You sleep on it every night, but have you ever thought about what your mattress is made out of?
Can you look for yourself and find out? If you bought your mattress at a store, probably not. Most mattresses today are sewn up when they are made so that you can't take a look at what's inside. But long ago, people didn't buy their mattresses at a store. They stuffed them themselves.
Back in that time, most families kept animals like horses and cows, so people had a lot of hay around to feed the animals. They used the hay to stuff their mattresses because the hay was softer to sleep on than a hard, wooden floor. When they went to sleep on their mattresses, they were really sleeping on hay.
PHOTO: AP
If you're very tired at bedtime, you might fall right down and hit your mattress hard. That's why when you are going to sleep, you can say that you are going to “hit the hay.”
Next time it's late and you are ready for bed, tell your parents, brother or sister that you are going to “hit the hay.”
(Kayleen Hartman, Staff Writer)
你每晚都睡在床墊上,但你可曾想過你的床墊是用什麼做的?
你能自己找出答案嗎?你若是在商店買床墊,可能無從得知,今日的床墊在販賣時多已被縫合,所以你沒辦法看見裡面的東西,不過很久以前,人們不是在店裡買床墊,而是自己用東西塞成床墊。
當時多數家庭都飼養馬和牛等動物,所以他們隨時有很多稻草餵食動物,他們以稻草來塞成床墊,因為這樣要比睡在硬梆梆的木地板上還柔軟。當他們睡在床墊上,其實就是睡在稻草上。
如果到了就寢時間你感覺非常疲憊,可能會直接倒下,重重地壓在床墊上,這就是為何當你要去睡覺時,可以說你要去「hit the hay」。
下次當天色已晚,你準備就寢,告訴你的父母和兄弟姊妹,你要去「hit the hay」了。(翻譯:鄭湘儀)
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