7C/PSEJUZv