Sleep Lets Brain File Memories¹

　　To sleep. Perchance to file?² Findings published online this week by the Proceedings³ of the National Academy of Sciences further support the theory that the brain organizes and stows memories formed during the day while the rest of the body is catching zzz"s⁴.
　　Gyorgy Buzsaki of Rutgers University⁵ and his colleagues analyzed the brain waves of sleeping rats and mice. Specifically, they examined the electrical activity emanating from⁶ the somatosensory neocortex⁷ (an area that processes sensory information) and the hippocampus⁸, which is a center for learning and memory. The scientists found that oscillations in brain waves from the two regions appear to be intertwined. So-called sleep spindles (bursts of activity from the neocortex) were followed tens of milliseconds⁹ later by beats in the hippocampus known as ripples. The team posits that this interplay between the two brain regions is a key step in memory consolidation. A second study, also published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, links age-associated memory decline¹⁰ to high glucose levels.
　　Previous research had shown that individuals with diabetes suffer from increased memory problems. In the new work, Antonio Convit of New York University School of Medicine and his collaborators studied 30 people whose average age was 69 to investigate whether sugar levels, which tend to increase with age, affect memory in healthy people as well. The scientists administered¹¹ recall tests, brain scans and glucose tolerance tests, which measure how quickly sugar is absorbed from the blood by the body"s tissues. Subjects with the poorest memory recollection, the team discovered, also displayed the poorest glucose tolerance. In addition, their brain scans showed more hippocampus shrinkage than those of subjects better able to absorb blood sugar.

　　"Our study suggests that this impairment¹² may contribute to the memory deficits¹³ that occur as people age." Convit says. "And it raises the intriguing possibility that improving glucose tolerance could reverse some age-associated problems in cognition.¹⁴" Exercise and weight control can help keep glucose levels in check¹⁵, so there may be one more reason to go to the gym.

 

词汇：

perchance / pə:ˈtʃɑ:ns / adv. 偶然；可能

online adj.& adv. 在线的(地)
stow v. 储存，堆装

emanate / "eməneɪt /  v. 发源 (from)
somatosensory / ˌsəʊ,mətə’sen-sərɪ /  adj.体觉的

neocortex / ˌni:əʊˈkɔ:teks /   n. 新（大脑）皮层
oscillation / ˌɒsɪˈleɪʃn /  n. 振荡

intertwine / ˌɪntə"twaɪn /  v.  (使)缠绕，(使)缠结
spindle / "spɪndl /  n. 纺锤体

ripple / "rɪpl /  n. 波动，脉动
diabetes /ˌdaɪəˈbi:tis,-i:z /   n. 糖尿病

recollection / ˌrekəˈlekʃən /  n. 回忆,（常作-s） 回忆起的事物
shrinkage / ˈʃrɪŋkɪdʒ /  n.  收缩 减少

impairment n. 损伤
intrigue / ɪn"tri:ɡ/  v. 引起……兴趣（或好奇心）

cognition / kɒgˈnɪʃən /  n. 认识，认识的结果

注释：

1. file memories：归档并储存记忆。 file：意为 "to put or keep (papers,etc. ) in useful order for storage or reference"（把…归档）。
2. To sleep. Perchance to file? ：从莎士比亚笔下哈姆雷特的独白中的名句" To sleep: perchance to dream. "改编而来。
3. the Proceedings: (科学文献、会议文献)汇编，常用复数形式。
4. zzz：（拟声词）打鼾声
5. Rutgers University：美国新泽西州立大学 (the State University of New Jersey)。
6. emanating from：发源于。
7. neocortex：新(大脑)皮质，尤指大的高等哺乳动物大脑中新生长的部分，也叫做 neopallium。neo-：前縀，意思是"新的"。
8. thehippocampus：大脑侧面脑室壁上的隆起物，也称"海马状突起"，在泛记过程中起主要作用。
9. tens of milliseconds：几十毫秒
10. age-associated memory decline：与年龄相关的记忆衰退
11. administer：实施
12. this impairment：指上句中 hippocampus shrinkage.
13. memory deficits：记忆衰退
14. … the intriguing possibility that improving glucose tolerance could reverse some age-associated problems in cognition：令人兴奋的可能性，即不断改善葡萄糖容许量可以完全改变对某些与年龄相关的认知问题。
15. keep glucose levels in check：限制葡萄糖水平。 in check：在控制中，被阻止。

Which of the following statements is nearest in meaning to the sentence "To sleep. Perchance to file?"?

A:Does brain arrange memories in useful order during sleep? B:Does brain have memories when one is sleeping? C:Does brain remember files after one falls asleep? D:Does brain work on files in sleep?

