2014年職稱英語(理工類)教材閱讀理解文章及譯文6

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　　Making Light of Sleep

　　All we have a clock located inside our brains. Similar to your bedside alarm clock， your internal clock2 runs on a 24-hour cycle. This cycle，called a circadian rhythm，helps control when you wake，when you eat and when you sleep.

　　Somewhere around puberty，something happens in the timing of the biological clock. The clock pushes forward，so adolescents and teenagers are unable to fall asleep as early as they used to. When your mother tells you it's time for bed，your body may be pushing you to stay up3 for several hours more. And the light coming from your computer screen or TV could be pushing you to stay up even later.

　　This shift4 is natural for teenagers. But staying up very late and sleeping late can get your body's clock out of sync with the cycle of light and dark5. It can also make it hard to get out of bed in the morning and may bring other problems，too. Teenagers are put in a kind of a gray cloud6 when they don't get enough sleep，says Mary Carskadon，a sleep researcher at Brown University in Providence，RI7 .It affects their mood and their ability to think and learn.

　　But just like your alarm clock，your internal clock can be reset. In fact，it automatically resets itself every day. How? By using the light it gets through your eyes.

　　Scientists have known for a long time that the light of day and the dark of night play important roles in setting our internal clocks. For years，researchers thought that the signals that synchronize the body's clock8 were handled through the same pathways that we use to see.

　　But recent discoveries show that the human eye has two separate light-sensing systems. One system allows us to see. The second system tells our body whether it's day or night.

　　注釋：

　　1.make light of ：輕視，不在乎。例如： We should not make light of their achievements.我們不應當低估他們的成就。

　　2. your internal clock ：指的是第一句中的a clock located inside our brains ，也即是第二段第一句中的the biological clock (生物鐘)。

　　3. stay up：不睡覺，熬夜

　　4. This shift：這種調整。指上文所描述的由于生理時間的變化青少年上床時間越來越晚的現象。

　　5. get your body's clock out of sync with the cycle of light and dark ：打亂了你的生物鐘與晝夜時間循環(huán)之間的平衡

　　6. gray cloud ：提不起精神的狀態(tài)

　　7. Brown University in Providence， RI：位于美國羅得島州普羅維登斯的布朗大學。RI是Rhode Island(羅得島)的首字母縮寫;Providence 是羅得島州的首府。布朗大學是美國一流大學，創(chuàng)建于1764 年，是世界聞名的美國“常春藤聯(lián)盟”(還包括哈佛大學、耶魯大學、普林斯頓大學、布朗大學、哥倫比亞大學、賓夕法尼亞大學、達特茅斯大學和康奈爾大學)中的一員。

　　8. the signals that synchronize the body's clock：平衡生物鐘的光信號

　　練習：

　　1 .The clock located inside our brains is similar to our bedside alarm clock because

　　A it controls when we wake，when we eat and when we sleep.

　　B it has a cycle of 24 hours.

　　C it is a cycle also called circadian rhythm.

　　D it can alarm any time during 24 hours.

　　2. What is implied in the second paragraph?

　　A Young children's biological clock has the same rhythm with that of the teenagers.

　　B People after puberty begin to go to bed earlier due to the change of the biological clock.

　　C Children before puberty tend to fall asleep earlier at night than adolescents.

　　D Teenagers go to bed later than they used to due to the light from the computer screen.

　　3. In the third paragraph the author wants to tell the reader that

　　A it is natural for teenagers to stay up late and get up late.

　　B staying up late has a bad effect on teenagers' ability to think and learn.

　　C during puberty most teenagers experience a kind of gray cloud.

　　D it is hard for teenagers to get out of bed in the morning.

　　4. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the fourth and fifth paragraphs?

　　A Our biological clock resets itself automatically.

　　B light gets through our eyes and resets our biological clock.

　　C Our internal clock as well as the alarm clock can be reset automatically.

　　D Our internal clock，like the alarm clock，can be reset.

　　5. According to the last two paragraphs， what did the previous researchers think about the human eye's light-sensing system?

　　A The human eye had two light-sensing systems.

　　B The human eye had one light-sensing system.

　　C The human eye could sense the light of day more quickly than the dark of night.

　　D The human eye could reset our internal clocks in accordance with the alarm clocks.

　　答案與題解：

　　1.B 第一段第二句提供了答案。句中的your internal clock 即指a clock located inside our Brains。

　　2. C 第二段主要內容是告訴讀者，過了青春期(puberty)，由于生物鐘節(jié)奏的變化，青少年(adolescents and teenagers)比以前要晚睡幾小時。所以C是該段所隱含的內容。

　　3. B 第三段的最后一句直接給出了答案。

　　4. C 根據第四和第五段的內容，鬧鐘和生物鐘都可以重新設定時間，但生物鐘能通過眼睛接受的日光來自動調節(jié)生理節(jié)奏。所以A、B和D都是這兩段中所述內容，C是正確選擇，因為鬧鐘不能自動重新設定時間。

　　5.B 問題使用的是過去時，問的是研究者在最新發(fā)現(recent discoveries)之前對眼睛感光系統(tǒng)的認識，即，the signals that synchronize the body's clock were handled through the same

　　pathways that we use to see (眼睛所接受到的平衡生物鐘的光信號同樣作用于人類的視覺系統(tǒng))，也就是說，研究者之前認為人類的眼睛只有一個感光系統(tǒng)。但最新發(fā)現卻是，人的眼睛有兩個感光系統(tǒng)。

　　譯文：不要太在意睡眠

　　我們每個人的大腦里都有一個像我們床邊的鬧鐘一樣的生物鐘。人腦里的生物鐘24小時走一圈，這一圈也就是一次完整的晝夜節(jié)律，正是這個節(jié)律決定了我們吃飯、睡覺和起床的時間。

　　青春期時，人的生物鐘在定時方面會發(fā)生變化，生物鐘會提前。這時，青少年會比以前睡得晚，所以當你媽媽告訴你該睡覺時，你的生物鐘可能會讓你多推遲幾小時，并且電腦或電視光線可能會導致你熬夜到更晚。

　　生物鐘的這種變化對青少年說是正常的，但熬夜到太晚會打亂你生物鐘與晝夜時間循環(huán)之間的平衡，這樣就會帶來一些問題，例如：早晨很難按時起床。位于美國羅得州布郎大學睡眠方面的研究員Mary Carskadon說：“當青少年睡眠不足時會打不起精神，這將影響到他們心情、學習和思考問題的狀態(tài)?！?/P>

　　其實生物鐘與鬧鐘一樣，也是可調的，事實上，生物鐘每天都在進行著自我調節(jié)，其方式就是通過你眼睛接收到光線的變化。

　　很早之前，科學家就知道了晝夜光線強弱的變化對生物鐘調節(jié)起到了重要的作用，長久以來，研究者們認為眼睛所接受到的平衡生物鐘的光信號同樣作用于人類的視覺系統(tǒng)。

　　但最近幾年的研究發(fā)現，人類眼睛有兩個感光系統(tǒng)，一個是視覺系統(tǒng)，而另一個是感知晝夜的系統(tǒng)。