Advice to “sleep on it” could be well founded, scientists say. After a good night’s sleep a problem that seemed impossible to solve the night before can often appear more manageable, although no evidence has proved this by now. But researchers at the University of Luebek in Germany have designed an experiment that shows a good night’s sleep can improve insight (洞察力) and problem-solving.
“If you have some newly acquired memories in your brain, sleep acts on these memories and restructures (重构) them, so that after sleep the insight into a problem which you could not solve before increases,” said Dr. Jan Born, a neuroscientist (神经科学家), at the university. To test the theory, they taught volunteers two simple rules to help them put a string of numbers into a new order. There was also a third, hidden rule, which could help them increase their speed in solving the problem. The researchers divided the volunteers into two groups: half were allowed to sleep after the training while the rest were forced to stay awake. Born and his team noticed that the group that had slept after the training were twice as likely to figure out the third rule as the other group. “Sleep helped.” Born said in a telephone interview. “The important thing is that you have to have a memory representation in your brain of the problem you want to solve and then you sleep, so it can act on the problem.” But Born admitted that he and his team don’t know how restructuring of memories occurs or what governs it. Pierre Marquette and Pierre Ruby of the University of Liege in Belgium said the experimental evidence supports the suggestion that sleep can help develop creative thinking. Although the role of sleep in human creativity will still be a mystery, the research gives people good reason to fully respect their periods of sleep, they added.
68. The underlined phrase “sleep on it” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.
A. to put something to be solved aside until the next day
B. to get as much sleep as possible
C. to go on sleeping without being disturbed
D. to sleep till you usually get up the next morning
69. Jan Born and his team carried out the experiment through _____.
A. interview      B. comparison       C. survey     D. imagination
70. It can be inferred from the passage that _____.
A. sleep is the only way to solve hard problems
B. people should sleep so long as they have time
C. people know how sleep reconstructs memories
D. people have various periods of sleep
71. What would be the best title for the passage?
A. How Sleep Works                 B. No Evidence, but Well Founded
C. Sleep Helps Solve Problems         D. Born’s Discovery On Sleep