讀報刊，學英語（11）和寵物一起睡到底好不好？
Sleep with your pet？ How that may affect you （and your pet）
老孫導讀：
“愛寵”人士越來越多，有的甚至把寵物當兒子女兒養，那麼，愛是一回事，和寵物一起睡到底是好呢？還是不好呢？還是聽專家的吧。（專業術語用下劃線標註，片語或習語藍色標註，後面有註解。）
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（獸醫的）
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 bene-fits， including increases in beneficial
neurotransmitters（神經傳遞素）
such as
oxytocin（催產素）
and
dopamine（多巴胺）
， the
feel-good hormones（快樂激素）
，” 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？ Experts have traditionally said no because you might not get quality shut-eye。
“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（分裂，破碎）
，” said Dr。 Vsevolod Polotsky， director of sleep research and a professor in the department of medicine at Johns Hopkins University Sch- ool of Medicine。
That may be true for many of us， but recent studies have shown that pets in the bedroom could be beneficial for some of us。
“People with depression or anxiety may
benefit from
having their pet in the bed because the pet is a big pillow， a big blanket， and they may feel that snuggly， cuddly， furry creature decreases their anxiety，” said sleep specialist Dr。 Raj Dasgupta， an assistant professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California。
Children may benefit from sleeping with a pet
as well
。 A 2021 study asked adolescents（青春期的，青少年的） ages 13 to 17 to wear sleep trackers for two weeks and then undergo a
state-of-the-art
sleep test。 About a third of the kids slept with a pet， the study noted， which didn‘t
appear to
affect the quality of their rest。
Despite the new science， many of us still need to
think twice
about bringing our dogs， cats or indoor pigs into our beds。
“It is particularly harmful in people with insomnia or in patients with other sleep disorders，” Polotsky said。
There is another reason why snuggling with pets all night may not be good for your health。 If you are one of the millions of people who
suffer from
asthma（哮喘）
，
allergies（過敏）
or
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease（慢性阻礙性肺病）
， sleeping with a furball could become a nightmare。
老孫學習建議：Vocabulary building（詞彙積累）
1 quest for。。。 追求。。。；探索。。。 （可以用作動詞片語，也可以用作名詞片語）
2 get to 到達；開始；達到…地步；
3 flip side 另一面，反面，負面；唱片反面
4 in general 通常；大體上；一般而言，總的來說；
5 tend to 朝某方向； 趨向； 偏重；
6 out of the way 偏遠；異常的； 罕見的；不礙事；
7 turn to （使）轉向；（使）變成；求助於；翻書到；
8 lead to 把…帶到；領到；（道路）通向；導致；
9 benefit from 透過…獲益； 受益； 得力； 受用；
10 state-of-the-art 使用最先進技術的； 體現最高水平的；
11 appear to 似乎，好像；
12 think twice 三思，反覆考慮；
13 suffer from 忍受，遭受，患。。。病，受。。。之苦；
老孫觀點：科學家沒有替誰做決定，他們只是告訴你哪些人和寵物一起睡對雙方都好，哪些人不適合帶寵物一起睡，至於到底是不是和你的寵物一起睡，你自己決定。
1、主人和寵物睡，肯定對寵物有好處；
2、大部分人和寵物一起睡對自己有好處，尤其是焦慮和抑鬱的人，但是20%的人會認為寵物影響自己的睡眠；
3、有哮喘等肺部疾病的人最後離寵物遠點，更不用說一起睡了；
4、不是所有的寵物你都可以摟著睡的，比如貂和鼠類的寵物，它們的天性就是噬齒類動物，不怕咬斷喉嚨啊？
