Sloth may be seen as a sin, but some of history's most accomplished men were fond of lounging around. Leonardo da Vinci enjoyed napping. So did Albert Einstein and Winston Churchill. Richard Buckminster Fuller advocated taking 30-minute naps every six hours. He is reported to have abandoned the practice only because “his schedule conflicted with that of his business associates, who insisted on sleeping like other men.”
No one has yet proved a correlation between napping and artistic brilliance or professional success, but an intriguing study published this week in the Archives of Internal Medicine claims to find a link between daytime siestas and good health. A team of researchers led by Androniki Naska of the University of Athens Medical School and Dimitrios Trichopoulos of Harvard's School of Public Health followed over 23,000 Greek patients with no history of coronary disease, cancer or stroke, for an average of six years. Their conclusion: napping just might save your life.
The study found that the group of adults who took siestas (defined as 30-minute naps) at least three times a week had a third fewer deaths from heart disease than an equivalent group who did not sleep at all during the day. The benefit was greater for men than for women. (Whether women benefited at all was hard to estimate as there were too few deaths among them during the course of the study.) It was also greater for working men than for those who had retired. However, a number of previous studies done in the Mediterranean and in parts of Central America (where siestas remain common) have come up with conflicting results, but Dr Naska and Dr Trichopoulos argue that those studies have often been flawed. The subjects in some, for example, had survived heart attacks and may therefore have benefited more from napping than healthy individuals do.
Given that all of the subjects of this new study were Greek, could the much-celebrated Mediterranean diet deserve credit, rather than the siestas? The firm answer from Dr Trichopoulos is “No”. And he is in a good position to say so, for it was he who did the pioneering research that put olive oil and a plant-based diet on the scientific map in the first place. Unlike some other siesta studies, his was controlled for diet, smoking, exercise and other relevant variables. The earlier findings about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet are confirmed, he says, and napping seems to help on top of that.
Before buying a sofa for the office, however, it might be wise to consider the possibility of selection bias. Dr Trichopoulos concedes that “Type A” personalities, whose hard-working lives may make them prone to heart attacks, are also much less likely to take naps during the day. That bias might be skewing the study's results. Even so, he advises, “Take a nap if you can.”
注（1）：本文选自Economist, 02/15/2007
注（2）：本文习题命题模仿对象为2004年真题Text 1。
1． What do scientists expect to achieve in the study of daytime siestas?
[A] They want to prove that siestas help people become smarter.
[B] They want to prove that siestas can make people happier.
[C] They want to prove that sietas may prolong people’s life.
[D] They want to prove that seitas help cure some diseases.
2． Which of the following is advantage of taking nap regularly?
[A] One’s possibility of dying from heart diseases is smaller.
[B] One is surely to enjoy a long life.
[C] Men can outlive women in general.
[D] Men can survivie heart attacks better than women.
3． The expression “lounging around” (Line 1-2, Paragraph 1) most probably means _______.
[A] sleeping a lot
[B] taking a nap every few hours
[C] relaxing oneself
[D] being lazy
4． Why is Dr Trichopoulos in a good position to deny the benefit from Mediterranean diet in this case?
[A] Because the research Dr Trichopoulos has done on napping is more convincing.
[B] Because Dr Trichopoulos is a forerunner of research on Mediterranean diet.
[C] Because Dr Trichopoulos knows nothing about the nutritious value of Mediterranean diet.
[D] Because Mediterranean diet is notorious for its unhealthiness.
5． Which of the following is TURE according to the text?
[A] Taking naps helps people to become smarter and more brilliant.
[B] Most of those who have great achievements usually take siestas.
[C] People who work under great pressure benefit more from napping than the retired.
[D] Dr Trichopoulos’s siesta study conflicts with his previous study on diet.
篇章剖析
本文是一篇说明文，主要介绍了午睡和健康关系上的最新科学研究。第一段介绍了主要论题，并举例说明了一些名人的午睡特点；第二段介绍了纳斯卡和特里克伯罗斯进行的实验，说明午睡可以延长人们的生命；第三段继续讨论研究结果；第四段反驳了地中海饮食可能影响实验结果可信度的说法；第五段中特里克伯罗斯博士建议人们尽量午睡。
词汇注释
sloth [slEuW] n. 怠惰, 懒惰 stroke [strEuk] n. 中风
lounge [laundV] vi. 闲荡 equivalent [i`kwivElEnt] adj. 相等, 相当
nap [nAp] n./v. n. (白天)小睡, 打盹 flaw [flC:] vt. 使有缺陷, 使无效
correlation [9kCri`leiFEn] n. 相互关系, 相关 bias [`baiEs] n. 偏见
siestas [sjE:] n. 午睡 prone [prEun] adj. 倾向于
coronary [`kCrEnEri] adj. 冠的, 花冠的, 冠状的 skew [skju:] v. 曲解；歪曲
难句突破
The study found that the group of adults who took siestas (defined as 30-minute naps) at least three times a week had a third fewer deaths from heart disease than an equivalent group who did not sleep at all during the day.
