2. 外语
  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 worl

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

admin2017-08-15  55
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 specially 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.
Researchers have come to believe that dreams ______.
选项 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
答案A
解析 本题可参照文章的第1段。从中可知，一个世纪前，弗洛伊德阐述了这样的革命性理论——梦是我们潜意识欲望和恐惧的伪装阴影；到了20世纪70年代末期，神经病理学家改变了想法，开始认为梦不过是睡眠期间进行的神经修复过程中产生的随机副产品；现在，研究人员怀疑，梦是大脑情感调节装置的一部分，在大脑处于“脱机”状态时调控情绪；一位权威人士说，这些心理事件不仅可以得到利用，而且还能帮助我们获得更好的睡眠和感觉。Cartwright说，“梦是你自己的，如果你不喜欢，你就换一个。”据此可知，研究人员认为梦可以改变。A项与文章的意思相符，因此A项为正确答案。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/y7FO777K
0

考博英语

相关试题推荐
随机试题
最新回复(0)