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Trouble Sleeping
简体
Trouble Sleeping
难以入眠

Learn English with this sleeping English lesson

Date: May 17 2013

Grammar: Gerunds vs. Infinitives

Intro

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You’re in your pajamas, your teeth are brushed, and your face is washed. You’ve turned out the lights and you’re all ready for bed. There’s only one problem: you can’t sleep. You turn on the lights and try reading for a bit. You listen to music. You even count sheep. Nothing helps with your insomnia.

Or maybe you have no problem getting to sleep, but you wake up in the middle of the night. You think you’ll just be able to turn over and fall back asleep, but before you know it a half hour passes. Then another. Then it’s time for your alarm to go off, and you’ve been awake half the night. Sleep trouble is truly the worst. Find out about Mason and Lily’s experiences with insomnia in this sleep English lesson.

你穿上睡衣,刷完牙,洗完脸。你关了灯,准备上床睡觉。只有一个问题在困扰你:你睡不着。你打开灯,试着看一会儿书。你听音乐,甚至数绵羊。这些对你的失眠症毫无帮助。

又或者说,入睡对你而言不成问题,但你会在半夜醒来。你以为,转个身就能再次入睡,但不知不觉中半个小时过去了。然后又是一轮。不知不觉,也到了闹钟该响的时候,半个晚上你都处于清醒状态。睡眠困难真是最糟糕的经历。在本节以睡眠为话题的英语课上,听听梅森和莉莉的失眠经历。

Dialog

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Lily

Lily

Mason

Mason

Lily:  I have had so much trouble sleeping lately.

Mason:  Really? Why’s that?

Lily:  I get really anxious, and I can’t really wind down. I can’t stop thinking when I close my eyes to go to sleep.

Mason:  So you find your problem is you can’t necessarily get to sleep when you want to go to sleep.

Lily:  Yeah.

Mason:  Whereas I find my problem is I can get to sleep OK, but then I’ll wake up in the middle of the night.

Lily:  Oh, that’s the worst.

Mason:  Yeah. It is the worst. I haven’t gone in and actually gotten myself diagnosed for insomnia or anything like that, but it’s been a real problem.

Lily:  Have you tried taking any sleeping pills or anything like that?

Mason:  I have, and I’ve had mixed results. I’ve woken up in the middle of the night having taken a pill.

Lily:  Yeah, so you still end up waking up and then not only are you awake, you’re also kinda groggy too, right?

Mason:  Yeah. So honestly, most times I end up just embracing it and I actually go sleep on the couch in the other room, because I need to toss and turn a little bit, and read a book, and in between an hour or two I’ll end up getting back to bed.

 

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Discussion

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Lily has been having lots of trouble sleeping lately. She gets ready for bed, but once she’s lying down she can’t stop thinking. She just can’t wind down.

Mason has a different kind of sleeping problem. He falls asleep OK, but then he wakes up and can’t get back to sleep. He’s tried taking sleeping pills, but they don’t really work for him.

Mason has decided that, rather than fight his sleep trouble, he’s going to embrace it. When he wakes up, he actually gets out of bed. He goes to another room and reads a little, and then eventually falls back asleep.

Do you ever have trouble sleeping? What do you do to help you sleep? What advice would you give to someone with insomnia?

 

Comments

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ola33

ola33

Japan

Today in America $ 600, 000, 000, the hugest jackpot ever in the lottery history!!! I think this man has played and now lost his sleep thinking what to do with the winning money :)


 

10:09 PM May 18 2013 |

terence25ftw

China

i know how it feels like when ppl have a hard time sleeping, good think i dont usually have that problem, but when that happens, i can only go with it, forcing yourself to sleep could make it even worse. 

09:52 PM May 18 2013 |

physicsstudent

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Like Mason I can get to sleep OK , but when I wake up in the morning I’m kinda groggy most of the time !!

05:29 PM May 18 2013 |

1 person likes this

Dellsey

Dellsey

Slovakia

hey guys, if u suffer by insomnia try some breathing exercises like tai ji , yoga – pranayama. its helping a lot or just dont eat before going to the bed :)


03:36 PM May 18 2013 |

fizaa

fizaa

Pakistan

this problem is so common with all, bt it it can be oversome. :)

02:15 PM May 18 2013 |

1 person likes this

8312016

8312016

Switzerland

when iam so tired ihave trouble sleeping

01:23 PM May 18 2013 |

1 person likes this

omar saidi

omar saidi

Tanzania, United Republic Of

  Some time is coused by deepration and this happened to so many people in the word , but its different by my side


Its normally at equatiriol region countries , it’s so hot during the night so trouble sleeping must take a place ,


10:23 AM May 18 2013 |

1 person likes this

Twotya

Twotya

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

Yes, I do every once in a while, meanly after a quarrel with my husband-I toss and turn all throughout night while he sleeps like a log!!! I guess one of the main reasons of insomnia is busy mind, specially women who are emotionally vulnerable. We usually can’t get things off our minds easily…all those self talks and scary images that run into the mind just can’t let us wind down. I suppose one should train his mind to call a “time out” to what has been going on during day as you go to bed, or just take a piece of paper and write things down and leave it for the day after to think about it. It migh work better than sleeping pills.

