人为什么会梦游

Sleepwalking - Fact or Fancy?

There is an endless supply of stories about sleepwalkers. Persons have been said to climb on roofs, solve mathematical problems, compose music, walk through windows, and commit murder in their sleep.

In Revere¹, Massachusetts, a hundred policemen searched for a lost boy who left his home in his sleep and woke up five hours later on a strange sofa in a strange living room, with no idea how he had got there.

At the University of Iowa, a student was reported to have the habit of getting up in the middle of the night and walking three-quarters of a mile to the Iowa River. He would take a swim and then go back to his room to bed.

An expert on sleep in America claims that he has never seen a sleepwalker. He is said to know more about sleep than any other living man, and during the last thirty-five years has lost a lot of sleep watching people sleep. Says he, "of course, I know that there are sleepwalkers because I have read about them in the newspapers. But none of my sleepers² ever walked, and if I were to advertise for sleepwalkers for an experiment. I doubt that I'd get many takers."Sleepwalking, nevertheless, is a scientific reality. It is one of those strange phenomena³ that sometimes border on the fantastic. What is certain about sleepwalking is that it is a symptom of emotional disturbance⁴, and that the only way to cure it is to remove the worries and anxieties that cause it. Doctors say that sleepwalking is much more common than is generally supposed. Many sleepwalkers do not seek help and so are never put on record, which means that an accurate count can never be made.

The question is: Is the sleepwalker actually awake or asleep? Scientists have decided⁵ that he is about half-and-half. Dr. Zelda Teplitz, who made a ten-year study of the subject, says, "The sleepwalker is awake in the muscular area, partially⁶ asleep in the sensory⁷ area." In other words, a person can walk in his sleep, move around, and do other things, but he does not think about what he is doing.

What are the chances of a sleepwalker committing a murder or doing something else extraordinary in his sleep? Dr. Teplitz says, "Most people have such great inhibitions against murder or violence that they would awaken⁸ if someone didn't wake them up." In general, authorities on sleepwalking agree with her. They think that people will not do anything in their sleep that is against their own moral standard. As for the publicized cases, Dr. Teplitz points out, "Sleepwalking itself is dramatic… sleepwalkers can always find an audience. I think that some of their tall tales get exaggerated in the telling." In her own records of case histories, there is not one sleepwalker who ever got beyond his own front door.

To protect themselves, some sleepwalkers have been known to tie themselves in bed, lock their doors, hide the keys, bolt the window, and take all sorts of measures to wake themselves if they should get out of bed. Curiously⁹ enough, they have an unusual way of avoiding their own traps when they sleepwalk, so none of their tricks seem to work very well. Some sleepwalkers talk in their sleep loudly enough to wake someone else in the family who can then shake them back to their senses.

Children who walk in their sleep usually outgrow¹⁰ the habit. In many adults, too, the condition is more or less temporary. If it happens often, however, the sleepwalker should seek help. Although sleepwalking itself is nothing to become alarmed about, the problems that cause the sleepwalking may be very serious.

 

1 revere   

vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏

参考例句：

• Students revere the old professors.学生们十分尊敬那些老教授。
• The Chinese revered corn as a gift from heaven.中国人将谷物奉为上天的恩赐。

2 sleepers   

n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环

参考例句：

• He trod quietly so as not to disturb the sleepers. 他轻移脚步，以免吵醒睡着的人。 来自辞典例句
• The nurse was out, and we two sleepers were alone. 保姆出去了，只剩下我们两个瞌睡虫。 来自辞典例句

3 phenomena   

n.现象

参考例句：

• Ade couldn't relate the phenomena with any theory he knew.艾德无法用他所知道的任何理论来解释这种现象。
• The object of these experiments was to find the connection,if any,between the two phenomena.这些实验的目的就是探索这两种现象之间的联系，如果存在着任何联系的话。

4 disturbance   

n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调

参考例句：

• He is suffering an emotional disturbance.他的情绪受到了困扰。
• You can work in here without any disturbance.在这儿你可不受任何干扰地工作。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 partially   

adv.部分地，从某些方面讲

参考例句：

• The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
• The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静，宵禁部分解除。

7 sensory   

adj.知觉的，感觉的，知觉器官的

参考例句：

• Human powers of sensory discrimination are limited.人类感官分辨能力有限。
• The sensory system may undergo long-term adaptation in alien environments.感觉系统对陌生的环境可能经过长时期才能适应。

8 awaken   

vi.醒，觉醒；vt.唤醒，使觉醒，唤起，激起

参考例句：

• Old people awaken early in the morning.老年人早晨醒得早。
• Please awaken me at six.请于六点叫醒我。

9 curiously   

adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地

参考例句：

• He looked curiously at the people.他好奇地看着那些人。
• He took long stealthy strides. His hands were curiously cold.他迈着悄没声息的大步。他的双手出奇地冷。

10 outgrow   

vt.长大得使…不再适用；成长得不再要

参考例句：

• The little girl will outgrow her fear of pet animals.小女孩慢慢长大后就不会在怕宠物了。
• Children who walk in their sleep usually outgrow the habit.梦游的孩子通常在长大后这个习惯自然消失。