研究人员表示，每晚至少睡五小时可能会降低五十岁以上人群患多种慢性病的几率。他们说，健康状况不佳会影响睡眠，但睡眠不好本身也可能是疾病的预警或威胁健康的风险。

Experts generally recommend we all get around seven or eight hours' sleep per night for good health. Now new research, based on a study of UK civil servants, suggest five hours' might be the bare minimum you can get away with.

专家通常建议，为了身体健康，我们每晚都要睡七到八小时左右。现在，一项以英国公务员为调查对象的研究表明，五小时可能是避免威胁健康的最低睡眠时间。

The investigators from University College London and Paris City University tracked the health of 8,000 participants through their 50s, 60s and 70s to see if sleep duration might be linked to their chance of developing multiple chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease.

伦敦大学学院和巴黎城市大学的调查人员跟踪调查了8000名参与者50岁、60岁和70岁期间的健康状况，以了解他们的睡眠时间是否与他们患多种慢性病的几率有关，如癌症、糖尿病或心脏病。

The results suggest short sleep may be a risk or a marker for disease, and five hours a night is the tipping point.

研究结果表明，睡眠时间短可能是导致患病的风险或标志，而每晚睡五小时则是健康状况是否受影响的临界点。

词汇表

recommend 建议
civil servants 公务员
bare minimum 最少量，最低限度
tracked 追踪了
chronic 慢性的
marker 标志
tipping point 临界点，转折点

阅读理解：请在读完上文后，回答下列问题。

1. What is considered a good amount of sleep for good health?

2. How much time do experts think is the minimum amount of sleep you need to stay healthy?

3. Which group of people were studied for this research about sleep?

4. What did this research aim to discover about the effects of too little sleep?

答案  

1. What is considered a good amount of sleep for good health?
Experts generally recommend we all get around seven or eight hours' sleep a night for good health.

2. How much time do experts think is the minimum amount of sleep you need to stay healthy?
The results of the research suggest short sleep may be a risk for disease and five hours a night is the tipping point.

3. Which group of people were studied for this research about sleep?
UK civil servants were studied for this research about sleep.

4. What did this research aim to discover about the effects of too little sleep?
The research aimed to discover if sleep duration might be linked to people's chances of developing multiple chronic conditions such as cancer, diabetes or heart disease.