历年真题精析——命题剖析及复习指导(6)

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 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.

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 of "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.

在所有构成良好睡眠的因素中，梦看起来是我们最无法控制的一个。睡梦之窗开启的世界里，逻辑失去效用，死者开始言语。一个世纪前，弗洛伊德阐述了他具有革命性的理论，即梦是我们潜在欲望和恐惧的间接反映。到了20世纪70年代末期，神经学家们转而认为梦仅仅是人们头脑中的噪音--睡眠中进行的神经修复过程中偶然产生的副产品。现在研究人员怀疑梦是大脑中的情绪调节器，当大脑"脱机"时，这个调节器就调节情绪。一名学术权威说，异常强烈的精神活动不仅能被驾驭，事实上还可以有意识地加以控制，以帮助我们睡得更好，并且感觉更好。芝加哥医疗中心精神科主任Rosalind Cartwright说："这是你的梦，如果你不喜欢，换一个。"

来自于大脑成像的证据支持这一观点。匹兹堡大学的Eric Nofzinger博士说，当出现清晰的梦境时，睡眠时会伴有眼睛的运动，这时大脑与完全醒着时一样活跃。但是大脑各个区域参与程度不同，大脑的边缘系统（控制情绪的大脑）异常活跃，而前额皮层（控制思维的推理的中枢）则相对平静。斯坦福睡眠研究人员William Dement博士说："我们从梦中醒来，或者高兴或者沮丧，而这些情绪会伴随我们一整天。"

梦和情绪之间的联系在Cartwright诊所的病人身上有所显现。似乎多数人在夜晚初期会做不好的梦，随着睡眠加深直至醒来，会逐渐做更快乐的梦。这意味着他们在力图消除白天产生的不良情绪。因为清醒时我们的头脑被日常生活占据了，所以不会总想着白天发生的事情对我们情绪的影响。直到我们开始做梦时才会去想这些影响。

但这一过程不一定是无意识发生的。Cartwright认为人可以通过锻炼有意识地控制重复出现的噩梦。一旦醒来，立刻辨明是什么让你对做的梦感到难过。你可以想象你希望这个梦如何结束，当下一次做梦时，试图及时醒来改变梦境。经过多次练习，人们完全能够学会在睡眠中控制梦境。

Cartwright说，在一天快结束的时候，如果做的梦没有让我们失眠或从惊恐中醒来，就没有理由去注意这些梦。恐怖主义、经济不稳定性和常有不安全感会增加人们的焦虑。那些长期饱受噩梦折磨的人应该寻求临床医学家的帮助。至于其他人，大脑自身有清除不良情绪的途径。不必管它，安心地睡觉，甚至做梦，早上醒来时，你就会感觉好多了。

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.

第一段中心句：Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is "offline." 现在，科研人员怀疑梦是大脑情感自动调节系统的组成部分，当大脑"掉线"时对情绪进行调整。

第二段中心句：Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. 来自于大脑成像的证据支持这一观点。

第三段中心句：The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright's clinic. 梦和情绪之间的联系在卡特赖特的诊所的病人身上表现出来。

第四段中心句：And this process need not be left to the unconscious.这一过程（梦）并不一定是无意识的。

第五段中心句：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 of "we wake up in a panic,"Cartwright says .卡特赖特说，说到底，只要梦不使我们无法睡眠或"从梦中惊醒"，就没有理由太在意所做的梦。

Text 4

Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. Nor do they aspire to such command themselves. In his latest book, Doing Our Own Thing: The Degradation of language and Music and Why We Should Like, Care, John McWhorter, a linguist and controversialist of mixed liberal and conservative views, sees the triumph of 1960s counter culture as responsible for the decline of formal English.

Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education. Mr. McWhorter's academic specialty is language history and change, and he sees the gradual disappearance of "whom", for example, to be natural and no more regrettable than the loss of the case-endings of Old English.

But the cult of the authentic and the personal,"doing our own thing", has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. While even the modestly educated sought an elevated tone when they put pen to paper before the 1960s, even the most well regarded writing since then has sought to capture spoken English on the page. Equally, in poetry, the highly personal, performative genre is the only form that could claim real liveliness. In both oral and written English, talking is triumphing over speaking, spontaneity over craft.

Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. But it is less clear, to take the question of his subtitle, Why We Should Like, Care. As a linguist, he acknowledges that all varieties of human language, including nonstandard ones like Black English, can be powerfully expressive-there exists no language or dialect in the world that cannot convey complex ideas. He is not arguing, as many do, that we can no longer think straight because we do not talk proper.