Sleep Lets Brain File Memories¹

    To sleep. Perchance to file?² Findings published online this week by the Proceedings³ of the National Academy of Sciences further support the theory that the brain organizes and stows memories formed during the day while the rest of the body is catching zzz"s⁴.
　　Gyorgy Buzsaki of Rutgers University⁵ and his colleagues analyzed the brain waves of sleeping rats and mice. Specifically, they examined the electrical activity emanating from⁶ the somatosensory neocortex⁷ (an area that processes sensory information) and the hippocampus⁸, which is a center for learning and memory. The scientists found that oscillations in brain waves from the two regions appear to be intertwined. So-called sleep spindles (bursts of activity from the neocortex) were followed tens of milliseconds⁹ later by beats in the hippocampus known as ripples. The team posits that this interplay between the two brain regions is a key step in memory consolidation.

A second study, also published online this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, links age-associated memory decline¹⁰ to high glucose levels.
　　Previous research had shown that individuals with diabetes suffer from increased memory problems. In the new work, Antonio Convit of New York University School of Medicine and his collaborators studied 30 people whose average age was 69 to investigate whether sugar levels, which tend to increase with age, affect memory in healthy people as well. The scientists administered¹¹ recall tests, brain scans and glucose tolerance tests, which measure how quickly sugar is absorbed from the blood by the body"s tissues. Subjects with the poorest memory recollection, the team discovered, also displayed the poorest glucose tolerance. In addition, their brain scans showed more hippocampus shrinkage than those of subjects better able to absorb blood sugar.
　　"Our study suggests that this impairment¹² may contribute to the memory deficits¹³ that occur as people age." Convit says. "And it raises the intriguing possibility that improving glucose tolerance could reverse some age-associated problems in cognition.¹⁴" Exercise and weight control can help keep glucose levels in check¹⁵, so there may be one more reason to go to the gym.

词汇：

perchance/ pə(:)ˈtʃɑ:ns/adv. 偶然；可能

online/ ˌɒnˈlaɪn/adj.&adv. 在线的
stow / stəʊ/v. 贮藏，堆装

emanate/ "eməneɪt/v. 发源
somatosensory / ˌsəʊmətəʊ"sensərɪ/adj.体觉的

neocortex / ˌniəuˈkɔ:teks/n. 新（大脑）皮质
oscillation / ˌɒsɪˈleɪʃn/n. 振荡

intertwine / ˌɪntə"twaɪn/v.  缠绕
spindle/ "spɪndl/n. 纺锤体

ripple / "rɪpl/n. 波动，脉动
diabetes/ ˌdaɪəˈbi:ti:z/n . 糖尿病

recollection / ˌrekəˈlekʃn/n. 回忆
shrinkage / ˈʃrɪŋkɪdʒ/n. 收缩

impairment/ ɪmˈpeəmənt/n. 损伤
intrigue  / ɪn"tri:ɡ/v.引起……兴趣（或好奇心）

cognition / kɒgˈnɪʃn/n. 认识

注释：

1. file memories：归档并储存记忆。 file：意为 "to put or keep (papers,etc. ) in useful order for storage or reference"（把…归档）。
2. To sleep. Perchance to file? ：从莎士比亚笔下哈姆雷特的独白中的名句" To sleep: perchance to dream. "改编而来。
3. the Proceedings: (科学文献、会议文献)汇编，常用复数形式。
4. zzz：（拟声词）打鼾声
5. Rutgers University：美国新泽西州立大学 (the State University of New Jersey)。
6. emanating from：发源于。
7. neocortex：新(大脑)皮质，尤指大的高等哺乳动物大脑中新生长的部分，也叫做 neopallium。neo-：前縀，意思是"新的"。
8. thehippocampus：大脑侧面脑室壁上的隆起物，也称"海马状突起"，在泛记过程中起主要作用。
9. tens of milliseconds：几十毫秒
10. age-associated memory decline：与年龄相关的记忆衰退
11. administer：实施
12. this impairment：指上句中 hippocampus shrinkage.
13. memory deficits：记忆衰退
14. … the intriguing possibility that improving glucose tolerance could reverse some age-associated problems in cognition：令人兴奋的可能性，即不断改善葡萄糖容许量可以完全改变对某些与年龄相关的认知问题。
15. keep glucose levels in check：限制葡萄糖水平。 in check：在控制中，被阻止。

Which of the following statements is nearest in meaning to the sentence "To sleep. Perchance to file?"?

A:Does brain arrange memories in useful order during sleep? B:Does brain have memories when one is sleeping? C:Does brain remember files after one falls asleep? D:Does brain work on files in sleep?

