Of all the components of a good night's sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. Indreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. Acentury ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguisedshadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by thelate 1970s, neurologists had switched tothinking of them as just "mental noise"-the random byproducts of the neural repair work thatgoes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotionalthermostat, regulating moods while the brain is "off line." And one leading authority says thatthese intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought underconscious control, to help us sleep and feel better. "It's your dream," says RosalindCartwright, chair of psychologyat Chicago's Medical Center, "if you don't like it, change it."

  he link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright's clinic. Mostpeople seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier onesbefore awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generatedduring the day. Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don't always thinkabout the emotional significance of the day's events-until, it appears, we begin to dream.

  And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exerciseconscious control over recurring bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what isupsetting about the dream. Visualizehow you would like it to end instead; the next time itoccurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learnto, literally, do it in their sleep.

  At the end of the day, there's probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unlessthey keep us from sleeping or "we wake up in panic," Cartwright says. Terrorism, economicuncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxiety. Thosesuffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist. For the rest of us, thebrain has its ways of working through bad feelings.Sleep-or rather dream-on it and you'll feelbetter in the morning.

  Choose correct answers to the question:

  1.By saying that “dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat," (Lines 4-5, Para. 1) the researchers mean that _______.

  A.we can think logically in the dreams too

  B.dreams can be brought under conscious control

  C.dreams represent our unconscious desires and fears

  D.dreams can help us keep our mood comparatively stable

  2.What did Cartwright find in her clinic?

  A.Most bad dreams were followed by happier ones.

  B.Divorced couples usually have more bad dreams.

  C.One’s dreaming process is related to his emotion.

  D.People having negative feelings dream more often.

  3.Cartwright believed with much practice，we can learn to _____.

  A.control what dreams to dream

  B.sleep well without any dreams

  C.wake up in time to stop the bad dreams

  D.identify what is upsetting about the dreams

  4.The author points out that a person who has constant bad dreams should ______

  A.learn to control his dreams

  B.consult a doctor

  C.sleep and dream on it

  D.get rid of anxiety first

  5.The author most probably thinks that controlling dreams is ______.

  A.a good practice

  B.a new discovery

  C.helpful for everyone

  D.not essential for everyone

  參考答案

  1.[D] 詞義理解題。在第1段第4句中，逗號后面的regulating moods是對emotional thermostat的功能進(jìn)行解釋說明，因此可以推斷出選項D正確。

  2.[C] 事實細(xì)節(jié)題。最具干擾的是選項A，因為其陳述與第2段第2句的陳述有點相似,但是，此長句說的是大多數(shù)人上半夜做噩夢，之后都會做好夢，而不是像選項A中所說大多數(shù)噩夢之后是好夢。而且，根據(jù)本段第1 句，很明顯，選項C是這一句的近義替換。

  3 [C] 推理判斷題。本題考査對代詞的理解。在第3段的最后一句中，代詞it應(yīng)指上文說到的控制噩夢，及時醒來等做法，因此只有選項C涉及了其中一個做法。選項A太泛了，選項B和D在文中并無提及。

  4.[B] 事實細(xì)節(jié)題。本題考查根據(jù)構(gòu)詞法猜測詞義的能力。解題關(guān)鍵是推斷最后一段第3句中therapist的意義，在考綱詞匯表中，therapy是“治療”的意思，因此，therapist應(yīng)該是專門負(fù)責(zé)某種治療的醫(yī)生，由此可見，選項B是對原文seek help from a therapist的近義替換。

  5.[D] 觀點態(tài)度題。根據(jù)最后一句可以推斷作者認(rèn)為如無必要，夢還是不要控制的好。做夢會讓你早上感覺舒服一些，因此本題應(yīng)選D。