Without the sun, no living thing could survive on Earth, including humans. The sun allows food to grow and helps your body produce vitamin D. Why, then, does this life-giving star also make you feel tired? Perhaps you’ve wondered this after spending a day in the sun, and ending up completely exhausted.
There are several reasons why direct sunlight tires you out. The first is that your body doesn’t want to heat up. Therefore, it has to use a lot of energy to cool itself down and maintain its ideal temperature, 37°C. It does this by sending blood to your skin’s surface and by sweating. If you feel extremely tired in the sun, it’s a sign that it’s time to take a rest and cool down lest you suffer heatstroke or even die.
Another factor is dehydration, or lack of water. When you sweat a lot, your body loses water. As a result, your blood becomes thicker, which makes it harder for your heart to pump, meaning that less oxygen will be delivered to your body. This reduction of oxygen will make you feel even more tired. This is why it is so important to drink lots of water when you spend time in the sun. Yet another factor is sunburn, which is your skin’s reaction to the UV (ultraviolet) rays in sunlight. Your skin turns red as a form of protection, but this process is also tiring for your body’s immune system.
Photo courtesy of Shutterstock 照片：Shutterstock提供
As you can see, the sun is both your enemy and friend. Exposing yourself to its warming rays on a daily basis is good for you. But tiredness is your body’s way of telling you when it has had enough sunlight for the day.
沒有了太陽，便沒有生物能存活在地球上，人類也不例外。太陽讓食物生長，也幫助你的身體製造維生素D。那為什麼這個賜予生命的恆星也會讓你覺得疲累呢？也許你在太陽下待一整天，結果發現自己筋疲力盡時就有過這個疑問。
為什麼陽光直射會讓你筋疲力盡有一些原因。首先，你的身體不想變熱。因此，它必須使用很多能量來降溫，並維持在理想的溫度，也就是37℃。身體藉由把血液輸送到皮膚表面和流汗的方式來達到降溫的效果。如果你在太陽下覺得非常累，這是個訊號，告訴你是時候該休息片刻並降溫，以免你中暑或甚至死亡。
另一個因素是脫水，亦即缺乏水分。當你流很多汗，你的身體會失去水分。因此，你的血液會變得比較濃稠，這讓心臟較難輸送血液，代表較少的氧氣會被送到全身。缺少氧氣會讓你覺得更累。這就是為什麼當你待在太陽下時要喝很多水是很重要的。還有一個因素是曬傷，這是你的皮膚對陽光中紫外線的反應。你的皮膚變紅是一種保護的形式，但這個過程對你身體的免疫系統來說也很累。
如你所見，太陽亦敵亦友。每天暴露於它溫暖的光線下對你有益。但疲倦感是你的身體在告訴你它那天曬夠太陽了。
What Did You Learn?
1. What is the main idea of the passage?
(A) Sunburn is a sign that your body is healthy.
(B) There are health benefits to getting enough sunlight.
(C) Any direct exposure to the sun is bad for your body.
(D) Tiredness serves as a warning that you’re getting too much sun.
2. Which of the following is NOT a reason why the sun tires you out?
(A) It forces your body to use energy to avoid overheating.
(B) It makes your skin burn, which requires energy.
(C) It increases the level of oxygen in your blood.
(D) It causes a reduction of water in your body.
3. Why does the author call the sun an enemy and a friend?
(A) Sunlight feels warm but actually cools your body.
(B) The sun is good for you, but it can also be harmful.
(C) People want to enjoy the sun every day but shouldn’t.
(D) The sun actually does more harm than good to humans.
答案：1. (D) 2. (C) 3. (B)
Words in Use
1. survive vi. 存活、生存
Most underwater organisms cannot survive on land.
大部分的水棲生物無法在陸地存活。
2. sweat vi. 流汗、出汗
After running for five minutes under the sun, the students started to sweat.
在太陽下跑了五分鐘後，學生們開始流汗。
3. extremely adv. 非常地、極端地
Molly was extremely excited when she found out that her favorite singer won the award.
茉莉得知她最愛的歌手獲獎時非常地興奮。
4. lest conj. 以免（與助動詞should並用，should可省略）
Luke always takes the first bus to work lest he (should) be late.
路克總是搭第一班公車去上班以免遲到。
5. suffer vt. 遭受、蒙受（一時的痛苦或損失）
The farmers suffered great losses because of the typhoon.
農民因颱風來襲而蒙受很大的損失。
Practical Phrases
1. end up + 形容詞 結果／最後…
Larry invested all of his money in a company and hoped to make a fortune, but he ended up poor.
賴瑞把他全部的錢都投資到一間公司，希望可以賺大錢，但他最後卻窮困潦倒。
2. tire sb out 使某人筋疲力盡／疲憊不堪
Climbing such high mountains really tires me out.
爬那麼高的山真是累死我了。
3. heat up 變熱；加熱（溫度）
I bought a waffle maker last week, but it won’t heat up after I used it twice.
我上禮拜買了一臺鬆餅機，但我用了兩次後它就無法加熱了。
4. cool... down / cool down... 使…變涼／降溫
Jerry turned on the air conditioner to cool down his room.
傑瑞打開冷氣以讓他的房間變涼快。
5. lack of sth 缺乏…
Lack of experience was the main reason why Trevor didn’t get the job.
缺乏經驗是崔佛沒有拿到那份工作的主要原因。
聽文章朗讀及講解: https://ivy.pse.is/455bfu
本文出自常春藤解析英語雜誌: www.ivy.com.tw
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