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JessaGamble_2010G-_我们的自然睡眠周期_
Let's start with day and night. 让我们从日夜开始。
Life evolved under conditions of light and darkness, light and then darkness. 生命的进化在 光明与黑暗中进行, 光明,然后是黑暗。
evolved:v.(使)逐渐形成;进化;进化形成;(evolve的过去分词和过去式)
And so plants and animals developed their own internal clocks so that they would be ready for these changes in light. 因此植物和动物 都进化出自己的内部时钟, 这使得他们能适应光线的改变。
internal:n.内脏;本质;adj.内部的;里面的;体内的;(机构)内部的;
These are chemical clocks, and they're found in every known being that has two or more cells and in some that only have one cell. 这是化学时钟, 每个已知的多细胞生物体内都有这种时钟, 部分单细胞生物也有这种时钟。
chemical:n.化学制品,化学药品;adj.化学的;
I'll give you an example. 举个例子。
If you take a horseshoe crab off the beach, and you fly it all the way across the continent , and you drop it into a sloped cage, it will scramble up the floor of the cage as the tide is rising on its home shores, 如果你从海滩上抓一只鲎, 把它空运到大陆的另一端, 接着把它放入一个倾斜的笼子里, 在它数千里外家乡的海岸 涨潮的时候, 它会爬到笼子的高处。
horseshoe:vt.装蹄铁于;n.马蹄铁;U形物; crab:n.蟹;螃蟹;蟹肉;阴虱病;v.捕蟹;用爪抓;使侧航;使斜行; continent:n.大陆,洲,陆地;adj.自制的,克制的; sloped:adj.倾斜的;v.倾斜;使倾斜(slope的过去式); scramble:vt.攀登; n.抢夺,争夺; vi.爬行,攀登; tide:n.潮汐; v.顺应潮水航行;
and it'll skitter down again right as the water is receding thousands of miles away. 而退潮时它又会 退回笼子底部。
skitter:vi.飞掠而过;蹦跳;vt.使掠过水面; receding:v.逐渐远离;逐渐减弱;(头顶前部)头发停止生长;(recede的现在分词)
It'll do this for weeks, until it kind of gradually loses the plot . 这种行为它会重复数个星期, 直到它渐渐失去这种判断能力。
gradually:adv.渐渐地;逐步地; plot:n.情节;阴谋;布局;小块土地;v.密谋;暗中策划;(在地图上)标出;绘制(图表);
And it's incredible to watch, but there's nothing psychic or paranormal going on; it's simply that these crabs have internal cycles that correspond , usually, with what's going on around it. 这非常不可思议, 但这不是什么灵异或是超自然现象; 原因很简单,这些鲎拥有 能与周围环境相协调的内部周期。
incredible:adj.难以置信的,惊人的; psychic:adj.精神的;心灵的;灵魂的;超自然的;n.灵媒;巫师; paranormal:adj.超常的;超过正常范围的; crabs:n.蟹类;吊钳;脾气坏的人(crab的复数);v.捕蟹;抱怨;侧航(crab的三单形式); correspond:vi.符合,一致;相应;通信;
So, we have this ability as well. 我们也有这种能力。
And in humans, we call it the body clock . 就人类而言,我们称之为生物钟。
body clock:n.生物钟;
You can see this most clearly when you take away someone's watch and you shut them into a bunker , deep underground, for a couple of months. 当你拿走某个人的手表,把他关进一个深入地下的地下堡垒 关上几个月,你就能更清楚地观察到 生物钟的作用。
bunker:n.沙坑;煤仓;燃料库;vt.使陷入困境;把球击入沙坑;
People actually volunteer for this, and they usually come out kind of raving about their productive time in the hole. 实际上有志愿者做过这个实验, 他们从洞里出来时 对他们在洞里的时间有点混乱。
volunteer:n.志愿者;志愿兵;adj.志愿的;v.自愿; raving:v.热烈谈论(或书写);怒吼;胡说八道;(rave的现在分词) productive:adj.能生产的;生产的,生产性的;多产的;富有成效的;
So, no matter how atypical these subjects would have to be, they all show the same thing. 不管这些志愿者显得多不合逻辑, 有一件事可以确认。
atypical:adj.非典型的;不合规则的;
They get up just a little bit later every day -- say 15 minutes or so -- and they kind of drift all the way around the clock like this over the course of the weeks. 他们每天都比之前晚起一点--大约15分钟左右-- 在这几星期内他们的生物钟就 像这样不断向后推延。
drift:v.漂移;漂流;飘;缓缓移动;n.趋势;大意;要点;流动;
And so, in this way, we know that they are working on their own internal clocks, rather than somehow sensing the day outside. 而且,就这样,我们知道他们是用自己的生物钟做到这点的, 而不是用某种方式感知外面的日光。
