袁瑞

At Night

晚上

Snug3） in your bed， you are about to drift off to sleep4）， when suddenly you feel like you are falling. Maybe you even dream you are plunging5） off a cliff. Your bodyjerks6）， perhaps you wake up. Whats happening？ Well， you are falling ... asleep， that is. Your body relaxes， but your brain is still alert， and when your muscles become less tense， your brain senses that you are in danger of falling. To save you， your brain sends a signal： "Hey， muscles， straighten up！" As your muscles obey， your body snaps to attention7）. Youve just experienced a hypnic8）， or sleep， jerk， a perfectly normal way to "fall" asleep.

It usually takes about 15 or 20 minutes to fall asleep， but first you have to find the most comfortable position. Some people sleep on their backs and some on their stomachs. Most people curl up in the "fetal9）" position. Other people assume more bizarre positions， such as on elbows and knees or completely wrapped in the sheets （"The Mummy"）. You may move as many as 35 times a night， but normally you will fall asleep in the same position and probably return to it or a version of it quite often.

Soon a loud growling sound shatters10） the peaceful night. Your uvula11） shakes and your adenoids12） quake13） and your tonsils14） quiver. What？ You are snoring. Some kids snore when nasal passages and glands15）， such as adenoids and tonsils， get swollen or stuffed up. When this happens， you must breathe through your mouth， and as you suck in air， it makes the soft tissue at the back of your throat vibrate， causing that raspy16） snoring sound. The bad news is you may snore more as you get older， especially if you are a boy. The good news is that snoring is not usually a serious problem， unless of course you wake up your younger brother.

Some sleepers get really busy during the first few hours of the night， before they even start dreaming. Sleepwalking， sleep talking and even bedwetting17） can be caused by a kind of disagreement between your brain and your body. For instance， the brain of a sleepwalker wants to stay awake， while his or her body is in a deep sleep. Sleepwalkers keep their eyes open and appear to be able to see where they are going， but they are sound asleep. Although they sometimes leave the house or wake up in strange places， most sleepwalkers just wander around for a few minutes and then return to bed without ever waking up.

Im Falling ... Asleep我要墜入……夢鄉(xiāng)啦

Get Comfortable調(diào)整到舒服的睡姿

你舒服地躺在床上，整個人迷迷糊糊的，就快要睡著了，忽然間你感覺自己正在墜落。也許你甚至夢見自己從懸崖上掉了下來。你的身體猛地一抽，你可能就此醒來。什么情況？哦，你正在墜入……睡夢中，就是這樣。你的身體雖然放松了，可你的大腦還很警覺，于是當你的肌肉變得沒那么緊繃時，你的大腦就會察覺到你有跌落的危險。為了救你，大腦會發(fā)出指令：“嘿，肌肉們，給我繃直了！”隨著你的肌肉服從命令，你的身體就會立刻變得警覺。你剛剛所經(jīng)歷的是在半夢半醒之際或者熟睡之時發(fā)生的抽動——一種十分正常的“墜入”睡夢的方式。

通常情況下，入睡需要約15或20分鐘，但首先你得找到最舒服的睡姿。有的人仰著睡，有的人趴著睡。大多數(shù)人會像“胎兒”似的蜷著睡，其他人則采用更奇怪的睡姿，比如用胳膊肘和膝蓋撐著身體，或是用被單把自己全部裹起來（像個“木乃伊”）。每晚你可能會翻動35次之多，但通常都會以相同的姿勢睡著，而且很可能會頻繁地翻回到這個睡姿或者與其相似的睡姿。

很快，響亮的呼呼聲就打破了寧靜的夜晚。你的小舌在顫，腺樣體在震，扁桃體在抖。怎么回事？你在打呼嚕。有的孩子會在鼻道以及像腺樣體和扁桃體這樣的腺體腫脹或堵塞時打呼嚕。遇到這種情況，你就必須用嘴來呼吸，當你吸入空氣時，會讓位于喉嚨后部的軟組織振動，致使你發(fā)出那惱人的鼾聲。不妙的是，隨著年齡漸長，你可能會打得更多，如果你是男孩的話，就更會如此了。而好消息則是打呼嚕通常不是什么嚴重的問題，當然除非你把你弟弟給吵醒了。

有的人在晚上入睡后的前幾個小時，甚至連夢都還沒開始做就已經(jīng)很忙了。大腦和身體之間的某種不協(xié)調(diào)會導(dǎo)致你夢游、說夢話甚至尿床。比如，夢游者的大腦想保持清醒，但其身體卻處于深度睡眠狀態(tài)。夢游者睜著眼睛，仿佛能夠看到自己要去的地方，但其實他們睡得很沉。他們有時候會離開房間或是在陌生的地方醒來，但大多數(shù)夢游者只是轉(zhuǎn)悠幾分鐘，然后甚至都不曾醒來就又回到床上。

