《中英對照讀新聞》Would like to be politicians in Britain?First,sleep less! 想當英國的政治人物？首先，睡少一點！

It might be their troubled consiences, or perhaps just the anti-social hours of their job, but politicians are among the most sleep-deprived people in Britain, a study showed.

也許是他們良心不安，抑或只是其工作的反社會時刻，然而在英國，政治人物是睡眠被剝奪最多者之一，一項研究顯示。

Members of parliament catch on average only five hours of shut-eye per night, a level that might well affect their ability to make rational decisions, the survey by the Sleep Council found.

國會議員平均每晚僅有五小時闔眼，此一水準很可能大大影響他們做出理性決定的能力，由睡眠委員會進行的調查發現。

In contrast, lawyers appear to have very little bothering their minds, clocking up nearly eight hours a night on a regular basis, with one in five managing 10 hours of snoozing.

相較之下，律師似乎心無掛慮，常常晚上可睡上近八個小時，甚至每五人中有一人能睡上十小時。

They were closely followed by architects and --perhaps more surprisingly -- mothers with young children, who managed more than seven hours per night.

緊跟在他們之後的是建築師，以及 或許更出人意料 稚齡兒童的母親，他們每晚能睡超過七小時。

Dictionary-新聞辭典

on an (the) average: 平均而言。

例句：I spend 2,000 dollars per month on average.（我每月平均花費兩千美元）。

above average 則為一般水準之上，below average 是一般水準之下。

on call: 隨叫隨到，引伸為隨時待命的意思。

contrast: 可作為動詞與名詞，皆為對照、比照之意。

例句：This seems too big in contrast to that.（與那個對照之下，這個顯然太大）。

on a regular basis: 通常、經常；on a daily basis 是指每天，on a weekly basis是指每週。