英语听力文摘 English Digest 629 值夜班

　　Working The Night Shift

　　It’s time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag. A listener writes:

　　Dear A Moment of Science,

　　My husband works a night shift, and I’m worried that it might be affecting his health. He sleeps during the day, but somehow that doesn’t seem the same as getting a good night’s rest. Am I worrying unnecessarily, or not?

　　Actually, burning the midnight oil, as it were, may raise the risk for depression and some learning deficits¹. But not only because people who work at night don’t get enough sleep. According to one study, scientists think it’s also because of too much exposure to light.

　　Wait–why would being exposed to light be a problem?

　　Because it raises the levels of stress hormones² in the body, hormones that have been linked to depression and to slower cognition. Now, it’s worth noting that the study was done on mice. And although mice are sensitive to overexposure to light in ways similar to people, how humans react to light is not identical to mice.

　　Still, though, it’s also worth considering that humans evolved over millions of years rising with the sun and going to sleep when it got dark. It’s only relatively³ recently, with the advent⁴ of artificial light, that we began being exposed to light at all hours of the day and night.

　　Night work

　　So it’s not such a radical⁵ notion that being up at night in the light when the body is built to be asleep in the dark could have some detrimental⁶ effects.

　　The science on the question is still evolving, but the bottom line is that there’s some reason to be wary⁷ of being too much in the light.

1 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

2 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

5 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

6 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

7 wary   

adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的

参考例句：

• He is wary of telling secrets to others.他谨防向他人泄露秘密。
• Paula frowned,suddenly wary.宝拉皱了皱眉头，突然警惕起来。