供稿

1. lump [l?mp] n. （各種形體或大小的）塊，團

2. think again： 你錯啦

3. snug [sn?ɡ] adj. 溫暖舒適的

4. drift off to sleep： 迷迷糊糊地睡去

5. plunge [pl?nd?] vi. 猛跌；驟降

6. jerk [d???k] vi. 抽搐；n. （因激動等引起的）抽搐

7. snap to attention： 立刻變得警覺

8. hypnic [?h?pn?k] adj. 【心】入睡前發(fā)生的；入睡前似醒非醒狀態(tài)的

9. fetal [?fi?tl] adj. 胎兒的；似胎兒的

10. shatter [???t?（r）] vt. 使粉碎；使嚴重破壞

11. uvula [?ju?vj?l?] n. 【解】懸雍垂；小舌

12. adenoids [??d?n??dz] n. [復(fù)]腺樣體；腺樣增殖體

13. quake [kwe?k] vi. 顫抖，哆嗦

14. tonsil [?t?nsl] n. 【解】扁桃體

15. gland [ɡl?nd] n. 【解】腺

16. raspy [?rɑ?spi] adj. （聲音）刺耳的，惱人的

17. bedwetting [?bed?wet??] n. 尿床

An Hour Later

一小時后

Two Hours Later

兩小時后

Did You Hear That？ 你聽到鼾聲了嗎？

Better Lock the Doors 最好把門鎖上

18. far-fetched： 牽強的；不切實際的

19. sleep on it： 好好考慮一夜（第二天再做決定），此處用了雙關(guān)語。

20. prickly [?pr?kli] adj. 刺痛的；針刺般痛的

21. pins and needles： （身體某部位發(fā)麻時的）刺痛感

4：00 am

凌晨四點

7：00 am

早上七點

Nightmares or sweet dreams， youve had them both. Your most memorable—or scariest—dreams usually occur in the last hours of sleep. If you awaken in the middle of a dream， you might find it difficult to move for a moment or two. Certain parts of your brain have shut down to paralyze or temporarily disable the body. This sensation sometimes causes nightmares that include a witch or monster sitting on your chest.

Scientists have lots of complicated theories about why we dream， but for most of us， dreams are simply wonderful stories or scary adventures. You might enjoy trying to figure out what your ridiculous dreams mean （hmmm， I wonder why I dreamed about the dog dressed up in a suit and eating my broccoli？）， but many people take dreaming quite seriously. Some cultures believe that dreams are actual events that happen to a persons soul during sleep. Others use their dreams to work through the problems of daily life. This isnt as far-fetched18） as it might seem. Next time you have a problem or worry， try "sleeping on it19）". The next day， you just might have a solution.

Time to wake up， but wait， your arm， twisted under your body， feels numb. As you begin to move， a strange， prickly20） feeling floods down from your shoulder. Oh no，pins and needles21）. When pressure on your arm keeps the nerves from sending any messages to the brain， your arm loses all feeling. As you relieve the pressure and the nerves resume sending signals， "pins and needles" occur. So dont worry if you wake up and your arm is still "asleep". Itll be wide awake in a moment or two.

Discovery

But My Arm Is Still Asleep！ 可是我的胳膊還在睡呢！

Dare to Dream 勇敢地做夢

此文為本刊與美國Cricket Media出版集團的版權(quán)合作文章，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載。

噩夢也好，美夢也好，你肯定都有過。最難忘或最恐怖的夢通常都發(fā)生在睡眠階段的最后那幾個小時。如果你做夢做到一半時醒了，你可能會發(fā)覺自己一時半會兒竟難以動彈。這是因為你的一部分大腦處于關(guān)閉狀態(tài)，致使身體麻痹或暫時無法活動。這種感覺有時候會引發(fā)噩夢，比如夢到巫婆或怪物正坐在你的胸口上。

關(guān)于我們?yōu)槭裁磿鰤?，科學(xué)家有許多復(fù)雜的理論，但是對我們大多數(shù)人來說，夢境只是美妙的故事或恐怖的歷險。你也許喜歡試圖去琢磨那些荒誕的夢都意味著什么（恩，我想知道為什么我會夢見一只身著西裝的狗狗在吃我的西蘭花？），但很多人會非常認真地看待他們做的夢。在一些文化里，夢被認為是人睡著時靈魂經(jīng)歷的真實事件。其他人則用夢來解決日常生活中的問題。這并沒有像它可能看起來的那么不靠譜。下次你要是有什么問題或煩惱的話，試著“帶著問題睡覺”吧，也許第二天你就有解決辦法了呢。

該起床了，但是等一下，你的胳膊扭曲著壓在身下，感覺很麻。你一動就會有種奇怪的刺痛感從肩膀向下襲來。啊，不好，麻死了。當你的胳膊受壓，神經(jīng)無法向大腦傳遞任何信號時，你的胳膊就失去了知覺。當你擺脫了這種壓力，神經(jīng)重新發(fā)出信號，“針扎般的感覺”就出現(xiàn)了。所以，如果你醒了，但你的胳膊還“睡著”，不要擔(dān)心，它過一會兒就會完全清醒啦。

Someones phone is a very personal item and I think its extremely disrespectful when other people stare at it.

背景鏈接：42歲的Celal G?ger是一位來自土耳其比斯米爾小鎮(zhèn)的手機維修工，他發(fā)明了一種可以保護手機隱私的專用眼鏡。這種眼鏡可以與智能手機的屏幕互動，只有佩戴該眼鏡者才能看到對應(yīng)的手機屏幕，其他人只能看到一片空白。Celal稱這款眼鏡僅需約十美元，而且該保護隱私系統(tǒng)還適用于所有的電子顯示器。目前，他正在申請專利，希望可以有機會進行大批量的生產(chǎn)。在接受采訪時，Celal道出了自己研發(fā)這款眼鏡的初衷。

小編有話說：再也不怕別人偷瞄你的手機啦。