Notes：
pleasurable楽しい;
best of all 最も良いことに;
dream paralysis 　金縛り状態;
tranquility 　平穏，穏やかさ;
sour　不快な;
nightmare　悪夢;
evil　不吉な;
for fear of ～ing　～することを恐れて;
scenario （予想される）事態[状況];
spirit 霊;
exhausted とても疲れている;
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Sleep is perhaps one of the most pleasurable activities available to mankind. It relaxes us, heals us, and best of all, it is costs absolutely nothing. So imagine my disappointment last month when I experienced what is known in Japan as ‘kanashibari’ – or in the West as ‘dream paralysis’. This is my tale of what happened. There I was enjoying the tranquility of sleep when all of a sudden my dream turned sour, and I found myself in a terrible nightmare. After realizing it was a dream, I opened my eyes to shake myself out of the nightmare. But when I woke up I found that things were no better; in fact I still felt something strange, something evil, in the room. When I tried to look around I discovered that I was paralysed – totally unable to move or talk! I stayed in that state for five minutes until eventually I was able to think pleasant thoughts. But it took me a while to get back to sleep for fear of returning to that state again. Thankfully that scenario has only ever happened a few times in my life, and despite what Japanese people tell me, I don’t think it was a spirit; I think I was just exhausted and that it was just my body saying that it needed more sleep! What do you think? ( by Prof. Simon Smith)
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Notes:
bookworm 本の虫、読書家;
I fear that…(～ではないかと)心配する、不安になる;
complain that…(～だと) 不満を言う;
be bored 退屈している;
avid 熱心な;
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For me there is nothing better than a good book; in fact, given the choice between food and a book, I fear that I would choose to starve. Looking back I wish I had read when I was young – I certainly had more time then. To make matters worse I was always complaining that I was bored to my parents. Now I realise that I need not have been bored at all! So it makes me feel good to see people reading, especially kids, because I know that they have found something amazing. I have a daughter; she is only three so it is too early to say whether she will become an avid reader or not, but the signs are good. She loves to be read to, and so we read every day together. My dream is that one day she will read books by herself and we can go to the library and read all day until our eyes hurt and we have to go home. (by Prof. Simon Smith)
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