睡覺時爲何不打噴嚏?

Sleep On, Sneeze Not 睡覺的時候不會打噴嚏

The signs are unmistakable: the eyes water, the chest heaves, the nose twitches, the body tenses, suspense builds until finally a sneeze blasts forth, concluding the drama. It's a momentarily paralyzing experience that can seize one at almost any time. 眼睛溼潤，胸部隆起，鼻子一陣抽搐，身體緊繃，（身體）就這樣待定着，到最後一個噴嚏響起，像是演了一齣戲劇！這使得人的身體短暫麻痹，它幾乎可以在任何時間讓一個人給緊縮。

But try and recall if you've ever been jarred out of a peaceful sleep by an explosive sneeze. Chances are you can't, because, thankfully, we don't sneeze while we sleep. To understand why, first we need to know why we sneeze while we're awake. 但是，試想你曾經有過在安詳的睡眠中被一個突然的噴嚏給震醒的情況嗎？ 你是不會有的，因爲很慶幸，我們在睡覺的時候不會打噴嚏。要理解其原因，我們首先需要了解爲什麼我們會在醒的時候打噴嚏。

Sneezing is a reflex, which means that it's an uncontrollable physical response to an outside stimulus. When something, say a piece of dust or a strong odor, stimulates nerve endings in the lining of the nose, the stimulus travels to the central nervous system and is then routed back to the muscles of the face, throat, and chest. 打噴嚏是一種反射，也就是說它是一種生理對外界環境的反應，不可控制。有時候，像一顆塵埃或一股強烈的味道刺激了鼻子裏的神經末梢，這個刺激就會到達中樞神經系統，繼而再返回到臉部、喉嚨和胸部的肌肉。

Once stimulated, these muscles go to work and cause us to forcefully expel air from the mouth and nose. Or, in other words, we sneeze. 這些肌肉一旦被刺激，它們就會運動，導致我們強有力的排出口腔和鼻子裏面的空氣。或者，換句話說就是打噴嚏。

Because the nose lining tends to swell when we lie down, making it even more sensitive to sneeze-causing particles, it would seem that sneezing would be likely during sleep. 因爲在我們躺下的時候，鼻子裏面部分趨於隆起，這使得它對引起打噴嚏的微小顆粒更加敏感。這樣看來，似乎在睡覺的時候更容易打噴嚏。

However, since there is little airflow in most bedrooms at night, and little movement to stir up dust and other particles, the nose is not bombarded by as many foreign particles as it is during the day. 然而，由於我們的臥房裏在晚上幾乎沒有空氣流動，也沒有什麼運動會揚起灰塵及其它微粒，所以就不會有像白天那麼多外界微粒來刺激我們的鼻子。

Furthermore, the area of the brain responsible for the sneeze reflex relaxes while we sleep. So, even when a particle does touch the nose lining, the brain doesn't notice, and we don't sneeze. 而且，當我們睡覺的時候，腦袋中負責打噴嚏反射的區域也休息了。所以，即使有微塵碰觸了鼻子內部，大腦也沒意識到，我們就不會打噴嚏。

生詞註釋：

twitch v. 抽搐，抽動，痙攣
paralyze v. 使麻痹，使癱瘓
reflex n. 反應，反射
stimulate v. 刺激
sensitive adj. 敏感的
bombard v. 轟炸，攻擊