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 rears. 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. By the late 1970s 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 you r 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 part s 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.
本段话题：大脑中的情感中枢。关键词：emotional
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 g 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.
本段话题：情感与梦的关系。关键词：emotional
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 is occurs， try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to， literally， do it in their sleep.
本段话题：有意识控制梦的方法。关键词：conscious
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.
本段话题：消极情感的消除方法 关键词：bad feelings
1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4.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.
5. What advice might Cartwright give to those who sometimes have had dreams？
文章的结构是观点论证。第一段通过三个时间 “the late 1970s” “a century ago” “now”表明人对梦的认识的变化， 即从无意识到有意识。二，三两段用情感与梦的关系证明为什么说梦是可以控制的，是总分的写作手法。最后两个自然段倾向于解决问题，即谈如何控制噩梦。第四段讲讲如何控制做噩梦的两个方法，第五段谈如何控制噩梦所产生的消极情感。
[分析] 这是一道推理判断题。作者提到梦和情感之间是有关系的，情感是段落的重点，选[C]。 [B]的干扰性很大，文章虽然谈到了REM （rapid eye movement） sleep，但是没有谈它的原理，另外这种睡眠文章只谈到一次，没有反复重复，应该当作细节词处理。[D]也谈到了prefrontal cortex （the center of intellect and reasoning），但并没有谈它与梦的区别，也没有被上下文反复重复，同样可以不选。
3.[答案][D]
[分析] 这是一道事实细节题。题干中的the negative feeling 以及generated在文章第三段第 二句中找到相对应的表述。这句话的大意是“关于大脑白天产生的一些消极因素极可能是其前半夜的梦境中有所反映，但继而会逐渐被更加香甜的梦所取代。”选项（D）show up in drea ms early at night（噩梦对人脑的消极作用会在前半夜里显示出来）与原文表述一致，为正 确选项。
4.[答案][D]
[分析] 这是人物观点题。Cartwright观点的表述主要集中在文章的中间部分，通过分析这一部分内容，可以发现文章第四段首句“And this process need not be left to the un conscious.”便是此题的答案，另外“concious”这个词在该段反复被重复，很显然是该段的主题词，所以很容易成为正确答案，因此判断选项[D]梦并非全部属于潜意识范畴是正确答案。这道题的[A]过于绝对，文章是说了起床时控制噩梦的一种方法，没有说是essential（必不可少的），把文章的可能性说成必然性。
5.[答案][A]
[分析]通过对题干的分析，可以推论其中的might一词暗示这是一道推理判断题。在文章最后 一段中作者谈及神经医生Cartwright 的一些观点。在分析语篇后可以发现题目的答案线索 不是最后一段的倒数第二句话，而是根据文章的最后一段的最后一句话sleep-or rathe dre am-on it and you will feel better in the moring中的on一词暗含了顺其自然的意思即 我们无意过分担心梦对我们的影响。换句话说，保持正常的生活状态即可。由此，选项（A ）lead your life as usual是正确选项。这道题[B]寻求专家意见干扰性大，指的是经常做噩梦的人的情况。
Over the past century， all kinds of unfairness and discrimination have been condemned or made illegal. But one insidious form continues to thrive： alphabetism. This， for those as yet unaware of such a disadvantage， refers to discrimination against those whose surnames begin with a letter in the lower half of the alphabet.
It has long been known that a taxi firm called AAAA cars has a big advantage over Zodiac cars when customers thumb through their phone directories. Less well known is the advantage that Adam Abbott has in life over Zoe Zysman. English names are fairly evenly spread between the halves of the alphabet. Yet a suspiciously large number of top people have surnames beginning with letters between A and K.
本段话题：忽视（主观） 关键词： less well known.注释： It has long been known that……指的是大家的观点，作者写文章时标新立异，所以这种句型的观点通常是批判性的，也就是说“A cars 比 Zodiac cars”有优势是批评的。 “suspiciously”意思是不敢相信，也是在讲人们由于对这种现象的忽视而导致的，所以也可以帮助大家理解“忽视”这个词。
Thus the American president and vice-president have surnames starting with B and C respectively； and 26 of George Bush's predecessors （including his father） had surnames in the first half of the alphabet against just 16 in the second half. Even more striking， six of the seven heads of government of the G7 rich countries are alphabetically advantaged （Berlusconi， Blair， Bush， Chirac， Chrétien and Koizumi）。 The world's three top central bankers （Greenspan， Duisenberg and Hayami） are all close to the top of the alphabet， even if one of them really uses Japanese characters. As are the world's five richest men （Gates， Buffett， Allen， Ellison and Albrecht）。
本段话题：成功人士和姓名字母靠前 关键词：richest， surname
Can this merely be coincidence？ One theory， dreamt up in all the spare time enjoyed by the alphabetically disadvantaged， is that the rot sets in early. At the start of the first year in infant school， teachers seat pupils alphabetically from the front， to make it easier to remember their names. So short-sighted Zysman junior gets stuck in the back row， and is rarely asked the improving questions posed by those insensitive teachers. At the time the alphabetically disadvantaged may think they have had a lucky escape. Yet the result may be worse qualifications， because they get less individual attention， as well as less confidence in speaking publicly.
The humiliation continues. At university graduation ceremonies， the ABCs proudly get their awards first； by the time they reach the Zysmans most people are literally having a ZZZ. Shortlists for job interviews， election ballot papers， lists of conference speakers and attendees： all tend to be drawn up alphabetically， and their recipients lose interest as they plough through them.
