时差N小时 我们为什么要睡觉?(上)

It's such a commonplace event that you probably never asked yourself why you sleep.

睡觉是个特别自然的事儿，你大概从来没有问过自己为什么会睡觉。

But from a scientific point of view, this is far from a mundane¹ matter --

但是从科学的角度来看，这是很神秘的一件事。

in fact, for sleep researchers, it's one of the biggest unanswered questions in the field.

而事实上，对于睡眠研究人员来说，这仍是该领域中一个悬而未决的问题。

Stop and think about it for a second. Why should we sleep? Is it because we get tired?

停下来仔细想想。我们为什么会睡觉?是因为我们累了吗?

But we sleep every night, even when we have had plenty of rest.

但是即使我们休息够了，晚上还是要睡觉。

Further more, if you were designing an animal, would you have it lapse² into prolonged periods of unconsciousness every twenty-four hours?

此外，如果让你设计一种动物，你会让它每24小时陷入无意识状态一段时间吗?

Shouldn't that put it at a terrible disadvantage?

那不是让它处于很大的劣势吗?

There are no doubt several different answers to this question, but let's just consider one overall purpose sleep may fulfill³:

毫无疑问针对于这个问题会有很多不同的答案，但我们单去考虑一个能够实现的整体目标：

sleep as a survival strategy.

睡觉是一种生存策略。

Human beings are "diurnal⁴" creatures.

人类都是白天活动的。

That means we are normally active during daylight hours, when our senses function most effectively.

那意味着我们通常是白天活动力比较强，那个时候我们的感官功能也是最有效率的。

1 mundane   

adj.平凡的；尘世的；宇宙的

参考例句：

• I hope I can get an interesting job and not something mundane.我希望我可以得到的是一份有趣的工作，而不是一份平凡无奇的。
• I find it humorous sometimes that even the most mundane occurrences can have an impact on our awareness.我发现生活有时挺诙谐的，即使是最平凡的事情也能影响我们的感知。

2 lapse   

n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效

参考例句：

• The incident was being seen as a serious security lapse.这一事故被看作是一次严重的安全疏忽。
• I had a lapse of memory.我记错了。

3 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

4 diurnal   

adj.白天的，每日的

参考例句：

• Kangaroos are diurnal animals.袋鼠是日间活动的动物。
• Over water the diurnal change in refraction is likely to be small. 在水面上，折光的周日变化可能是很小的。