[填空题]What Is a Dream
For centuries, people have wondered about the strange things that they dream about. Some psychologists say that this nighttime activity of the mind has no special meaning. Others, however, think that dreams are an important part of our lives. In fact, many experts believe that dreams can tell us about a person"s mind and emotions.
Before modem times, many people thought that dreams contained messages from God.
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The Austrian psychologist, Sigmund Freud, was probably the first person to study dreams scientifically. He believed that dreams allow people to express the feelings, thoughts, and fears that they are afraid to express in real life.
The Swiss psychiatrist (精神病学家) Carl Jung was once a student of Freud"s. Jung, however, had a different idea about dreams. Jung believed that the purpose of a dream was to communicate a message to the dreamer.
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For example, people who dream about falling may learn that they have too high an opinion of themselves. On the other hand, people who dream about being heroes may learn that they think too little of themselves.
Modern-day psychologists continue to develop theories about dreams. For example, psychologist William Domhoff from the University of California, Santa Cruz, believes that dreams are tightly linked to a person"s daily life, thoughts, and behavior.
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Domhoff believes that there is a connection between dreams and age. His research shows that children do not dream as much as adults. According to Domhoff, dreaming is a mental skill that needs time to develop.
He has also found a link between dreams and gender. His studies show that the dreams of men and women are different.
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This is not true of women"s dreams. Domhoff found this gender difference in the dreams of people from 11 cultures around the world, including both modern and traditional ones.
Can dreams help us understand ourselves Psychologists continue to try to answer this question in different ways.
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The dream may have meaning, but it does not mean that some terrible event will actually take place. It"s important to remember that the world of dreams is not the real world.
A. It was only in the twentieth century that people started to study dreams in a scientific way.
B. Men and women dream about different things.
C. A criminal, for example, might dream about crime.
D. However, one thing they agree on this: If you dream that something terrible is going to occur, you shouldn"t panic.
E. He thought people could learn more about themselves by thinking about their dreams.
F. For example, the people in men"s dreams are often other men, and the dreams often involve fighting.
[单项选择]Cultural Differences
People from different cultures sometimes do things that make each other uncomfortable, sometimes without realizing it. Most Americans have
1
been out of the country and have very
2
experience with foreigners. But they are usually spontaneous (由衷的), friendly and open, and enjoy
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new people, having guests and bringing people together formally or informally. They tend to use first names
4
most situations and speak freely about themselves. So if your American hosts do something that
5
you uncomfortable, try to let them know how you feel. Most people will
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your honesty and try not to make you uncomfortable again. And you"ll all
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something about another culture!
Many travelers find
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easier to meet people in the US than in other countries. They may just come up and introduce themselves or even invite you over
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they really know you. Sometimes Americans are said to be superficially (表面上)
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. Perhaps it seems so, but they are probably just having a good time. Just like anywhere else, it
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time to become real friends
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people in the US.
If and when you
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with American friends, they will probably
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introducing you to their friends and family, and if they seem proud to
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you, it"s probably because they are. Relax and enjoy it!
A. ever
B. always
C. never
D. often
[单项选择]Medicine Award Kicks off Nobel Prize Announcements
Two scientists who have won praise for research into the growth of cancer cells could be candidates for the Nobel Prize in medicine when the 2008 winners are presented on Monday, kicking off six days of Nobel announcements.
Australian-born US citizen Elizabeth Blackburn and American Carol Greider have already won a series of medical honors for their enzyme (酶) research and experts say they could be among the front-runners for a Nobel.
Among the pair"s possible rivals are Frenchman Pierre Chambon and Americans Ronald Evans and Elwood Jensen, who opened up the field of studying proteins called nuclear hormone receptors (受体).
As usual, the tight-lipped award committee is giving no hints about who is in the running before presenting its decision in a news conference at Stockholm"s Karolinska Institute.
Alfred Nobel, the Swede who invented dynamite (炸药), established the prizes in his will in the categories of medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace. The economics prize is technically not a Nobel but a 1968 creation of Sweden"s central bank.
Nobel left few instructions on how to select winners, but medicine winners are typically awarded for a specific breakthrough rather than a body of research.
Hans Jornvall, secretary of the medicine prize committee, said the 10 million kronor (瑞典克朗) (US $1.3 million) prize encourages groundbreaking research but he did not think winning it was the primary goal for scientists.
"Individual researchers probably don"t look at themselves as potential Nobel Prize winners when they"re at work," Jornvall told The Associated Press. "They get their
kicks
from their research and their interest in how life functions."