10:07 AM May 18 2013 |

ericayang

China

I have good sleep every night.Every night i read story with my kid. after half a hour reading,I feel very tried. And i can fall sleep quickly .Mu son need drink a cup of hot milk before he go to bed.

08:56 AM May 18 2013 |

neda-s

United States

Whenever I’m going to have some important meeting, exam or journey the next day, I have troubles sleeping. Sometimes this happens after having a tough day. The best thing to do is to stop thinking about anything, which is not that easy! 


Taking a cup of hot milk, reading story books, and even doing some exercise might work too.

04:55 AM May 18 2013 |

m_bahal

m_bahal

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

i think every one have this problem… i have too


my friend told me that when u are going to bed , dont think about any think during the night until u wake up…


he told me that your problem come for thinking about some think or some body…


if u do this , u can sleep easly in night… i do this and i dont have problem now…

04:03 AM May 18 2013 |

struggling

struggling

Tunisia

This is because we never feel satisfied of life luxuries…. no matter how lucky other people think we are.  So the real peace lies where you feel yourself the luckiest because of what you have not because of what you have not get yet. At this point you may go to sleep in peace… God is awake :)

11:00 PM May 17 2013 |

1 person likes this

reyas

reyas

Saudi Arabia

Oh, that’s really touching. I am suffering from Insomina and i stay up the whole night.


I guess have some troubles in life or worries can be the coz as in my situation.


10:43 PM May 17 2013 |

lanilani_hitomi

Japan

I can easily fall asleep but can’t sleep well these days. I sleep only 4 hours.


I wake up naturally and sleep in the day class!


It’s terrible.

09:32 PM May 17 2013 |

1 person likes this

katyushka

katyushka

Ukraine

I haven’t troble sleeping. In mums forums we have joke about sleepeing.


Early I can sleeping in all possitions. When I was pregnant  I can cleep only on my side. When I have little baby, I can sleep in the standing position.


=)

07:22 PM May 17 2013 |

saba2

saba2

Iraq

it always happen .some times i feel that iam so sleepy but when i go to my bed i cant sleep .but i have amagical way to sleep by drinking acub of milk .it can help at once

03:39 PM May 17 2013 |

1 person likes this

haitham4vip

Egypt

always being

03:17 PM May 17 2013 |

Michaelwang

China

yeah, it was so worst when not getting sleeping, i think every body ever has suffered it more or less, i suffered it sometimes, the time is late, but i can’t go to fall sleep, so i would watch movie or TV or read something or chat or play,  i can’t stand that i faild to sleep until the middle of night but i have to get early up next day because there are something to do, fortunately it is not insomnia, i never get it. so if u are a matter of insomnis, i advise u gonna see a doctor, maybe something wrong with u

02:25 PM May 17 2013 |

1 person likes this

KelvinPhillbert

China

i always do not have this trouble, most of the time, once i lay down in the bed, just another second i feel like i am going to sleep, and soon i fall sleep. sometimes even no one can wake me up, haha. but, there are also day or two, i just think i need to go to sleep soon, but it does not work, no matter what i try, like, sheep counting, change another position, trying not think about anything. but any way, i think i am really the good sleeper in my view. hope you all too. haha.

01:48 PM May 17 2013 |

CyrilCui

CyrilCui

China

I had trouble sleeping sometimes before, but it was not serious indeed.


When I face an exam tomorrow and I feel very nervous, it’ll be hard for me to sleep. Then I usually listen to some soft songs or music to make me be relaxed. Or continuing to study to make me be very tired, and then I will forget the exams and remove the feeling of nervous. Certainly drinking some hot milk is a good choice to be relaxed.


If I am very excited before going to bed, I also can’t sleep soon. I will not waste time and do what I want in my mind, such as watch movies, play computer games or chat with friends on internet, etc. Of course, such things only occur in the case that there is no important thing tomorrow, and I can sleep in the daytime.

01:37 PM May 17 2013 |

1 person likes this

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