主体句式 The study found that…
结构分析 这个句子的主要内容集中于that后面的宾语从句，其中该从句的主体结构为the group of adults had a third fewer deaths than an equivalent group。从句中的第一个who引导的定语从句用来修饰提到的第一组成人的情况，其中注意到括号中的内容是对siestas的概念定义；从句中的第二个who引导的定语从句用来修饰提到的第二组成人的情况。
句子译文 研究表明，那些每周至少午休3次，且每次至少30分钟的成人组与日间从不午休的成人组相比，由心脏病致死的几率低了1/3。
题目分析
1．C. 细节题。文章第二段最后，作者明确指出科学家们的结论是，午休有可能延长人们的寿命。
2．A. 细节题。文章第三段第一句话提到，午休较多的人比从来不午休的人由心脏病致死的几率低了1/3。
3．D. 语义题。lounge有懒散、懒洋洋的意思，从上下文中也可以推出这个意思。
4．B. 细节题。根据文章第四段，特里克伯罗斯博士是科学研究地中海饮食的先驱人物，而且其研究具有重大的贡献性，因而他的结论也就更加具有说服力。
5．C. 细节题。文章第三段指出，在工作的人们比退休人士的从午休获益更为明显。A错误的原因在于该论断尚未证实；B错误的原因在于并不是所有有成就的人都有午休的习惯，文章第一段只是举了一个名人的例子；D错误的原因在于特里克伯罗斯博士关于午休和饮食的研究并没有彼此矛盾，而是互相补充的关系。
参考译文
懒惰也许会被认为是一种罪过，但是历史上一些最成功的人士却喜欢悠闲懒散的生活。列奥纳多·达芬奇喜欢小寐. 阿尔伯特"爱因斯坦和温斯顿"丘吉尔亦如此。里查德"巴克明斯行"福勒提倡每隔6个小时就小睡30分钟。据说他后来放弃了这个习惯仅仅是因为“他的日程安排与那些坚持和别人一样作息时间的工作助手有冲突。”
没有人能够证明小寐与杰出的艺术才能或者事业上的成功有相互关系，但是本周发表在《国际医学档案》上一份引人入胜的研究报告声称发现了日间午睡与健康之间的一种联系。一个由雅典医科大学的安德罗尼基·纳斯卡和哈佛公共卫生学院的特里克伯罗斯所领导的研究小组对23,000名没有冠心病、癌症或者中风记录的希腊病人,进行长达6年的研究。研究结论表明：午休有可能延长你的生命。
研究表明，那些每周至少午休3次，且每次至少30分钟的成人组与日间从不午休的成人组相比，由心脏病致死的几率低了1/3。男性从午睡中的获益比女性更加明显。(由于女性在整个研究过程中死亡数量很少，因此女性是否从中获益难以估计。) 男性上班族比退休人士的获益更为明显。但是，在午休仍然普遍的地中海地区和中美洲的部分地区曾进行过的一些研究得到的却是互相矛盾的结果，不过纳斯卡博士和特里克伯罗斯博士认为这些研究都存在问题。比如，一些曾经有过心脏病发作史的研究对象从小睡中的获益相对于那些健康人要明显得多。
考虑到所有的研究对象都是希腊人，那些主要因素是否是驰名的地中海饮食不是午休呢？特里克伯罗斯博士坚定地回答说“不”。他的回答是令人信服的，因为正是他开创性地将橄榄油和素食为主的饮食放到科学领域内来进行研究。.与其他关于午休的研究不同的是，他的研究控制了饮食、吸烟、运动和其他相关的变量。他说，早前关于地中海饮食益处的研究已经得到了肯定，而小睡在饮食的基础上也起到了非常重要的作用。
在办公室添置沙发之前,最好还是先考虑一下选择性偏见的可能性。特里克伯罗斯博士认为那些辛勤工作从而易于发心脏病的”A型”个性的人，在白天小睡比较少。这些偏见也许会研究报告的结果相左。即便如此, 特里克伯罗斯博士还是建议,”如果可以的话就小睡一会吧”。
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