Question

Who knows about sleep? Astronauts (宇航员). They have to. Their bodies are cut off from the outside world that reminds (提醒) us what time it is. But actually, it's even worse than that. An astronaut reported in his diary that he was likely to make mistakes on days following an unusually late bedtime.

So NASA started doing some serious research. They quickly realized that we're a slave to the outside world. Without light and darkness, we' re unable to regulate (管理) sleep times.

Because of modern technology, we're all living more like astronauts now. Light is no longer a function (功能) of the sun, but of always-on indoor lights, TV and computer screens. Temperature no longer follows a cycle of cooling at night and warming during the day. Is it any wonder that a third of Americans have sleep problems?

Maybe you think this doesn't affect you — or at least not much. You're wrong. Research done on non-astronauts has shown the same thing. After two weeks of six hours of sleep a night; you're drunk. By the end of two weeks, the six-hour sleepers behaved as badly as those who hadn't slept for 24 hours.

But what did they say when asked how they felt? "It's not affecting me." So if you are performing poorly because of sleep problems, you may have no idea. This is a real problem.

So what answers did NASA come up with?

Take an hour to calm down before bed. Yes, you're busy. But your time is not more valuable than an astronaut's.

Keep your bedroom dark, cool and free from noise. Even if you think "the light doesn't affect you" or "the noise isn't that bad", it can still affect sleep quality.

Another advice: forget the alarm clock (闹钟) in the morning; set an alarm to remind you to go to bed at night. When it goes off, finish up any work on the computer, and turn off any unnecessary lights. This prevents you from cheating yourself on sleep and allows you to wake up naturally.

1. What did NASA find about people’s sleep?

A. It takes a long time to develop regular sleep times.

B. It’s strongly influenced by the outside world.

C. It remains untouched by outside influences.

D. It’s hard to change one’s sleep habits.

2.The biggest problem of those who haven’t enough sleep lies in the fact that .

A. they can’t fall asleep without the lights on

B. they don’t know whether they sleep well

C. they refuse to regulate their sleep times

D. they get too drunk to sleep well

3. What does the underlined sentence in the text mean?

A. You should make full use of your time.

B. You can find the time to get ready to sleep.

C. You can sleep later to finish your work first.

D. You should learn from astronauts’ way of sleep.

4. What’s the advice on the alarm clock?

A. Use it to remind you to sleep.

B. Put it far away from your bed.

C. Get up immediately when it rings.

D. Pay no attention to it when it rings.

Answer 1