05年研究生考试英语阅读真题分篇 text-3

2021年1月16日发(作者：郎廷极)
2005全国硕士研究生入学考试英语试题
Text 3
Of all the components of a good night’s sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a
window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud formulated his
revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears; by the late
1970s, neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just “mental noise” -- the random byproducts of the
neural-repair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind’s
emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is “off-line.” And one leading authority says that these
intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help
us sleep and feel better, “It’s your dream,” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago’s Medical
Center. “If you don’t like it, change it.”
Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. The brain is as active during REM (rapid eye movement)
sleep -- when most vivid dreams occur -- as it is when fully awake, says Dr, Eric Nofzinger at the University of
Pittsburgh. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved; the limbic system (the “emotional brain”) is
especially active, while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet. “We wake
up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day.” says Stanford sleep researcher
Dr. William Dement.
The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright’s clinic. Most people
seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting
that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day. Because our conscious mind is
occupied with daily life we don’t always think about 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 exercise conscious control
over recurring bad dreams. As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how
you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With
much practice people can learn to, 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 unless they keep us
from sleeping or “we wake up in a panic,” Cartwright says. Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general
feelings of insecurity have increased people’s anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek
help from a therapist. For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep -- or rather
dream -- on it and you’ll feel better in the morning.
31. Researchers have come to believe that dreams ________.
[A] can be modified in their courses
[B] are susceptible to emotional changes
[C] reflect our innermost desires and fears
[D] are a random outcome of neural repairs

32. By referring to the limbic system, the author intends to show ________.
[A] its function in our dreams
[B] the mechanism of REM sleep
[C] the relation of dreams to emotions
[D] its difference from the prefrontal cortex