British teenagers are damaging their health by not getting enough sleep because they are distracted by electronic gadgets in their bedrooms, according to a survey on Tuesday.
The Sleep Council said "junk sleep" could compare with junk food as a major lifestyle matter for teenagers’ parents.
The poll of 1,000 teenagers aged 12 to 16 found that 30 percent managed just 4 to 7 hours’ sleep, even though they are advised to sleep 8 or 9 hours.
Almost a quarter said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic gadgets.
"This is a really worrying trend," said Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre.
"What we are seeing is the result coming out of ’junk sleep’ . It has neither length nor quality, both of which are important to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school. "
Nearly all the teenagers had a phone, music system or a TV in their bedrooms, and about two-thirds of the teenagers had all three of these things.
Almost one in five teenage boys said the quality of their sleep had been influenced by their TVs or computers being left on. The survey also found that 40 percent of teenagers felt tired each day, with girls aged 15 to 16 feeling the worst.
However, only 11 percent said they were bothered by the lack or bad quality of sleep.
"I’m staggered that so few teenagers make the link between getting enough good quality sleep and bow they feel during the day," Idzikowski said. "Teenagers need to realize the fact that to feel well, perform well and look good, they need to do something about their sleep. /
The best title for the passage is ______.

A:How Much Sleep Should Teenagers Get B:Teenagers Should Get More Sleep C:"Junk Sleep" Damaging Teenagers’ Health D:New Study of Teenagers’ Sleep

British teenagers are damaging their health by not getting enough sleep because they are distracted by electronic gadgets in their bedrooms, according to a survey on Tuesday.
The Sleep Council said "junk sleep" could compare with junk food as a major lifestyle matter for teenagers’ parents.
The poll of 1,000 teenagers aged 12 to 16 found that 30 percent managed just 4 to 7 hours’ sleep, even though they are advised to sleep 8 or 9 hours.
Almost a quarter said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic gadgets.
"This is a really worrying trend," said Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre.
"What we are seeing is the result coming out of ’junk sleep’ . It has neither length nor quality, both of which are important to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school. "
Nearly all the teenagers had a phone, music system or a TV in their bedrooms, and about two-thirds of the teenagers had all three of these things.
Almost one in five teenage boys said the quality of their sleep had been influenced by their TVs or computers being left on. The survey also found that 40 percent of teenagers felt tired each day, with girls aged 15 to 16 feeling the worst.
However, only 11 percent said they were bothered by the lack or bad quality of sleep.
"I’m staggered that so few teenagers make the link between getting enough good quality sleep and bow they feel during the day," Idzikowski said. "Teenagers need to realize the fact that to feel well, perform well and look good, they need to do something about their sleep. /
The purpose of this passage is to ______.

A:encourage teenagers to sleep as much as possible B:discourage teenagers’ from staying up late at night C:inform people of the damage "junk sleep" does to teenagers’ health D:instruct people how to have a long and good-quality sleep

British teenagers are damaging their health by not getting enough sleep because they are distracted by electronic gadgets in their bedrooms, according to a survey on Tuesday.
The Sleep Council said "junk sleep" could compare with junk food as a major lifestyle matter for teenagers’ parents.
The poll of 1,000 teenagers aged 12 to 16 found that 30 percent managed just 4 to 7 hours’ sleep, even though they are advised to sleep 8 or 9 hours.
Almost a quarter said they fell asleep more than once a week while watching TV, listening to music or using other electronic gadgets.
"This is a really worrying trend," said Dr Chris Idzikowski of the Edinburgh Sleep Centre.
"What we are seeing is the result coming out of ’junk sleep’ . It has neither length nor quality, both of which are important to feed the brain with the rest it needs to perform properly at school. "
Nearly all the teenagers had a phone, music system or a TV in their bedrooms, and about two-thirds of the teenagers had all three of these things.
Almost one in five teenage boys said the quality of their sleep had been influenced by their TVs or computers being left on. The survey also found that 40 percent of teenagers felt tired each day, with girls aged 15 to 16 feeling the worst.
However, only 11 percent said they were bothered by the lack or bad quality of sleep.
"I’m staggered that so few teenagers make the link between getting enough good quality sleep and bow they feel during the day," Idzikowski said. "Teenagers need to realize the fact that to feel well, perform well and look good, they need to do something about their sleep. /
According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT true

A:"junk food" and "junk sleep" are equally bad lifestyles. B:Teenagers are advised to sleep 8 or 9 hours. C:TVs or computers left on may affect the sleep quality of teenagers. D:Most teenagers take enough good quality sleep seriously.

{{B}}第二篇{{/B}}

Though not stated, the author implied that______.