Russians have a deep love for their own language and carry large chunks of memorized poetry in their heads, while Italian politicians tend to elaborate speech that would seem oldfashioned to most Englishspeakers. Mr. McWhorter acknowledges that formal language is not strictly necessary, and proposes no radical education reforms-he is really grieving over the loss of something beautiful more than useful. We now take our English "on paper plates instead of china". A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one.

不管是演讲还是文章，美国人都不再期待公众人物在使用等方面表现出娴熟的技巧和天赋了。他们也没有自己掌握这种技能的意愿。John McWhorter是一名语言学家，同时又是一名持自由和保守观点的好争论者，在他最近出版的新书《做自己的事--语言和音乐的退化，为什么我们应该关注》中，他认为20世纪60年代反文化潮流的胜利要为正式英语的衰亡负责。

将责任推到放任的20世纪60年代不足为奇，然而这不是对于教育衰退的另一场批判。McWhorter先生研究的学术领域是语言和演化，他将诸如whom这类词汇的逐步消亡看作是正常的事，与古英语尾格消失一样不值得惋惜。

但是，"做自己的事情"，那种对真实和个性的崇尚意味着正式演讲、写作、诗歌及音乐的消亡。在20世纪60年代以前，只受过一点儿教育的人在落笔写东西的时候也会唱高调，但自那以后，已有被看好的作品都是力求使用英语口语。同样，在诗歌中，那种表述行为的极为个人化的风格是能够称得上真正具有震撼力的唯一形式。在英语口语及写作中，谈话要胜于演讲，自然而然发生要强于语言技巧。

McWhorter先生列举了一系列上层文化和下层文化中有趣的例子，从中我们可以看出，他所记录的这种趋势是确凿无误的。但是他副标题中的问题就不那么清楚了，即我们为什么要关注这件事？作为语言学家，他声称所有类型的人类语言其中包括黑人英语这样的非标准语言都有强大的表现力，在世界上不存在任何不能够表达复杂思想的语言或方言。与许多人不同的是，他并没有声称因为我们表达方式不正确，我们就不能够正确思考。

俄罗斯人深深热爱自己的语言，在脑子里记下了大段大段的诗歌。意大利政治家往往进行详尽的演讲，这对大多数英语国家的人来说似乎不合时宜。McWhorter先生并不认为正式英语不可或缺，也许我们现在用纸盘子，而非瓷盘子盛着我们的英语大餐。可能这是一种遗憾，但却是不可避免的事。

36. According to McWhorter, the decline of formal English.
[A] is inevitable in radical education reforms
[B] is but all too natural in language development
[C] has caused the controversy over the counterculture
[D] brought about changes in public attitudes in the 1960s

37. The word "talking" (Line 6, paragraph 3) denotes.
[A] modesty
[B] personality
[C] liveliness
[D] informality

38. To which of the following statements would McWhorter most likely agree?
[A] Logical thinking is not necessarily related to the way we talk.
[B] Black English can be more expressive than standard English.
[C] Non standard varieties of human language are just as entertaining.
[D] Of all the varieties, standard English can best convey complex ideas.

39. The description of Russians' love of memorizing poetry shows the author's.
[A] interest in their language
[B] appreciation of their efforts
[C] admiration for their memory
[D] contempt for their oldfashionedness

40. According to the last paragraph, "paper plates" is to "china" as. 
[A] "temporary" is to "permanent"
[B] "radical" is to "conservative"
[C] "functional" is to "artistic"
[D] "humble" is to "noble"

第一段中心句：Americans no longer expect public figures, whether in speech or in writing, to command the English language with skill and gift. 不管是在演讲还是在写文章中，美国人都不再期待社会名人娴熟而且有文采的运用英语了。

第二段中心句：Blaming the permissive 1960s is nothing new, but this is not yet another criticism against the decline in education.将责任推到放任的20世纪60年代不足为奇，然而这不是对教育衰败的另一场批判。

第三段中心句：But the cult of the authentic and the personal,"doing our own thing", has spelt the death of formal speech, writing, poetry and music. 但是，"做自己的事情"，那种对真实和个人风格的崇尚导致了正式的演讲、写作、诗歌和音乐的死亡。

第四段中心句：Illustrated with an entertaining array of examples from both high and low culture, the trend that Mr. McWhorter documents is unmistakable. 麦荷特先生用一系列来自高雅文化和大众文化的有趣例子来加以阐述的这种趋势是毋庸置疑的。

第五段中心句：We now take our English "on paper plates instead of china". A shame, perhaps, but probably an inevitable one. 我们现在用"纸盘子"而非"磁盘子"装着我们的英语大餐。这是件遗憾的事，但很可能已无法避免。