【在生活中學習語言】《中英對照讀新聞》Preventing colds may be as easy as vitamin ZZZ 「大頭覺」維他命輕鬆預防感冒

◎管淑平

Fluff up the pillows and pull up the covers. Preventing the common cold may be as easy as getting more sleep. Researchers paid healthy adults $800 to have cold viruses sprayed up their noses, then wait five days in a hotel to see if they got sick.

睡個好覺吧。或許靠簡單的多睡覺就能預防常見的感冒。研究人員花800美元讓健康成人接受在鼻子噴感冒病毒，然後住在飯店裡等5天看看會不會生病。

Habitual eight-hour sleepers were much less likely to get sick than those who slept less than seven hours or slept fitfully.

習慣睡8小時的人感冒機率比睡不到7小時，或者睡眠時間不固定的人低得多。

According to the study, appearing Monday in the Archives of Internal Medicine, the people who slept less than seven hours a night in the weeks before they were exposed to the virus were three times more likely to catch a cold than those who slept eight hours or more.

根據這份在「內科醫學檔案」期刊發表的報告，接觸到病毒前幾週每晚睡不到7小時的人，感冒機率是睡8小時以上的人的3倍。

Sleeping fitfully also was tied to greater risk of catching a cold. Those who tossed and turned more than 8 percent of their time in bed were five times more likely to get sick than those who were sleepless only 2 percent of the time.

睡眠時間不規律的人，感冒機率也比較高。整晚有8％時間翻來覆去睡不著的人，生病機率是睡不著時間所佔比例不到2％的人的5倍。

新聞辭典

fluff up：片語，把……拍鬆、使蓬鬆，Fluff up the pillows字面意為拍鬆枕頭，引申為睡個好覺。

toss and turn in bed：片語，翻來覆去睡不著。例句：I’m so worry about my job and always toss and turn in bed at night. （我很擔心我的工作，晚上常常輾轉難眠。）

fitfully：副詞，不規則地、斷斷續續地。例句：He just slept fitfully last night because he has to take care of the baby. （他昨晚只有斷斷續續的睡，因為他得照顧寶寶。）

自由時報-980119

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