The Mystery of Dreams
What is a dream? The dictionary defines this word as ‘a series of thoughts, images, and feelings that you experience when you are asleep’. In other words dreams are imaginary sleeping visions. People spend one third of their lives asleep but they don’t fully understand the purpose of dreams. Freud believed that dreams are people’s unconscious wishes that they are not allowed to express in real life. Some scientists think that dreams allow us to solve problems, to create new ideas and to find answers to the most complicated questions. There are some corroborations of this theory. For example a famous Russian scientist Dmitri Mendeleyev invented the periodic table after he had seen it in his dream. The modern theory is that dreams are the brain’s way of organizing the events of the day and deleting the information that it doesn’t need. It is like the cleaning-up operations of computers.
Some of our dreams are very strange and don’t make
People’s dreams have various scripts but there are some common themes. For example most people dream about flying, being chased, falling or not being able to move. People have always sought meaning in dreams and considered them to be predictions of the future. There are a lot of books trying to interpret our dreams and to explain what the future holds. So if we dream about being chased, we are running away from something in real life. A dream about crossroads symbolizes that soon we will have to make an important decision about business or love. Finding money
may symbolize a birth. Crossing a river means a fundamental change of lifestyle. Dreaming about a rainbow predicts good news.Doctors assert that if a person wants to be healthy and to live long, he must sleep 8 hours per night. But some people (for example night-shift workers) are deprived of normal sleep. Some of us suffer from insomnia because of the distortion of the natural rhythm of sleep occasioned by noise, anxiety, excessive tiredness or excitement and many other factors. But a person needs his amount of sleep and he can do without it only temporarily. If he has missed a lot of sleep, he looks tired, becomes absent-minded and makes many mistakes. So sleep is important both to our body and mind.
1. Read the following sentences and circle TRUE or FALSE: 1) People spend half of their lives asleep. – T F
2) Scientists understand the purpose of dreams. – T F
3) When we sleep, all areas of our brain are active. – T F
4) If we are preoccupied with some problems, we will continue thinking about them while sleeping. – T F
5) People’s dreams have various scripts but there are some common themes. – T F
6) People can do without sleep for a long time without any damage to their health. – T F
2. Complete each sentence (A-H) with one of the endings (1-8): A. Freud believed that dreams are
B. Some scientists think that dreams allow us
C. The modern theory is that dreams are the brain’s way of
D. Our dreams depend on
E. The more we think about a person, the more likely we are
F. People have always sought meaning in dreams and considered them
G. Doctors assert that if a person wants to be healthy and to live long, he must
H. If a person has missed a lot of sleep
1. our emotional state.
2. to be predictions of the future.
3. to solve problems, to create new ideas and to find answers to the most complicated questions.
4. sleep 8 hours per night.
5. people’s unconscious wishes that they are not allowed to express in real life.
6. to dream about him.
7. he looks tired, becomes absent-minded and makes many mistakes.
8. organizing the events of the day and deleting the information that it doesn’t need.
3. Give the definitions of the following words – lobes – alarm
– nightmare – prediction
– exhilaration – insomnia
– trepidation – distortion
4. What does it mean if you dream about: – being chased;
– crossroads;
– finding money;
– crossing a river;
– a rainbow?
5. Answer the questions 1) What is the purpose of dreams to your mind?
2) Why are dreams so strange?
3) How do dreams depend on our emotional state?
4) What feelings can we experience while sleeping?
5) Do you agree that ‘what you think during the daytime you will dream at night’? Explain your point of view.
6) What common themes are there in people’s dreams?
7) Why do people have insomnia?
8) Why is it necessary to sleep 8 hours per night?
6. Read and translate the quotations below. Choose any statement and comment on it – ‘Dreams are today’s answers to tomorrow’s questions.’ (Edgar Cayce)
– We all dream; we do not understand our dreams, yet we act as if nothing strange goes on in our sleep minds, strange at least by comparison with the logical, purposeful doings of our minds when we are awake.’ (Erich Fromm)
‘Dreams are illustrations… from the book your soul is writing about you.’ (Marsha Norman)
‘The best way to make your dreams come true is to wake up.’ (Paul Valery)
‘When you dream, you dialogue with aspects of yourself that normally are not with you in the daytime and you discover that you know a great deal more than you thought you did.’ (Toni Cade Bambara)
‘Anyone can escape into sleep, we are all geniuses when we dream, the butcher’s the poet’s equal there.’ (Emile M. Cioran)
Make a list of tips for people suffering from insomnia. ■ Go to bed at the same time every night (not later than 11 PM).
■ Don’t eat too much in the evening.
■ Have a glass of warm milk with honey.
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A. Read the questions below and answer them. Tick the questions that you would like to discuss with your group mates. Organize the discussion after reading the text.
QUESTIONNAIRE
1. Do you usually sleep less than hours 8 per night?
2. Are your dreams colourful?
3. Do you often have nightmares?
4. Do you always remember your dreams?
5. Do you often dream about flying?
6. Do you believe that dreams are predictions of the future?
7. Have you ever had prophetic dreams?
8. Do you often try to interpret your dreams?
9. Do you have a dream diary?
10. Do you often get insomnia?
B. Read the text ‘The Mystery of Dreams’ and say what new information you have learnt about dreams.
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