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Let's start with day and night.
我先從日夜談起，
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Life evolved under conditions
生命的演進是在
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of light and darkness,
光照與黑暗中進行，
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light and then darkness.
也就是日出而後日落。
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And so plants and animals
植物和動物因此而發展出
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developed their own internal clocks
他們自己的內部時鐘，
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so that they would be ready for these changes in light.
好讓自己熟悉這種光線的變幻。
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These are chemical clocks,
這種化學激素時鐘，
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and they're found in every known being that has two or more cells
可以在我們所知的每一種多細胞生物、
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and in some that only have one cell.
甚至單細胞生物中觀察得到。
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I'll give you an example --
我來舉個例子，
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if you take a horseshoe crab off the beach,
如果你從海灘上抓走一隻大螃蟹，
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and you fly it all the way across the continent,
讓它坐上飛機到大陸的另一端，
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and you drop it into a sloped cage,
把它放進一個斜的籠子裡，
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it will scramble up the floor of the cage
它會在它家鄉岸邊
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as the tide is rising
漲潮的時間裡，
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on its home shores,
爬上籠子較高的那一端，
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and it'll skitter down again right as the water is receding
然後在數千哩之外的海水退去之時，
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thousands of miles away.
又滑下籠子底部。
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It'll do this for weeks,
它會重覆這種行為好幾個星期，
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until it kind of gradually loses the plot.
直到它漸漸搞不清楚身處何地為止。
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And it's incredible to watch,
這很不可思議，
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but there's nothing psychic or paranormal going on;
但不是什麼靈異或超自然現象，
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it's simply that these crabs have internal cycles
只是這些螃蟹的內部時鐘
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that correspond, usually, with what's going on around it.
能與週遭環境相配合而已。
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So, we have this ability as well.
人類也有這種能力，
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And in humans, we call it the "body clock."
人類稱這種能力為生理時鐘。
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You can see this most clearly when you take away someone's watch
當你拿走某人的手錶，把他關進一個
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and you shut them into a bunker, deep underground,
深入地底的地堡裡，好幾個月不出來，
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for a couple of months. (Laughter)
你就會清楚看到生理時鐘的作用。
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People actually volunteer for this,
有些人還自願被關進地堡裡，
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and they usually come out
當他們從地堡出來時，
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kind of raving about their productive time in the hole.
對自己能清醒工作的時間總是胡吹一通。
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So, no matter how atypical these subjects would have to be,
不管他們說的有多離譜，
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they all show the same thing.
有一件事是確定的，
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They get up just a little bit later every day -- say 15 minutes or so --
就是他們每天都會越來越晚起床，假設是晚15分鐘好了，
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and they kind of drift all the way around the clock like this
然後就把整個生理時鐘往後推延，
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over the course of the weeks.
在他們待在地堡期間內不斷推延。
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And so, in this way we know that they are working on their own internal clocks,
我們發現，他們是依照自己的生理時鐘在運作，
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rather than somehow sensing the day outside.
而不是靠感覺外面的日照在運作。
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So fine, we have a body clock,
好，我們有生理時鐘，
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and it turns out that it's incredibly important in our lives.
對我們的生命無比重要，
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It's a huge driver for culture
也是文化的重要推動力量，
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and I think that it's the most underrated force on our behavior.
我認為這是我們的行為裡，最被忽略的一股力量。
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We evolved as a species near the equator,
人類是從接近赤道的地方開始發源，
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and so we're very well-equipped
所以我們很能適應
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to deal with 12 hours of daylight
有12個小時的白天
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and 12 hours of darkness.
和有12個小時的夜晚。
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But of course, we've spread to every corner of the globe
但現在，人類已分散居住在世界上每一個角落，
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and in Arctic Canada, where I live,
在我居住的加拿大極地附近，
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we have perpetual daylight in summer
夏天是永晝，
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and 24 hours of darkness in winter.
冬天則是永夜。
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So the culture, the northern aboriginal culture,
所以在北方的原住民文化裡，
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traditionally has been highly seasonal.
傳統上是高度倚賴季節變化的。
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In winter, there's a lot of sleeping going on;
冬天，人們睡覺的時間很常，
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you enjoy your family life inside.
也都待在屋內享受家庭生活；
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And in summer, it's almost manic hunting
而在夏天，有無止盡的狩獵
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and working activity very long hours,
與工作活動，持續時間很長，
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very active.
非常活躍。
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So, what would our natural rhythm look like?
那麼，人類自然的時間韻律該是什麼樣子？
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What would our sleeping patterns be
理想的人類睡眠
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in the sort of ideal sense?
又該呈現什麼模式？
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Well, it turns out
我們發現，
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that when people are living
當人們的生活裡
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without any sort of artificial light at all,
完全沒有人工光源時，
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they sleep twice every night.
每天晚上會有二次睡眠週期，
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They go to bed around 8:00 p.m.
他們會在晚上八點左右睡覺，
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until midnight
直到午夜，
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and then again, they sleep
接下來，
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from about 2:00 a.m. until sunrise.
則從二點睡到日出時分。
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And in-between, they have a couple of hours
在這二次睡眠之間，有好幾個小時
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of sort of meditative quiet in bed.
是處於安靜的冥想階段。
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And during this time,
在這段期間裡，
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there's a surge of prolactin,
泌乳激素會大量分泌，
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the likes of which a modern day never sees.
這在現代人身上是觀察不到的。
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The people in these studies
參與這項研究的人指出，
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report feeling so awake during the daytime,
他們在白天的時候感覺很清醒，
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that they realize
是他們以前
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they're experiencing true wakefulness
所沒有體會過的
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for the first time in their lives.
清醒感覺。
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So, cut to the modern day.
現在我們來談談現代人的生活。
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We're living in a culture of jet lag,
我們的生活裡充斥著時差、
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global travel,
全球旅行、
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24-hour business,
24小時營業、
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shift work.
輪班等現代文化，
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And you know, our modern ways
現代人的
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of doing things
工作方式，
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have their advantages,
自有其優點存在，
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but I believe we should understand the costs.
但我們得瞭解我們所付出的成本為何。
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Thank you.
謝謝大家。
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(Applause)
(掌聲)
