又中又英｜Pie in the sky

Everyone hopes to have a good night’s sleep. Supposing you go to bed at 10 in the evening and sleep until 6 the next morning without waking up during the night. That would be an excellent night’s sleep because it means sleeping for eight continuous hours without waking up. I would give an arm and a leg to be able to sleep for eight continuous hours. But that is pie in the sky for me. Sleep experts say it is pie in the sky for most people too.

To give an arm and a leg for something means to be willing to give a lot of money for something. A luxury house on the Peak costs an arm and a leg, which means a lot of money. The expression “pie in the sky” means something good that people hope will happen but is unlikely to happen. Sleep experts told the Washington Post it is normal to wake up a few times during the night. People come out of a deep sleep every 90 minutes to two hours. But people who wake up too often are not getting the deepest stages of sleep.

This causes stress and other health issues. I wake up two or three times mostly to urinate. My solution is to drink less water before bedtime. Sometimes it is hard to fall asleep again because many things go through my mind. Some people believe alcohol improves sleep but too much alcohol before bedtime disturbs sleep. Reading a book before bedtime helps me sleep but experts say using a smartphone before bedtime will make it harder to fall asleep. It also disturbs sleep.

人人都希望能有一覺好眠。假設你晚上10時上床就寢，睡至早上6時起床，半夜也沒有醒來，那就是一夜絕佳的睡眠，因為那代表着你睡了連續8小時而沒有睡醒過。要是能睡上連續8小時，我會不惜一擲千金（an arm and a leg）。然而，那對我來說實在是癡人說夢（pie in the sky）。睡眠專家們也說，那對於大部分人來說，亦是不切實際的空想（pie in the sky）。

To give an arm and a leg for something是指願意為某事物花費一大筆金錢。山頂的豪宅就價值an arm and a leg，意即非常昂貴。習語“pie in the sky” 是指某事好得像空中樓閣，人們希望實現但機會渺茫。睡眠專家告訴《華盛頓郵報》，晚間睡覺中途蘇醒幾次是正常的。人們每90分鐘至2小時，便會從深層睡眠裏出來。但那些太頻繁蘇醒的人，並未進入最深層的睡眠階段。

這就會帶來壓力和其他健康問題。我會半夜睡醒幾次，通常是去小便。我的解決方法是睡前喝少些水。有時會很難重新入睡，因為有太多事情閃過我腦海。有些人相信，酒精可以改善睡眠，但睡前喝太多酒也會干擾睡眠。睡前讀一本書，也能幫助我入睡，但專家們指，睡前用智能電話會令人更難入睡，亦會干擾睡眠。

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Michael Chugani褚簡寧
中譯：七刻