原文
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 neuralrepair 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 “offline.”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 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 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.
33. The negative feelings generated during the day tend to
[A] aggravate in our unconscious mind.
[B] develop into happy dreams.
[C] persist till the time we fall asleep.
[D] show up in dreams early at night.
34. Cartwright seems to suggest that
[A] waking up in time is essential to the ridding of bad dreams.
[B] visualizing bad dreams helps bring them under control.
[C] dreams should be left to their natural progression.
[D] dreaming may not entirely belong to the unconscious.
35. What advice might Cartwright give to those who sometimes have bad dreams?
[A] Lead your life as usual.
[B] Seek professional help.
[C] Exercise conscious control.
[D] Avoid anxiety in the daytime.
◆解析过程◆
●步骤一 读题干
31题：研究者现在开始认识到梦————？
【要求】本题在记题干的具体信息时着重记住。
Researchers， come to believe， dreams .
32题：通过提及“limbic system”，作者试图表明什么？
【要求】本题在记题干的具体信息时着重记住limbic system，如果limbic不认识也没关系，记住其长相即可。
33题：白天产生的负面情感往往怎么样？
【要求】本题在记题干的具体信息时着重记住 negative feelings，generated，during the day .
34题：Cartwright似乎建议什么？
【要求】本题在记题干的具体信息时着重记住Cartwright，suggest，在记Cartwright时，记住其长相或第一个大写字母C即可。
35题：Cartwright可能给那些经常做不好的梦的人什么建议？
【要求】本题在记题干的具体信息时着重记住What advice， Cartwright， give to， those， have bad dreams.
根据读问题的情况，我们大概可以知道这是一篇关于梦的文章，并且应该大致推断出问题的排列顺序和文章发展顺序保持一致。到此为止，读问题的步骤就完成了。
●步骤二读原文
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 neuralrepair work that goes on during sleep. Now researchers suspect(读到这里划出第31题)that dreams are part of the mind’s emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is “offline.”And(并列，表示后面的内容与前面的一样) 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 feelbetter. “It’s your dream,”says Rosalind Cartwright(划出，可能与第34、35题有关), 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(表转折，划出)not all parts of the brain are equally involved; the limbic system(读到这里划出第32题) (the “emotional brain”) 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(划出，可能与第34、35题有关)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.(读到这里划出第33题)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(划出，可能与第34、35题有关)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 panic,” Cartwright says.(划出，可能与第34、35题有关)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.
读完文章，把该划的信息都划出来。判断出文章大概是在说梦，并且有一个关键的人物Cartwright。这时第二个步骤结束，下面开始做题。
●步骤三解题
31题：研究者现在开始认识到梦————？
【解析】“Now researchers suspect”被我们划在了第一段中间，由于这句话的内容比较抽象，而and表示后面的内容与前面的内容相同，是对前面这句话的进一步解释说明，因此根据“If you don’t like it, change it.”这句话可以判断出，只有\[A\]沾边，因此选\[A\]。
32题：通过提及“limbic system”，作者试图表明什么？
【解析】通过记住limbic的长相，“limbic system”我们已在原文中找到并划出，通过对比选项，只有\[C\]沾边，因此选[C]。
33题：白天产生的负面情感往往怎么样？
【解析】根据我们在读题干时记住的关键词 negative feelings，generated，during the day，答题所需要的信息已在原文中划出，通过对比选项，[A]和[C]首先排除，[B]和[D]都沾边，由于develop into没有“逐渐变成”的意思，因此[B]与在原文中划出的句子意义稍远了点，而[D]则更客观，更直接。因此选\[D\]。 .
34题：Cartwright似乎建议什么？
【解析】原文涉及Cartwright的信息共有四处，第一处只是引出Cartwright这个人，通过对比选项可知，答案不在此处。第二处说的是Cartwright这个人的诊所，与题干无关，排除。第三处说“Cartwright相信一个人可以有意识地控制梦。”对比选项可以看出，[D]项用了一个双重否定句，意思是“梦不是完全无意识的”，与原文划出的信息相符。故选[D]。
35题：Cartwright可能给那些经常做不好的梦的人什么建议？
【解析】通过前面的做题过程可知，在原文划出的四处有关Cartwright的信息中，前两处都不是关于Cartwright对经常做不好的梦的人的建议，而第三处已经用在了第四题，请考生记住，用过的信息不会再重复用在下一题，因此，关于本题的信息只能是在第四处，通过对比选项，只有[A]沾边，故选[A]。
