Tyler Skiuzacek’s father, Patrick, could not sleep through the night. It was 2007, and Patrick had just returned from a year in Iraq, where he served in the U. S. Army. Patrick Skluzacek was energetic and happy when he left for Iraq, Tyler says. But when he returned, he was unhappy and drinking alcohol too much. It turned out Patrick was suffering from sleep panic attacks. Patrick would wake up every night. His heart would beat too fast. He would sweat. The nighttime panic attacks prevented Patrick from feeling good the next day, because he was so tired.
Almost 10 years later, Tyler was in a position to help his father. He thought he could make a computer program that might help his father. So he entered a competition in Washington, D. C, trying to solve the problem Tyler’s father and other U. S. war veterans (老兵), were having. People called them”night terrors. ”The students had 36 hours to come up with a program. They called it myBivy—That name comes from bivouac, a military term for a safe place to sleep.
The application uses a smart watch and a smart phone together. The watch tracks the wearer’s heartbeat. It sends the data to the program on the smart phone. Research shows that a person’s heart rate will increase right before a night terror. So if the wearer’s heartbeat started to rise, myBivy would respond. The smart watch would vibrate and gently wake up the sleeping person. That was enough to prevent a night terror from happening.
Patrick wore the watch for two weeks to get used to it. Then, Tyler turned on the application. On the first night, the vibrations from the watch prevented 10 nightmares. Patrick said he had not slept that well in many years. Tyler and his team won the contest in Washington, D. C. The prize was $1,500. Then the group tried to raise more money from investors, and they were surprised when they took in over$25,000. By the spring of 2016, Tyler and his team were testing the app with volunteers, and hoped to make it available to the public soon.
【小题1】What might be the cause of Patrick’s problem?| A．His experience in the war. | B．His drinking habit. |
| C．His family troubles. | D．His sleeping disorder. |
| A．the US government tries to help war veterans |
| B．people look down upon the night terrors |
| C．many other veterans suffer similar problems |
| D．myBivy was named after a great soldier |
| A．How effective the app is. | B．How to download the app. |
| C．How to design the app. | D．How the app works. |
| A．Valueless. | B．Promising. |
| C．Tough. | D．Controversial. |
