Could Humans Hibernatein the Future? 未来人类会冬眠吗？

With low temperatures and a lack of food， winter is a harsh season for animals. Many animals enter hibernation to get through it.

Hibernation is when an animal goes into a state of extended inactivity. During hibernation， animals hide away from predators. Their metabolism will slow to less than a quarter of its normal rate. This cools the creature's body and slows its heartbeat to just a few times per minute， for up to months at a time.

But why don't humans hibernate？ Human hibernation doesn't exist for many reasons. Our body is not designed for hibernation. Our evolutionary ancestors were tropical animals with no history of hibernating： Humans have only migrated into temperate and subarctic latitudes in the last hundred thousand years or so. That's not quite long enough to evolve all the metabolic adaptations we would need to be able to hibernate， according to the BBC Science Focus Magazine.

冬天溫度较低、食物短缺，对于动物来说是一个严酷的季节。许多动物靠冬眠来过冬。

冬眠指动物进入长时间的生命活动极低的状态。冬眠时，动物会避开捕食者，将新陈代谢的速度减慢至正常速度的四分之一以下。这会让动物的体温降低，心跳减慢至每分钟几次，而这种状态每次会持续数月。

但是人类为什么不冬眠呢？人类不冬眠有很多原因。人类的身体不适合冬眠。我们进化学上的祖先是没有冬眠历史的热带动物：人类在过去大约10万年里，才迁移到温带和靠近北极地区。根据英国广播公司的《科学焦点》杂志所刊载的文章，这段时间还不够长，人类无法进化出冬眠所需的所有代谢适应能力。

For example， waste management is a hugechallenge for human hibernation . Animals thathibernate are able to essentially stop their urinationand defecation during hibernation， sometimes througha process of reabsorption to preserve nutrients .Unfortunately， humans can't do this.

There are other challenges. Body temperaturesbelow 2.8℃ tend to disrupt the human digestive tractand may cause pain . Cold temperatures can alsosuppress the immune system， making people morevulner a ble  to  infections，  according  to  USSmithsonian Magazine.

In fact， humans don't need to sleep throughwinter. We have discovered fire， clothes， shelter，hunting and agriculture， all of which are much moreeffective ways of surviving the cold.

Could humans hibernate in the future？ For long-distance space travel， it's likely. A journey to Marswould take around months using current technology.If we hope to visit another star system， even if we could travel at the speed of light， the journey would take years. Being able to hibernate would make such distances considerably less boring for the astronauts and conserve vital resources， according to University of Oxford in the UK.

NASA is treating this question seriously. Beginning in 2014， the agency funded research on long- term hibernation as a way to facilitate long-term space travel， according to The Atlantic.

例如，处理代谢废物就是人类冬眠面临的巨大挑战。冬眠的动物基本上能够在冬眠期间停止排尿、排便，有时它们还会重新吸收废物来保存营养。不幸的是，人类做不到这一点。

人类冬眠还面临其他挑战。人体温度如果低于2.8℃，往往会损害人的消化道，而且可能引发疼痛。根据美国《史密森尼杂志》所刊载的文章，低温还会降低免疫系统的活跃性，使得人们更容易受到感染。

實际上，人类不需要靠睡觉过冬。我们发现通过生火、穿衣、躲进房屋中能够避寒，依靠狩猎和农耕可以果腹，所有这些手段帮助人类更有效地度过严寒。

未来人类会冬眠吗？如果踏上长途太空旅行，人类很可能会冬眠。凭借目前的技术，人类去往火星需要几个月的时间。如果我们希望去到另一个星系，即使能以光速旅行，这段旅程也需要数年。英国牛津大学的研究表明，如果能够使宇航员进入冬眠，将大幅减少其在漫长航程中的无聊感，并能节约重要的资源。

美国航空航天局（NASA）正在认真对待人类冬眠的问题。根据《大西洋月刊》所刊载的文章， NASA从2014年起资助了一项有关人类长期冬眠的研究，希望以这种方式推动长期太空旅行发展。

Word Study

predator /'predətə（r）/ n.捕食者

temperate /'tempərət/ adj.气候温和的

The Nile Valley keeps a temperate climate throughout the year.

subarctic /sʌb'ɑːktɪk/ adj.亚北极的；靠近北极的

suppress /sə'pres/ v.压制；抑制

vulnerable /'vʌlnərəbl/ adj.脆弱的；易受伤害的

In  cases  of food  poisoning， young  children  are especially vulnerable.

In the quest for better sleep， people often ask if they should share their bed with a pet. Before we get to that， let's take a moment to ponder the flip side： Is sleeping with you good for your pet？

In general， it is a very good thing for animals to sleep with their people， said Dr Dana Varble， the chief veterinary officer for the North American Veterinary Community

Pets who share their human's bed tend to have a higher trust level and a tighter bond with the humans that are in their lives. It's a big display of trust on their part， Varble said

Dogs and cats who are more closely bonded with their humans get additional health benefits， including increases in beneficial neurotransmitters such as oxytocin and dopamine， the feel-good hormones ，”she added .

With that important matter out of the way， let's turn to you-is it good for you to sleep with a pet？

Animals may move， bark and disrupt sleep. Sleep in dogs and cats is not continuous and they will inevitably get up and walk on the bed， stepping on people. All of that activity will lead to sleep fragmentation， said Dr vsevolodPolotsky director of sleep research and a professor in the department of medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in theUS.

很多人都有这个疑问：和宠物同床睡觉是否有助于睡眠？在回答这个问题之前，我们先来看看问题的另一面：宠物和你睡在一起，是否有利于宠物的健康？

北美兽医社区的首席兽医官戴娜·瓦布尔医生说：“总体来说，宠物和主人一起睡觉对宠物来说是很好的。

瓦布尔说，和人同床而眠的宠物通常“对主人更信任更亲密。这是宠物非常信任人类的表现”。

她补充道：“与主人更亲近的狗和猫还能得到额外的益处，包括会分泌更多催产素和多巴胺等神经传导物质，也就是我们所说的快乐激素。

在弄清楚这个重要问题之后，现在来关注一下宠物主人：和宠物一起睡对你好不好？

美国约翰斯·霍普金斯大学医学院医学系教授弗谢沃洛德·波罗特斯基博士说：“动物会动来动去，大声叫唤，而这会干扰睡眠。狗和猫的睡眠是间断性的，睡一会儿就必然会起来走动，并踩到主人。这些活动都会导致主人的睡眠片段化。

Word Study

flip side 另一面；反面

inevitably /in'evitabli /adv.不可避免地

snuggly /'snagli /ad.温暖舒适的

cuddly /'sAdli /ad.令人想拥抱的

He is a small， cuddly man with glasses.

insomnia /n'smni/n.失眠（症）