黑龙江虎林市高考英语二轮阅读理解练习5含答案.docVIP

黑龙江虎林市2016高考英语（二轮）阅读理解练习（5）含答案 【广东省广州市2014综合测试】 No one knows why people dream, but some dreams might be connected to the mental processes that help us learn. In a recent study, scientists found a connection between nap-time (午睡时间) dreams and better memory in people who were learning a new skill. “I was surprised by this finding,” Robert Stickgold, a Harvard University scientist who led the study. In the study, 100 college students each spent an hour on a computer, trying to get through a virtual maze (虚拟迷宫). The maze was difficult, and the study participants had to start in a different place each time they triedmaking it even more difficult. Then, for the first 90 minutes of a five-hour break, half of the participants were required to stay awake while half were told to sleep. Participants who stayed awake were asked to describe their thoughts. Participants who slept were asked to describe any dream they had. Stickgold and his colleagues wanted to know about NREM, or non-REM sleep. REM stands for “rapid eye movement”, which is what happens during REM sleep. This period of sleep often brings strange dreams to a sleeper, although dreams can happen in both kinds of sleep. Stickgold wanted to know what people were dreaming about when their eyes weren’t moving, during NREM sleep. Other studies have found a connection between NREM bring activity and learning ability. Four of the 50 people who slept said their dreams were about the maze. Later, when these four people tried the computer maze again, they were able to complete it faster. Stickgold believes the dream itself doesn;t help a person learn---it’s the other way around. He suspects that such dreams are caused by the brain processes associated with learning. All the maze-dreamers had done the task poorly the first time, which makes Stickgold wonder if the NREM dreams show up when a person finds a new task particularly difficult. People who had other dreams, or people didnt sleep, didnt show the same improvement.