somehow:adv.以某种方法;莫名其妙地;
So fine, we have a body clock, and it turns out that it's incredibly important in our lives. 那么好的,我们有生物钟, 并且它对我们的生活极其重要。
incredibly:adv.难以置信地;非常地;
It's a huge driver for culture, and I think that it's the most underrated force on our behavior. 它也是文化的巨大推动力, 我认为这是在我们的行为中最被低估的一种力量。
underrated:v.过低评价;低估;(underrate的过去式和过去分词)
We evolved as a species near the equator, and so we're very well-equipped to deal with 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. 我们人类是从赤道附近进化而来的一个物种, 因此我们能非常好的 适应12小时的白昼和 12小时的黑夜。
species:n.[生物]物种;种类; well-equipped:adj.设备精良的;装备很好的; daylight:n.日光;
But of course, we've spread to every corner of the globe, and in Arctic Canada, where I live, we have perpetual daylight in summer and 24 hours of darkness in winter. 不过当然,我们现在已经遍布全球的每个角落, 在我居住的加拿大北极地区, 夏天是极昼, 而冬天则是极夜。
Arctic:adj.北极的;北极地区的;极冷的;严寒的;n.北极;北极地区; perpetual:adj.永久的;不断的;四季开花的;无期限的;
So the culture, the northern aboriginal culture, traditionally has been highly seasonal . 因此传统上北部原住民文化 是高度季节性的。
aboriginal:adj.土著的;原始的;n.土著居民;土生生物; traditionally:adv.传统上;习惯上;传说上; highly:adv.高度地;非常;非常赞许地; seasonal:adj.季节的;周期性的;依照季节的;
In winter, there's a lot of sleeping going on. 在冬天,睡眠时间很长。
You enjoy your family life inside. 人们在室内享受家庭生活。
And in summer, it's almost manic hunting and working activity very long hours, very active. 而在夏天则是疯狂的狩猎 及很长时间的劳作, 非常活跃。
manic:adj.躁狂的;狂热的;n.躁狂症者;
So, what would our natural rhythm look like? 那么,我们的自然节奏应该是什么样的呢？
rhythm:n.节奏;韵律;
What would our sleeping patterns be in the sort of ideal sense? 我们的理想中的睡眠模式 应是什么样的呢？
Well, it turns out that, when people are living without any sort of artificial light at all, they sleep twice every night. 嗯,事实表明, 当生活在完全没有 任何人工光源的环境中时, 人们会每晚睡两次。
artificial:adj.人造的;仿造的;虚伪的;非原产地的;武断的;
They go to bed around 8:00 pm. 人们在晚上8点左右睡觉。
until midnight and then again, they sleep from about 2:00 am until sunrise . 直到午夜, 接着再次入睡, 大约从凌晨2点直到日出。
sunrise:n.日出;朝霞;
And in-between , they have a couple of hours of sort of meditative quiet in bed. 在这两次睡眠之间,有几个小时 在床上安静的沉思。
in-between:n.中间人;中间存在者;局中的物体;adj.中间的; meditative:adj.冥想的,沉思的;耽于默想的;
And during this time, there's a surge of prolactin , the likes of which a modern day never sees. 在这段时间内, 催乳素产生 这样的情况在现代社会不会出现。
surge:n.汹涌;大浪,波涛;汹涌澎湃;巨涌;v.汹涌;起大浪,蜂拥而来; prolactin:n.[生化][生理]催乳激素;泌乳刺激素;
The people in these studies report feeling so awake during the daytime, that they realize they're experiencing true wakefulness for the first time in their lives. 这些研究中的人们 在白天觉得很清醒, 他们意识到 正在经历生命中的 第一次真正的失眠。
wakefulness:n.[生理]觉醒;不眠;
So, cut to the modern day. 那么,转到现代社会。
We're living in a culture of jet lag , global travel, 24-hour business, shift work. 我们的文化中充满时差, 全球旅行, 24小时营业, 倒班工作。
jet lag:时差综合症; global:adj.全球的;总体的;球形的; shift:n.移动;变化;手段;轮班;v.移动;转变;转换;
And, you know, our modern ways of doing things have their advantages , but I believe we should understand the costs. 你知道,我们现代人的 这种生活方式 有它的优点, 但我想我们应该明白所付出的代价。
advantages:n.有利条件; v.有利于;
Thank you. 谢谢。
(Applause) （掌声）