Sloth may be seen as a sin, but some of history's most accomplished men were fond of lounging around. Leonardo da Vinci enjoyed napping. So did Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill. Richard Buckminster Fuller advocated taking 30-minute naps every six hours. He is reported to have abandoned the practice only because “his schedule conflicted with that of his business associates, who insisted on sleeping like other men.”

   No one has yet proved a correlation between napping and artistic brilliance or professional success, but an intriguing study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine claims to find a link between daytime siestas and good health. A team of researchers led by Androniki Naska of the University of Athens Medical School and Dimitrios Trichopoulos of Harvard's School of Public Health followed over 23,000 Greek patients with no history of coronary disease, cancer or stroke, for an average of six years. Their conclusion: napping just might save your life.

   The study found that the group of adults who took siestas (defined as 30-minute naps) at least three times a week had a third fewer deaths from heart disease than an equivalent group who did not sleep at all during the day. The benefit was greater for men than for women. (Whether women benefited at all was hard to estimate as there were too few deaths among them during the course of the study.) It was also greater for working men than for those who had retired. However, a number of previous studies done in the Mediterranean and in parts of Central America (where siestas remain common) have come up with conflicting results, but Dr Naska and Dr Trichopoulos argue that those studies have often been flawed. The subjects in some, for example, had survived heart attacks and may therefore have benefited more from napping than healthy individuals do.

   Given that all of the subjects of this new study were Greek, could the much-celebrated Mediterranean diet deserve credit, rather than the siestas? The firm answer from Dr Trichopoulos is “No”. And he is in a good position to say so, for it was he who did the pioneering research that put olive oil and a plant-based diet on the scientific map in the first place. Unlike some other siesta studies, his was controlled for diet, smoking, exercise and other relevant variables. The earlier findings about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are confirmed, he says, and napping seems to help on top of that.

   Before buying a sofa for the office, however, it might be wise to consider the possibility of selection bias. Dr Trichopoulos concedes that “Type A” personalities, whose hard-working lives may make them prone to heart attacks, are also much less likely to take naps during the day. That bias might be skewing the study's results. Even so, he advises, “Take a nap if you can.”

   注（1）：本文選自Economist, 02/15/2007

   注（2）：本文習題命題模仿對象為2004年真題Text 1。

   1． What do scientists expect to achieve in the study of daytime siestas?

    [A] They want to prove that siestas help people become smarter.

    [B] They want to prove that siestas can make people happier.

    [C] They want to prove that sietas may prolong people’s life.

    [D] They want to prove that seitas help cure some diseases.

   2． Which of the following is advantage of taking nap regularly?

    [A] One’s possibility of dying from heart diseases is smaller.

    [B] One is surely to enjoy a long life.

    [C] Men can outlive women in general.

    [D] Men can survivie heart attacks better than women.

   3． The expression “l(fā)ounging around” (Line 1-2, Paragraph 1) most probably means _______.

    [A] sleeping a lot

    [B] taking a nap every few hours

    [C] relaxing oneself

    [D] being lazy

   4． Why is Dr Trichopoulos in a good position to deny the benefit from Mediterranean diet in this case?

    [A] Because the research Dr Trichopoulos has done on napping is more convincing.

    [B] Because Dr Trichopoulos is a forerunner of research on Mediterranean diet.

    [C] Because Dr Trichopoulos knows nothing about the nutritious value of Mediterranean diet.

    [D] Because Mediterranean diet is notorious for its unhealthiness.

   5． Which of the following is TURE according to the text?

    [A] Taking naps helps people to become smarter and more brilliant.

    [B] Most of those who have great achievements usually take siestas.

    [C] People who work under great pressure benefit more from napping than the retired.

    [D] Dr Trichopoulos’s siesta study conflicts with his previous study on diet.

   篇章剖析

    本文是一篇說明文，主要介紹了午睡和健康關系上的最新科學研究。第一段介紹了主要論題，并舉例說明了一些名人的午睡特點；第二段介紹了納斯卡和特里克伯羅斯進行的實驗，說明午睡可以延長人們的生命；第三段繼續(xù)討論研究結果；第四段反駁了地中海飲食可能影響實驗結果可信度的說法；第五段中特里克伯羅斯博士建議人們盡量午睡。

   詞匯注釋

   sloth [slEuW] n. 怠惰, 懶惰                    stroke [strEuk] n. 中風

   lounge [laundV] vi. 閑蕩                       equivalent [i`kwivElEnt] adj. 相等, 相當

   nap [nAp] n./v. n. (白天)小睡, 打盹              flaw [flC:] vt. 使有缺陷, 使無效

   correlation [9kCri`leiFEn] n. 相互關系, 相關       bias [`baiEs] n. 偏見

   siestas [sjE:] n. 午睡                           prone [prEun] adj. 傾向于

   coronary [`kCrEnEri] adj. 冠的, 花冠的, 冠狀的    skew [skju:] v. 曲解；歪曲

   難句突破

   The study found that the group of adults who took siestas (defined as 30-minute naps) at least three times a week had a third fewer deaths from heart disease than an equivalent group who did not sleep at all during the day.

