文章大意:本文是一篇说明文。本文介绍了一项新研究,发现南极栖息的带帽企鹅在孵蛋和照顾幼鸟期间会进行四秒钟的微睡,这个策略使它们能够持续看护弱小的蛋和幼仔,并每天获得11小时的总睡眠时间。
Sleep-deprived human parents know the value of a quick nap, but it turns out chinstrap penguins have us all beat. When nesting, these Antarctic birds take four-second-long “micro- sleeps”, a strategy that allows parents to keep constant watch over weak eggs and chicks, all while having 11 hours of total sleep a day, according to a new study.
Like other penguins, chinstrap parents take turns guarding the nest. While one bird protects the chicks, the partner finds food at sea. Then the penguins trade places. For two months between egg laying and fledging(羽化) , it’s a series of nonstop demands.
To study how penguins manage to accomplish all this and get the necessary sleep, Lee, a leader researcher, first stuck biologgers, small battery-powered devices, to the backs of 14 nesting penguins of both sexes. This device functions like a smart-watch, measuring physical activity, pulse, and the ocean depths of foraging birds.
Next, the team humanely arrested each of the penguins, attaching the devices temporarily into their skull to measure brain activity. When an animal is awake, the brain constantly buzzes with activity. During sleep, however, brain waves slow down and stretch out. When Lee started reviewing the data, he was surprised to discover the birds, slept in four-second intervals throughout the day and night while looking after their eggs or chicks.
“In both humans and penguins, micro-sleeps occur during times of exhaustion, yet nesting chinstrap penguins seem to have a near-exclusive reliance on it,” Cirelli, another scientist, says. Studying sleep in natural environments is difficult, so “the simple fact that they were able to record data in these conditions is incredible. ”
While the data is convincing, Cirelli notes that the researchers only studied the penguins during nesting periods, making it impossible to tell if the birds micro-sleep when they’re not parenting. The other challenge is understanding how micro-sleep impacts the brains and bodies of the pen-guins. Sleep deprivation in humans causes a range of health problems, and it’s not clear whether penguins experience this, too.
12. When do the birds have micro-sleeps?
A.When they lay eggs. | B.When they hunt for food. |
C.When they care for babies. | D.When they exchange places. |
13. What is the biologger?
A.A charger. | B.A smart-watch. |
C.A sleep monitor | D.A safety alarm. |
14. What does Cirelli mean in the last but one paragraph?
A.The micro-sleep study is successful. | B.Chinstrap penguins sleep more than human. |
C.The data from the micro-sleep study is simple. | D.Chinstrap penguins rely entirely on micro-sleep. |
15. What is probably continued with the text?
A.Effects and occurrence of micro-sleep. | B.Short-term strategies for tired bird parents. |
C.Problems caused by lack of sleep in humans. | D.Approaches of chinstrap penguins’ parenting. |