2007/02（追試）
It is really important to have a sharp focus in one’s studies, but many students enter college each year with no precise idea of what they want to do in the future. I suppose that’s how I was when I entered college. I remember exactly how I first got interested enough in a subject to devote all my energy to it. It happened while I was talking to my friend, Myra. When I asked her what she did during the spring vacation, she laughed and said, “Well, Beth, I slept a lot.” “Are you kidding?” I said. “Why would you waste your precious time just sleeping?” She replied, “Sleep is not a waste of time. It’s very important.”
We laughed again, but later I thought about it more deeply. In fact, this conversation may have changed my life. I realized that the average person probably spends eight hours a day sleeping. That means we spend roughly one third of our lives sleeping. So something important for our bodies and minds must be going on, I thought.
Anyway, Myra and I started studying psychology. Myra got interested in stress problems and I read all I could about sleep. In our fourth year we each began looking for a university where we could do more advanced study. Eventually, after graduation, I decided to come to Western Australia, and Myra went to India.
This semester I’m taking part in Dr. Carter’s seminar, “Advanced Sleep Research.” According to Dr. Carter, it’s not easy ? even for scientists ? to define sleep precisely. Basically, when we’re asleep were hardly aware of the things around us and we don’t move much. But, surprisingly, various kinds of animals have very different sleep characteristics. Did you know that some animals which live in the ocean, for instance, swim while they’re asleep? Some birds may sleep in flight while they travel long distances from one part of the world to another.
People used to think that sleep just meant your brain activity temporarily stopped. I know I feel like my brain shuts down whenever I take a nap! But thanks to researchers back in the 1950s, we now know more about the cycles of brain activity during sleep, including periods of active dreaming. Scientists now think that all land mammals have such sleep cycles.
You would be amazed to find out about some of the excellent methods being used to learn about sleep. Once, I was lucky enough to have my own sleep tested. A computer connected to sensors on my head was able to record my brain waves while I was asleep. I was dreaming about eating chocolate cake, but of course no one could see that on the computer screen.
In our seminar, we’ve also heard about some interesting observations on the amount of sleep we need. Most humans seem to need about eight hours of sleep a day, hut some animals need more. Dogs sleep ten hours or so, cats more than twelve, and the ferret sleeps over fourteen hours. Another kind of animal, the opossum, sleeps eighteen hours a day, or three-fourths of its life!
When I told this to Myra, she said her studies in India suggested that maybe the more stress we experience, the more sleep we need. There is a lot that is still not known, but I have learned it is obviously dangerous not to get enough sleep. Past experiments have shown that the health of rats deprived of sleep can be severely damaged even when they are given plenty of food. If you don’t give them food but let them sleep normally, the rats will not be so badly affected.
Myra is coming here next week to give a presentation. She will discuss her recent experiments about the effects which massage, stretching, and relaxation techniques have on reducing stress. Afterwards, we are going to spend some time traveling together by train, since we have not seen each other for two years. I remember she always used to spend her vacations sleeping, but maybe she won’t this time because we have so much to say to each other about stress and sleep.
Many people would find ideas about sleep boring, but this topic is fascinating to me. I never sleep during Dr. Carter’s seminar! In fact, next month I will finish my research here and take a job with NASA studying the sleep patterns of astronauts. Myra’s ideas about lowering stress levels might be useful when I begin working with those who will go into space. Our interests developed by chance and took us to different places, but perhaps Myra and I could be working together someday.
- What is the writer, Beth, doing in Australia?
① She is learning about sleep.
② She is preparing to be an astronaut.
③ She is traveling before she begins to study.
④ She is learning about koala sleep cycles. - What first attracted Beth to the study of sleep?
① A book on sleep which she got as a gift.
② A talk she had with a friend about sleep.
③ Dr. Carter’s seminar on “Advanced Sleep Research.”
④ Her enjoyment of long naps. - What did Beth find out from research about the sleep of rats?
① Some rats manage to live in good health without sleep.
② Lack of sleep is more dangerous than lack of food.
③ Rats are active at night and sleep in the daytime.
④ Rats become sleepy when they eat a great deal. - What research result will Myra present in Australia?
① Some people never dream in color.
② All land mammals have sleep cycles.
③ Various methods reduce stress effectively.
④ Stress levels increase as one gets older. - What will Beth and Myra do during the vacation they will have soon’
① They will travel to a famous temple in northern India.
② They will just relax and sleep a lot after studying hard.
③ They will enjoy talking together as they take a train journey in Australia.
④ They will visit Florida, where there is an important NASA museum.
