II/ IELTS READING

What are Dreams?

A. Q.6- Thousands of years ago, dreams were seen as messages from the gods, and in
many cultures, they are still considered prophetic. In ancient Greece, sick people slept at
the temples of Asclepius, the god of medicine, in order to receive dreams that would heal
them. Modern dream science really begins at the end of the 19th century with Sigmund
Freud, who theorized that dreams were the expression of unconscious desires often stemming
from childhood. He believed that exploring these hidden emotions through analysis could
help cure mental illness. The Freudian model of psychoanalysis dominated until the 1970s,
when new research into the chemistry of the brain showed that emotional problems could
have biological or chemical roots, as well as environmental ones. In other words, we weren‘t
sick just because of something our mothers did (or didn‘t do), but because of some imbalance
that might be cured with medication.
B. After Freud, the most important event in dream science was the discovery in the early
1950s of a phase of sleep characterized by intense brain activity and rapid eye movement
(REM). People awakened in the midst of REM sleep reported vivid dreams, which led
researchers to conclude that most dreaming took place during REM. Using the
electroencephalograph (EEG), researchers could see that brain activity during REM
resembled that of the waking brain. That told them that a lot more was going on at night than
anyone had suspected. But what, exactly?
C. Scientists still don‘t know for sure, although they have lots of theories. On one side are
scientists like Harvard‘s Allan Hobson, who believes that dreams are essentially random. In
the 1970s, Hobson and his colleague Robert McCarley proposed what they called the
“activation-synthesis hypothesis”, which describes how dreams are formed by nerve signals
sent out during REM sleep from a small area at the base of the brain called the pons. These
signals, the researchers said, activate the images that we call dreams. Q.5- That put a crimp
in dream research; if dreams were meaningless nocturnal firings, what was the point of
studying them?
D. Adult humans spend about a quarter of their sleep time in REM, much of it dreaming.
During that time, the body is essentially paralyzed but the brain is buzzing. Q.4- Scientists
using PET and fMRI technology to watch the dreaming brain have found that one of
the most active areas during REM is the limbic system, which controls our emotions. Q 7-
Much less active is the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with logical thinking. That
could explain why dreams in REM sleep often lack a coherent storyline. (Some researchers
have also found that people dream in nonREM sleep as well, although those dreams generally
are less vivid.) Another active part of the brain in REM sleep is the anterior cingulate cortex,
which detects discrepancies. Eric Nofzinger, director of the Sleep Neuroimaging Program at
the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, thinks that could be why people often figure out
thorny problems in their dreams. “It‘s as if the brain surveys the internal milieu and tries to
figure out what it should be doing, and whether our actions conflict with who we are”, he
says.
E. These may seem like vital mental functions, but no one has yet been able to say that REM
sleep or dreaming is essential to life or even sanity. MAO inhibitors, an older class of
antidepressants, essentially block REM sleep without any detectable effects, although people
do get a “REM rebound” – extra REM – if they stop the medication. That‘s also true of
selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) like Prozac, which reduce dreaming by a third
to a half. Even permanently losing the ability to dream doesn‘t have to be disabling. Israeli
researcher Peretz Lavie has been observing a patient named Yuval Chamtzani, who was
injured by a fragment of shrapnel that penetrated his brain when he was 19. As a result, he
gets no REM sleep and doesn‘t remember any dreams. But Lavie says that Chamtzani, now
55, “is probably the most normal person I know and one of the most successful ones”.Q 1-
(He‘s a lawyer, a painter and the editor of a puzzle column in a popular Israeli
newspaper.)
F. The mystery of REM sleep is that even though it may not be essential,Q 2- it is ubiquitous
– at least in mammals and birds. But that doesn‘t mean all mammals and birds dream (or if
they do, they‘re certainly not – talking about it). Some researchers think REM may have
evolved for physiological reasons. “One thing that‘s unique about mammals and birds is that
they regulate body temperature”, says neuroscientist Jerry Siegel, director of UCLA‘s Center
for Sleep Research. “There‘s no good evidence that any coldblooded animal has REM sleep”.
Q.8- REM sleep heats up the brain and non-REM cools it off, Siegel says, and that could
mean that the changing sleep cycles allow the brain to repair itself. “It seems likely that REM
sleep is filling a basic physiological function and that dreams are a kind of epiphenomenon”,
Siegel says – an extraneous byproduct, like foam on beer.
G. Whatever the function of dreams at night, they clearly can play a role in therapy during
the day. The University of Maryland‘s Clara Hill, who has studied the use of dreams in
therapy, says that dreams are a “back door” into a patient‘s thinking. “Dreams reveal stuff
about you that you didn‘t know was there”, she says. The therapists she trains to work with
patients‘ dreams are, in essence, heirs to Freud, using dream imagery to uncover hidden
emotions and feelings. Dreams provide clues to the nature of more serious mental illness.
Schizophrenics, for example, have poor-quality dreams, usually about objects rather than
people. “If you‘re going to understand human behavior”, says Rosalind Cartwright, a
chairman of psychology at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, “here‘s a big piece of
it. Dreaming is our own storytelling time – to help us know who we are, where we‘re going
and how we‘re going to get there”. Cartwright has been studying depression in divorced men
and women, and she is finding that “good dreamers”, Q.3- people who have vivid dreams
with strong story lines, are less likely to remain depressed. She thinks that dreaming
helps diffuse strong emotions. “Dreaming is a mental-health activity”, she says.
Questions 1 – 5
Reading Passage has seven paragraphs, A - G. Which paragraph contains the following
information? Write the correct number, A – G, in boxes 1 – 5 on your answer sheet.
1 reference of an artist‘s dreams who has versatile talents
2 dream actually happens to many animals
3 dreams are related with benefit and happiness
4 advanced scientific technology applied in investigation of REM stage
5 questioning concern raised about usefulness of investigation on dreams
Questions 6 – 8
Choose the correct letter, A, B, C or D. Write the correct letter in boxes 32 – 34 on your
answer sheet.
6. What were dreams regarded as by ancient people
A superstitious and unreliable
B communication with gods and chance to predict the future
C medical relief for children with ill desire
D rules to follow as they fell asleep in a temple
7. According to Paragraph D, which part of brain controls reasoning
A anterior cingulate cortex
B internal cortex
C limbic system
D prefrontal cortex
8. What can we conclude when author cited reference on dreams in animals
A Brain temperature rises when REM pattern happens.
B The reason why mammals are warm blooded.
C Mammals are bound to appear with more frequent REM.
D REM makes people want to drink beer with more foam.
Questions 9 – 14
Look at the following people and the list of statements below. Match each statement with the
correct person, A – G. Write the correct letter, A – G, in boxes 35 – 40 on your answer sheet.
9 Dreams sometimes come along with REM as no more than a trivial attachment.
10 Exploring parents‘ dreams would be beneficial for treatment as it reveals the unconscious
thinking.
11 Dreams help people cope with difficulties they meet in daytime.
12 Decoding dreams would provide a remind to human desire in early days.
13 Dreams are a body function to control strong emotion.
14 Dreams seem to be as randomly occurring and have limited research significance.
Lists of people
A Sigmund Freud
B Allan Hobson (Harvard)
C Robert McCarley
D Eric Nofzinger
E Jerry Siegel
F Clara Hill
G Rosalind Cartwright

