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Most people who hold babies know that the moment babies go to sleep, they seem to gain weight. Of course, a baby's weight doesn't really change when they fall asleep, so why does the limp, floppy weight of a sleeping baby seem greater than it actually is?
大多數有孩子的人都知道嬰兒睡著的那一刻，體重似乎在增加。實際上，嬰兒在睡著的時候體重并沒有變化，那為什么他們松軟無力的身體似乎比實際要重？
A sleeping baby in your arms feels heavier because you must constantly adjust your own movements to compensate for their floppiness. Your muscles work harder to carry a child who's asleep, and your brain perceives this increase in work as an increase in the child's weight, though, of course, the weight of the baby stays the same.
懷抱著睡夢中的嬰兒，感覺他們比平常更重，那是因為你必須不斷地調整自己的動作來抱穩他們。為了抱起熟睡中的嬰兒，你的肌肉會要更努力地運作，你的大腦則把工作量的增加當成了孩子體重的增加。當然，孩子的體重是保持不變的。
To picture this, think about carrying a twenty-pound bag of water. You would continually have to rearrange how you were holding that bag to make up for how the weight shifted due to the water sloshing around.
為了更加形象化，想像一下你正抱著一個20英鎊的水袋。你要不斷地重新安排姿勢，才能在水四處流動、重心不斷的轉移時穩住水袋。
In a similar way, you must continually adjust how you are holding or carrying a sleeping baby because they aren't able to control their own muscles to maintain a steady posture. Their inability to control their posture and movements makes them floppy, just like that bag of water.
同理，在抱著熟睡中的嬰兒的時候，你必須不斷地調整你的動作，因為嬰兒們不能控制自己的肌肉以保持穩定的姿勢。因為他們不能控制姿勢和動作，這讓他們的身體顯得很松軟，就像一袋水似的。
Now, freeze your twenty-pound bag of water. Though it would be cold and slippery, it would feel lighter because it is a solid weight that doesn't require you to constantly make minute adjustments in order to carry it. This is how you perceive the weight of a conscious person.
現在，冰凍那20磅重的水袋。盡管它冰涼而濕滑，但還是覺得較輕，因為此時它是固體重量，不需要你不斷地進行調整。這就是人們如何感知一個有意識的人的體重。
Babies aren't the only ones who seem heavier when they go limp. Dogs and cats also seem to gain weight when they go to sleep. And political protesters take advantage of this phenomenon by completely relaxing their muscles when police try to drag them away from a protest.
嬰兒并不是唯一的在四肢無力時看起來體重在增加的人。狗和貓睡著時，也會讓人覺得他們在增重。政治抗議者充分利用了這種現象，在警察試圖將他們從抗議人群中拖走時，他們則完全放松肌肉。
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