Extreme night owls: "I can't tell anyone what time I go to bed"
极品夜猫子：“我都不敢跟人说自己几点睡的”
Jenny Carter, 27, an NHS co-ordinator, is an "extreme night owl", one of an estimated 8.2% of the population whose natural inclination is to fall asleep well after midnight. Left to her own devices, she'd prefer to go to bed around 3am and wake up about noon.
珍妮·卡特今年 27 岁，是英国国家医疗服务体系里的一名协调员，同时，她还是一只“极品夜猫子”；据估计，英国全国有 8.2% 的人都是夜猫子，他们生性晚睡——会在午夜过后很久才入睡，珍妮就是这个群体中的一员。要是没人拦着，她会更愿意在凌晨三点左右睡觉，然后在中午的样子醒来。
Why do night owls exist? There is no single universally accepted theory, but evolutionary biologists think that communities with more variation in chronotypes may have been more likely to survive.
为什么会有夜猫子这样的存在呢？（目前）还没有一个被普遍接受的理论能解释它；不过，进化生物学家们认为，那些睡眠类型更多样的群体或许会更有可能存活下来。
Another theory is that variation is simply how genetics works. Colin Espie, professor of sleep medicine at the University of Oxford, says this mirrors differences in hair, eye and skin colour, or height.
另一种理论认为，人会拥有不同的睡眠类型，仅仅是因为遗传学的原理就是这样的。科林·埃斯皮是牛津大学睡眠医学专业的教授，他说，这就和人们在发色、眼睛颜色、肤色或身高上存在差异是一个道理。
Natural night owls are fundamentally different to insomniacs or people who stay up until the early hours because of family or work circumstances. Being a night owl isn't a problem.
天生的夜猫子与失眠症患者或者那些因家庭、工作而熬夜到凌晨的人有着本质上的区别。当一只夜猫子其实没什么问题。
But this isn't always well understood. Jessica Batchelor is a medical writer who feels most productive at 11pm. "I can't tell anyone when I went to sleep, woke up, showered, or ate a meal without being judged," she says. "I struggle with feelings of guilt and shame."
然而这一点通常得不到充分的理解。杰西卡·巴切洛是一位医学领域的作家，她觉得自己在晚上 11 点是最有效率的。“我都不敢跟人说自己是几点睡的、几点起的、几点洗的澡或者几点吃的饭，就怕遭人评头论足，”她这样说道，“我在内疚和羞愧感中苦苦挣扎着。”
This mentality is rooted in our agrarian past, when farm work had to begin at dawn.
其实，这种思维方式源自我们过去的农耕时代，那时候，天刚刚亮就得开始干农活了。
Our culture mistakenly associates sleeping little and rising early with virtue. It is often extolled as a habit of successful people: for instance in the fascination with Margaret Thatcher's four-hour rest, or articles about "sleepless-elite" CEOs who start their days with a 4am jog.
我们的文化也错误地把“睡得少、起得早”与良好的品质混为一谈。这种作息方式往往被称颂为成功人士的生活习惯：比如，人们痴迷于玛格丽特·撒切尔夫人一天只睡四小时的习惯，就爱看那些讲不睡觉的精英总裁凌晨四点爬起来慢跑的文章。
Yet this belies a glaring inconsistency: around eight hours of good-quality sleep is essential for better health for almost everybody.
但是，这一点其实掩盖了观点上一个明显的自相矛盾之处：约八小时的高质量睡眠对几乎每个人的健康都至关重要，而“少睡早起”则与该观点有所出入。
主编：Felicity
品控：Pita
审核：宇轩
重点词汇
co-ordinator
/koʊˈɔːr.dən.eɪ.t̬ɚ/
n. 协调人，协调员
相关词汇：coordinate（v. 协调，调和）
词根词缀：co-（表示 together “一起”）
相关词汇：cooperate, collaborate（合作）
搭配短语：to coordinate flights
词根词缀：-or（表示“人”）
inclination
/ˌɪn.kləˈneɪ.ʃən/
n. 倾向，意愿
搭配短语：an inclination for / towards sth.
例句：He has a strong inclination for / towards arts.
搭配短语：an inclination to do sth.
例句：He has an inclination to study arts.
leave sb. to their own devices
让某人自己决定……
英文释义：to leave sb. alone to do as they wish
例句：The students were left to their own devices when the teacher failed to appear on time.
universally
/ˌjuː.nəˈvɝː.səl.i/
adv. 普遍地，一致地
相关词汇：universe（n. 宇宙，天地万物）
派生词：universal（adj. 普遍的，全体的）
evolutionary
/ˌev.əˈluː.ʃən.er.i/
adj. 进化的，演变的
相关词汇：evolution（n. 进化，演变）
搭配短语：Darwin's "Theory of Evolution"
variation
/ˌver.iˈeɪ.ʃən/
n. 差异，变化
英文释义：the existence of differences
genetics
/dʒəˈnet̬.ɪks/
n. 遗传学
相关词汇：gene（n. 基因）
词根词缀：-ics（表示“专业、学科”）
相关词汇：physics（n. 物理学）
相关词汇：economics（n. 经济学）
mirror
/ˈmɪr.ɚ/
v. 反映（相似的情况等）；反射，映照
词性拓展：mirror（n. 镜子）
例句：The lake's glassy surface mirrors the forest.
例句：The stage mirrors life.
insomniac
/ɪnˈsɑːm.ni.æk/
n. 失眠症患者
相关词汇：insomnia（n. 失眠症）
early hours
/ˈɝː.li ˌaʊrz/
n. 凌晨，（午夜十二点到日出前的）时间段
英文释义：the early hours of the morning, between twelve o'clock at night and the time when the sun rises
productive
/prəˈdʌk.tɪv/
adj. 富有生产力的，有效益的；多产的，高产的
相关词汇：produce（v. 生产）
搭配短语：productive soils
agrarian
/əˈɡrer.i.ən/
adj. 与耕地有关的，与耕种有关的
词根词缀：agro-（表示 field “土地”）
搭配短语：an agrarian economy
mistakenly
/mɪˈsteɪ.kən.li/
adv. 错误地，弄错地
相关词汇：mistake（v. 误会，误解）
相关词汇：mistaken（adj.（某个意见或判断）错误的）
搭配短语：mistaken views
搭配短语：mistaken ideas
associate
/əˈsoʊ·ʃiˌeɪt/
v. 联系，联想
近义词：connect（v. 使联系，使关联）
搭配短语：associate… with…
例句：I always associate the song with my childhood.
extol
/ɪkˈstoʊl/
v. 颂扬，赞美
近义词：praise
英文释义：to praise enthusiastically
例句：She was extolled as a genius.
fascination
/ˌfæs.ənˈeɪ.ʃən/
n. 迷恋，着迷
搭配短语：sth. has a fascination for sb.
例句：The sea will always hold a great fascination for me.
搭配短语：sb. has a fascination with sth.
例句：I will always have a fascination with the sea.
belie
/bɪˈlaɪ/
v. 掩饰，给人以假象
英文释义：to deceive by lies
例句：His looks belied his young age.
glaring
/ˈɡler.ɪŋ/
adj. 显眼的，明显的；（光）刺眼的，炫目的
搭配短语：the glaring sun
搭配短语：a glaring error
搭配短语：a glaring omission
inconsistency
/ˌɪn.kənˈsɪs.tən.si/
/ˌɪn.kənˈsɪs.tən.si/
相关词汇：consistent（adj. 一致的）
例句：The evidence is consistent.
相关词汇：consistency（n. 一致性）
例句：There are some inconsistencies in his words.