文章大意:本文是一篇说明文。文章主要讲的是来自美国弗吉尼亚理工学院的历史学教授Roger Ekirch在分析了过去与睡眠有关的资料后,发现过去的人们习惯分段睡眠。
The existence of our sleeping twice per night was first uncovered by Roger Ekirch, professor of history at Virginia Tech.
His research found that we didn’t always sleep eight hours in a row. We used to sleep in two shorter periods, over a longer range of night. This range was about 12 hours long, and began with a sleep of three to four hours, wakefulness of two to three hours, and then sleep again until morning.
References are found throughout literature, court documents and personal papers. What is surprising is not that people slept in two periods, but that the concept was so extremely common. Two-piece sleeping was the standard, accepted way to sleep. “It’s not the number of references — it is the way they refer to it, as if it was common knowledge,” Ekirch says.
What did people do with these extra hours? Pretty much what you might expect. Most stayed in their beds and bedrooms, sometimes reading, and often they would use the time to pray. Religious manuals (手册) included special prayers to be said in the mid-sleep hours. Others might smoke, and talk with co-sleepers. Some were more active and would leave to visit neighbors.
As we know, this practice eventually died out. Ekirch thinks the change was caused by the arrival of street lighting and eventually electric indoor light, as well as the popularity of coffee houses. Author Craig Koslofsky offers a further theory in his book Evening’s Empire. With the rise of more street lighting, night stopped being the domain (领地) of criminals and became a time for work or socializing. Two sleeps were eventually considered a wasteful way to spend these hours.
No matter why the change happened, shortly after the turn of the 20th century the concept of two sleeps had disappeared from common knowledge.
12. How did people use to sleep according to Ekirch’s finding?
A.They slept fewer hours than we do now. |
B.They had two shorter sleeps at nighttime. |
C.They fell asleep much later than we do now. |
D.They divided their sleeping time on purpose. |
13. What is the fact that surprised Roger Ekirch?
A.People took it for granted to sleep in two periods. |
B.People spent their waking hours reading literature. |
C.Many documents about sleep patterns were discovered. |
D.Literature was then widely enjoyed by common people. |
14. Which word can best describe people’s activities in the mid-sleep hours?
A.Limited. | B.Religious. | C.Horrible. | D.Varied. |
15. What’s implied in Paragraph 5?
A.Traffic conditions have been improved ever since. |
B.Coffee proved effective in solving sleep problems. |
C.Crime rates tended to be higher at night in the past. |
D.Evening’s Empire deals with major historical events. |