Study on sleep, world's ugliest dog 睡眠不足對大腦影響的研究、世界最醜的狗狗

本集內容

Study launched on sleep deprivation 科學傢發起睡眠不足對大腦影響的研究

Meet the world’s ugliest dog 來一睹“世界最醜狗”的風采

文字稿

We spend nearly a third of our lives asleep. It’s vital for our physical and mental health. But, we’re getting less sleep than ever. British neuroscientist Adrian Owen based in Ontario, believes this may be having a serious effect on our brainpower. I joined volunteers at Western University, Ontario, trying out his online test designed to assess reasoning, memory and decision making. To demonstrate how tiredness may affect those, we stayed up until 4am and then had just four hours’ sleep. Most of our scores went down compared to the night before. After a normal night’s sleep my brain was functioning well. The bright orange blobs are areas of increased activity. And this is the scan done after four hours’ sleep. This study should reveal how much sleep we need for our brains to be at their best.

我們生命中近三分之一的時間都在睡覺。睡眠對於我們的身心健康來說至關重要。但是，我們的睡眠時間比以往任何時候都要少。在加拿大安大略省工作的英國神經科學傢阿德裡安·歐文認為，這一現狀可能正嚴重影響我們的智力。我加入瞭安大略省韋仕敦大學（Western University）的志願者團隊，並試做瞭這位科學傢設計的旨在評估推理、記憶和決策水平的在線測試。為瞭展示疲勞是怎樣影響上述能力的，志願者們熬夜至清晨四點，接著隻睡瞭四小時。與前一晚相比，大多數人的分數都有所降低。經過一宿正常的睡眠之後，我的大腦又開始有效地運轉瞭。這一團亮橙色顯示的是大腦活躍度增加的區域。而這個圖像是在我們睡瞭四小時後掃描的。該研究將給我們揭示要使大腦達到最佳工作狀態所需的睡眠時間。

This Neapolitan mastiff called Martha has been crowned as the World’s Ugliest Dog 2017 in California. Martha and her owner Shirley Zindler picked up the $1, 500 prize. The big-jowled crowd-pleaser will now be flown to New York for media appearances. It’s the 29th year of the competition, which typically includes lots of dogs that have been rescued from shelters. The contest aims to raise awareness of the adoption of dogs. The animals are loving companions and seem to enjoy the adoration of the fans.

這隻叫瑪莎的那不勒斯獒在美國加州“2017世界最醜狗大賽”中摘得桂冠。瑪莎和她的主人雪莉·辛德勒共同贏得瞭1500美元的獎金。這隻下頜垂滿贅肉的開心果將會被飛去紐約，好在眾多媒體前亮相。該比賽在今年迎來瞭第29屆，參賽選手中很多隻狗都曾來自寵物收容中心。舉辦這項比賽的目的是提高人們收養狗的意識。這些狗不僅是人類的知心良伴，它們也似乎很享受粉絲們的仰慕。

詞匯

brainpower
腦力，智力

crowd-pleaser
令眾人高興的人，開心果

練習

請從以下詞匯中選擇適當的答案來完成句子。註意：你可能需要改變單詞的時態來完成句子。

brainpower / crowd-pleaser

1. The appearance of Beyoncé in the music festival was a real ______.

2. Learning a second language can boost ______, scientists believe. The US researchers from Northwestern University say bilingualism is a form of brain training – a mental “work out” that fine-tunes the mind.

答案

1. The appearance of Beyoncé in the music festival was a real crowd-pleaser.

2. Learning a second language can boost brainpower, scientists believe. The US researchers from Northwestern University say bilingualism is a form of brain training – a mental “work out” that fine-tunes the mind.