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 worl

admin2015-01-15  34

问题     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 this 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 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 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.
The negative feelings generated during the day tend to______.

选项 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

答案D

解析 本题可参照文章的第3段。从中可知,梦与情感之间的联系在Cartwright门诊部的患者中得到体现。在夜里早些时候,大多数人似乎会做更多噩梦,在睡醒前逐渐转为较愉快的梦,这表示他们正在化解在白天产生的消极情感。因为我们的意识被日常琐事占据,所以我们并不总是考虑白天所发生的事情的情感意义。据此可知,白天产生的消极情绪往往会在夜里早些时候的梦境中出现。D项与文章的意思相符,因此D项为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/ulhi777K
0

最新回复(0)