In 2006, Blackburn, of the University of California, San Francisco, and Greider, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, shared the Lasker prize for basic medical research with Jack Szostak of Harvard Medical School. Their work set the stage for research suggesting that cancer cells use telomerase (端粒酶) to sustain (维持) their uncontrolled growth.Which is NOT true of Alfred Nobel
A. He was from Sweden.
B. He left clear instructions on how to select winners.
C. He invented dynamite.
D. He established the Nobel Prizes in his will.
[单项选择]Ethnic Tensions in Belgium
Belgium has given the world Audrey Hepburn, Ren6 Magritte (surrealist artist), the saxophone (萨克斯管) and deep-fried potato chips that are somehow called French.
But the story behind this flat, twice-Beijing-size country is of a bad marriage between two nationalities living together that cannot
stand
each other. With no new government, more than a hundred days after a general election, rumors run wild that the country is about to disappear.
"We are two different nations, an artificial state. With nothing in common except a king, chocolate and beer," said Filip Dewinter, the leader of the Flemish Bloc, the extreme-right Flemish party.
Radical Flemish separatists like Mr Dewinter want to divide the country horizontally along ethnic and economic lines: to the north, Flanders—where Dutch (known locally as Flemish) is spoken and money is increasingly made; to the south, French-speaking Wallonia, where today old factories dominate the landscape.
The area of present-day Belgium passed to the French in the 18th century. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, Belgium was given to the kingdom of the Netherlands, from which it gained independence as a separate kingdom in 1830.
Since then, it has struggled for cohesion (结合). Anyone who has spoken French in a Flemish city quickly gets a sense of the mutual hostility that is part of daily life there.
But there are reasons Belgium is likely to stay together, at least in the short term.
The economies of the two regions are tightly linked, and separation would be a financial nightmare.
But there is also deep resentment in Flanders that its much healthier economy must subsidize (补贴) the south, where unemployment is double that of the north. French speakers in the south, meanwhile, favor the status quo (现状).
Belgium has made it through previous threats of division. Although some political analysts believe this one is different, there is no panic just now.
"We must not worry too much," said Baudouin Bruggeman, a 55-year-old school-teacher. "Belgium has survived on compromise since 1930. You have to remember that this is Magritte"s country, the country of surrealism. Anything can happen."When did Belgium become an independent kingdom
A. In 1800.
B. In 1815.
C. In 1830.
D. In 1930.
[单项选择]How Deafness Makes It Easier to Hear
Most people think of Beethoven"s hearing loss as an obstacle to composing music. However, he produced his most powerful works in the last decade of his life when he was completely deaf.
This is one of the most glorious cases of the triumph of will over adversity, but his biographer, Maynard Solomon, takes a different view. Solomon argues that Beethoven"s deafness "heightened" his achievement as a composer. In his deaf world Beethoven could experiment, free from the sounds of the outside world, free to create new forms and harmonies.
Hearing loss does not seem to affect the musical ability of musicians who become deaf. They continue to "hear" music with as much, or greater, accuracy than if they were actually hearing it being played.
Michael Eagar, who died in 2003, became deaf at the age of 21. He described a phenomenon that happened within three months: "My former musical experiences began to play back to me. I couldn"t differentiate between what I heard and real hearing. After many years, it is still rewarding to listen to these playbacks, to "hear" music which is new to me and to find many quiet accompaniments for all of my moods."
How is it that the world we see, touch, hear, and smell is both "out there" and at the same time within us There is no better example of this connection between external stimulus and internal perception than the cochlear implant (人工耳蜗). No man-made device could replace the ability to hear. However, it might be possible to use the brain"s remarkable power to make sense of the electrical signals the implant produces.
When Michael Eagar first "switched on" his cochlear implant, the sounds he heard were not at all clear. Gradually, with much hard work, he began to identify everyday sounds. "The insistent ringing of the telephone became clear almost at once."
The primary purpose of the implant is to allow communication with others. When people spoke to Eagar, he heard their voices "coming through like a long-distance telephone call on a poor connection". But when it came to his beloved music, the implant was of no help. When he wanted to appreciate music, Eagar played the piano. He said, "I play the piano as I used to and hear it in my head at the same time. The movement of my fingers and the feel of the keys give added "clarity" to hearing in my head."
Cochlear implants allow the deaf to hear again in a way that is not perfect, but which can change their lives. Still, when it comes to musical harmonies, hearing is irrelevant. Even the most amazing cochlear implants would have been useless to Beethoven as he composed his Ninth Symphony at the end of his life.Beethoven composed his Ninth Symphony ______.
A. when he could still hear
B. with the aid of a cochlear implant
C. with the help of Maynard Solomon
D. after he lost his hearing