Весь текст, к сожалению, не умещается, продолжение здесь: http://downloads.bbc.co.uk//worldservice/learningenglish/6minute/090326_6min_sleep_pdf_3.pdf Группа Learning English.
Kate: Hello, I’m Kate Colin and this is 6 Minute English. Today I'm joined by Rebecca Byrne and we’re talking about sleep, or lack of it. Hi Rebecca, I have a question for you to start the programme with - how many hours sleep do you need a night? Rebecca: I need on average 7 to 8 hours I think to feel….human at least. Kate: That's a good long time. Well, this month is National BedMonth – an event which is organised by The Sleep Council. Their aim is to remind us of the importance of getting a good night's sleep. 40 years ago most people got 8 hours sleep a night. But with busy lifestyles today, we're more likely to get around 6, which is not enough for most people. So in today’s programme we’re going to talk about what happens when you don’t get enough sleep. Rebecca: (yawns) I'm feeling pretty tired already actually…why don’t you wake me up with the question for this week? Kate: Alright then, here we go. What is the longest time someone has managed to go without sleep? a) 20 days b) 11 days c) 3 days Rebecca: Answers Kate: Okay, we’ll check your answer at the end of the programme. Not sleeping enough is sometimes referred to as ‘sleep deprivation’. To be deprived of something means to not have enough. This is something which unfortunately is beginning to affect many school children today. Listen to the following extract to hear a teacher talking about what happens when her pupils don’t get enough sleep. Can you tell me what she says are some of the symptoms of sleep deprivation? Woman It shows in all sorts of different ways, concentration is poor, behaviour gets worse as the week goes on, as the kids are getting less and less sleep. Rebecca: She said that their concentration is poor. If someone’s 'concentration is poor’ it means that they are lees able to think clearly. She also says that they do not behave well, so they may be talking a lot and not able to do much work. Kate: That’s correct. In the next extract she mentions 'sleeping in'. This is an expression we use when we can spend longer that usual in bed because we don’t have to get up for work or school. Or we can 'sleep in' by mistake, when we fail to wake up when we're supposed to. For example, I was late for work today because 'I slept in'. On to the clip… Woman Over the weekend, they get the chance often to sleep in on Saturday or Sunday and so they can catch up on some of the sleep and so by Friday, tempers are getting very frayed because they're just very stressed, tetchy and sleepy. Rebecca: So, she said they get the chance to ‘sleep in’ at the weekends. She also says as the week goes on, her students get more and more tired. The symptoms of being tired are that ‘tempers are frayed’ and they are ‘stressed’, ‘tetchy’ and ‘sleepy’. Kate: Yes, the expression ‘tempers are frayed’ means to get 'easily angry'. Rebecca: and ‘tetchy’ is often used when talking about how you feel when you haven’t had enough sleep, it means easily angered or upset. Kate: Next we're going to hear what a sleep expert has to say about the effect of not getting enough sleep. See if you can hear what are the main areas? Man Where it's damaging (I think there's at least 3 general areas). One intellectually - sleep is important for concentration and vigilance. Another aspect is behavioural. They tend to become tetchy and irritable and hostile during the day. Kate: He says there are 3 general areas where which are affected by sleep deprivation. The first was that it can be damaging intellectually. He says that sleep is important for ‘concentration’ and for ‘vigilance’. What do these words mean? ...