   主體句式  The study found that…

   結構分析  這個句子的主要內(nèi)容集中于that后面的賓語從句，其中該從句的主體結構為the group of adults had a third fewer deaths than an equivalent group。從句中的第一個who引導的定語從句用來修飾提到的第一組成人的情況，其中注意到括號中的內(nèi)容是對siestas的概念定義；從句中的第二個who引導的定語從句用來修飾提到的第二組成人的情況。

   句子譯文  研究表明，那些每周至少午休3次，且每次至少30分鐘的成人組與日間從不午休的成人組相比，由心臟病致死的幾率低了1/3。

   題目分析

   1．C. 細節(jié)題。文章第二段最后，作者明確指出科學家們的結論是，午休有可能延長人們的壽命。

   2．A. 細節(jié)題。文章第三段第一句話提到，午休較多的人比從來不午休的人由心臟病致死的幾率低了1/3。

   3．D. 語義題。lounge有懶散、懶洋洋的意思，從上下文中也可以推出這個意思。

   4．B. 細節(jié)題。根據(jù)文章第四段，特里克伯羅斯博士是科學研究地中海飲食的先驅人物，而且其研究具有重大的貢獻性，因而他的結論也就更加具有說服力。

   5．C. 細節(jié)題。文章第三段指出，在工作的人們比退休人士的從午休獲益更為明顯。A錯誤的原因在于該論斷尚未證實；B錯誤的原因在于并不是所有有成就的人都有午休的習慣，文章第一段只是舉了一個名人的例子；D錯誤的原因在于特里克伯羅斯博士關于午休和飲食的研究并沒有彼此矛盾，而是互相補充的關系。

   參考譯文

    懶惰也許會被認為是一種罪過，但是歷史上一些最成功的人士卻喜歡悠閑懶散的生活。列奧納多·達芬奇喜歡小寐. 阿爾伯特"愛因斯坦和溫斯頓"丘吉爾亦如此。里查德"巴克明斯行"福勒提倡每隔6個小時就小睡30分鐘。據(jù)說他后來放棄了這個習慣僅僅是因為“他的日程安排與那些堅持和別人一樣作息時間的工作助手有沖突。”

   沒有人能夠證明小寐與杰出的藝術才能或者事業(yè)上的成功有相互關系，但是本周發(fā)表在《國際醫(yī)學檔案》上一份引人入勝的研究報告聲稱發(fā)現(xiàn)了日間午睡與健康之間的一種聯(lián)系。一個由雅典醫(yī)科大學的安德羅尼基·納斯卡和哈佛公共衛(wèi)生學院的特里克伯羅斯所領導的研究小組對23,000名沒有冠心病、癌癥或者中風記錄的希臘病人,進行長達6年的研究。研究結論表明：午休有可能延長你的生命。

   研究表明，那些每周至少午休3次，且每次至少30分鐘的成人組與日間從不午休的成人組相比，由心臟病致死的幾率低了1/3。男性從午睡中的獲益比女性更加明顯。(由于女性在整個研究過程中死亡數(shù)量很少，因此女性是否從中獲益難以估計。) 男性上班族比退休人士的獲益更為明顯。但是，在午休仍然普遍的地中海地區(qū)和中美洲的部分地區(qū)曾進行過的一些研究得到的卻是互相矛盾的結果，不過納斯卡博士和特里克伯羅斯博士認為這些研究都存在問題。比如，一些曾經(jīng)有過心臟病發(fā)作史的研究對象從小睡中的獲益相對于那些健康人要明顯得多。

   考慮到所有的研究對象都是希臘人，那些主要因素是否是馳名的地中海飲食不是午休呢？特里克伯羅斯博士堅定地回答說“不”。他的回答是令人信服的，因為正是他開創(chuàng)性地將橄欖油和素食為主的飲食放到科學領域內(nèi)來進行研究。.與其他關于午休的研究不同的是，他的研究控制了飲食、吸煙、運動和其他相關的變量。他說，早前關于地中海飲食益處的研究已經(jīng)得到了肯定，而小睡在飲食的基礎上也起到了非常重要的作用。

    在辦公室添置沙發(fā)之前,最好還是先考慮一下選擇性偏見的可能性。特里克伯羅斯博士認為那些辛勤工作從而易于發(fā)心臟病的”A型”個性的人，在白天小睡比較少。這些偏見也許會研究報告的結果相左。即便如此, 特里克伯羅斯博士還是建議,”如果可以的話就小睡一會吧”。