A:American drug abuse is connected with toss of sleep B:American students’ poor results result from lack of sleep C:Americans could be more effective with enough sleep D:Accidents in the states could be reduced by more sleep

第三篇：　Some Sleep Drugs Do More Than Make You Sleep 　　The United States Food and Drug Administration1 has ordered companies to place strong new warnings on thirteen drugs that treat sleep disorders. It also ordered the makers of the sleeping pills to provide information for patients explaining how to safely use the drugs. 　　Last Wednesday, the FDA announced that some of these drugs can have unexpected and dangerous effects. These include the risk of life-threatening allergic reactions. They also include rare incidents of strange behavior. These include people cooking food, eating and even driving while asleep. The patients later had no memory of doing these activities while asleep. 　　Last year, a member of the United States Congress2 said he had a sleep-driving incident. Patrick Kennedy, a representative from Rhode Island3，crashed his car into a security barrier near the building where lawmakers meet. The accident happened in the middle of the night and no one was hurt. Mr. Kennedy said he had earlier taken a sleep medicine. He said he was also being treated with a stomach sickness drug that could cause sleepiness. 　　The FDA did not say in its announcement how many cases of sleep-driving it had documented. However, the New York Times4 reported last year about people who said they had strange sleep events after taking the drug Ambien. Some reported sleep-driving and sleep-walking. Others said they found evidence after waking in the morning that they had cooked food or eaten in their sleep. But they had no memory of carrying out the activities. 　　An FDA official says that these serious side effects of sleep disorder drugs appear to be rare. But, he also says there are probably more cases than are reported.5 He says the agency believes the risk of such behaviors could be reduced if people take the drugs as directed and do not drink alcohol while taking the drugs. The Food and Drug Administration has advised drug companies to carry out studies to investigate the problem. The FDA announced that

A:thirteen drug companies were closed last Wednesday. B:only thirteen drugs could treat sleeping disordera. C:some sleep drugs could lead to serious side effects. D:some makers of sleeping pills provided false information to their patients.

Burning the midnight oil before an exam or interview does harm to the performance according to a recent research which found that sleep is necessary for memories to be taken back into the brain. A good night’s sleep within 30 hours of trying to remember a new task is a required condition of having good recall in the weeks ahead, scientists have found.
The research, published in the December issue of Nature Neuroscience, showed that it was the act of sleep, rather than the simple passage of time, that was critical for long-term memory formation.
"We think that getting that first night’s sleep starts the process of memory consolidation (巩固)." said Robert Stickgold, a sleep researcher at Harvard Medical School who conducted the latest study.
"It seems that memories normally wash out of the brain unless some process nails them down. My suspicion is that sleep is one of those things that does the nailing down. " Professor Stickgold said.
With about one in five people claiming that they are so chronically short of sleep that it affects their daily activities, the latest work emphasizes the less well-understood side effect-serious memory impairment (损害).
Volunteers in an experiment found it easier to remember a memory task if they were allowed to sleep that night. But for those kept awake, no amount of subsequent sleep made up for the initial loss.
Professor Stickgold’s team trained 24 people to identify the direction of three diagonal (斜线形的) bars flashed for a sixtieth of a second on a computer screen full of horizontal (水平的) stripes.
Half of the subjects were kept awake that night, while the others slept. Both groups were allowed to sleep for the second and third nights to make up for any differences in tiredness between the volunteers.
Those who slept the first night were significantly and consistently better at remembering the task while the second group showed no improvement despite enjoying two nights of catch-up sleep.
In Stickgold’s experiment, those who were kept awake on the first night

A:could very well remember the direction of the diagonal bars. B:didn’t do any better after two nights’ sleep. C:were as tired as those who were not. D:could recall the direction of more bars than those who were not.

As cold season approaches, many Americans stock up on their vitamin C and Echinacea(紫锥 花精油). But following the age -old advice about catching up on sleep might be more important.
Studies have demonstrated that poor sleep and susceptibility (易受影响) to colds go hand in hand, and scientists think it could be a reflection of the role sleep plays in maintaining the body’s defenses.
In a recent study for the Archives of Internal Medicine, scientists followed 153 men and women for two weeks, keeping track of their quality and duration of sleep. Then, during a five - day period, they quarantined(进行检疫隔离) the subjects and exposed them to cold viruses. Those who slept an average of fewer than seven hours a night, it turned out, were three times as likely to get sick as those who averaged at least eight hours.
Sleep and immunity, it seems, are tightly linked. Studies have found that mammals that require the most sleep also produce greater levels of disease -fighting white blood cells—but not red blood cells, even though both are produced in bone marrow(骨髓) and stem from the same precursor(前体物). And researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have shown that species that sleep more have greater resistance against pathogens (病原体).
"Species that have evolved longer sleep durations, "the Planck scientists wrote, "appear to be able to increase investment in their immune systems and be better protected. /
What can we learn from the passage

A:Scientists have proved the link between sleep and immunity. B:Mammals that require the most sleep produce more blood cells. C:Species that sleep more have greater resistance against pathogens. D:Red blood cells help the body to fight against diseases.