[00:00.00]11 On Getting Off to Sleep - 有声读物 [00:12.06]Lesson Eleven On Getting off to Sleep [00:14.96]What a bundle of contradictions is a man! [00:18.04]Surety, humour is the saving grace of us, [00:21.01]for without it we should die of vexation. [00:24.15]With me, nothing illustrates the contrariness [00:28.09]of things better than the matter of sleep. [00:31.37]If, for example, my intention is to write an essay, [00:35.05]and 1 have before me ink and pens and several sheets of virgin paper, [00:40.13]you may depend upon it that before I have gone very far [00:43.93]I feel an overpowering desire for sleep, [00:47.62]no matter what time of the day it is. [00:50.62]I stare at the reproachfully blank paper until sights [00:55.06]and sounds become dim and confused, [00:58.21]and it is only by an effort of will that I can continue at all. [01:04.09]Even then, I proceed half-heartedly, in a kind of dream. [01:09.61]But let me be between the sheets at a late hour, [01:14.24]and I can do any-thing but sleep. [01:17.24]Between chime and chime of the clock I can write essays by the score. [01:23.35]Fascinating subjects and noble ideas come pell-mell, [01:28.65]each with its appropriate imagery and expression. [01:33.04]Nothing stands between me and half-a-dozen imperishable masterpieces [01:38.76]but pens, ink, and paper.