9. E “It seems likely that REM sleep is filling a basic physiological function and that dreams
are a kind of epiphenomenon”, Siegel says – an extraneous byproduct, like foam on beer.

10. F The University of Maryland‘s Clara Hill, who has studied the use of dreams in
therapy, says that dreams are a “back door” into a patient‘s thinking. “Dreams reveal stuff
about you that you didn‘t know was there”, she says.

11. D Eric Nofzinger, director of the Sleep Neuroimaging Program at the University of
Pittsburgh Medical Center, thinks that could be why people often figure out thorny
problems in their dreams. “It‘s as if the brain surveys the internal milieu and tries to figure
out what it should be doing, and whether our actions conflict with who we are”, he says.

12. A Modern dream science really begins at the end of the 19th century with Sigmund
Freud, who theorized that dreams were the expression of unconscious desires often
stemming from childhood.

13. G Cartwright has been studying depression in divorced men and women, and she is
finding that “good dreamers”, people who have vivid dreams with strong story lines, are less
likely to remain depressed. She thinks that dreaming helps diffuse strong emotions.
“Dreaming is a mental-health activity”, she says.

14. B On one side are scientists like Harvard‘s Allan Hobson, who believes that dreams are
essentially random.
III/ CAE, CPE READING

1/ MULTIPLE CHOICE

CLONING: WHERE IS IT TAKING US?

When the cloned sheep, Dolly, first hit, the newspapers, Q.1- nearly 90 per cent of
Americans found human cloning morally repugnant. Perhaps no other moral issue in
American history has produced such near unanimity. But politicians have been reluctant to
cement this consensus into law. A bill recently introduced would have outlawed human
cloning under a penalty of up to ten years in prison. It lost under a hail of criticism that it
would be an unnecessary impediment to scientific research. This is a seductive argument,
especially when cancer victims make it.
But the talk of concrete material benefits from cloning assumes that if it is permissible to
reproduce certain cells for certain purposes (eg — to reproduce a burn victim's remaining
healthy skin cells to produce a graft), it is permissible to reproduce human beings in a Petrie
dish. Humans are embodied beings, our souls and physical selves are profoundly intertwined.
Q.2- Cloning would take the humanity out of human reproduction and, in so doing, rob
our spirits of something that cannot be replaced artificially. Furthermore, the manufacture
of human beings on demand without conception would turn people into made-to-order goods,
and would in aggregate debase our respect for human life.
Most advocates of cloning ignore the moral arguments and tempt us with small concrete
benefits. These potential benefits play on our current notions of rights and our culture of
compassion in a way that gives them considerable political force. Q.3- But these arguments
do not sustain scrutiny. There is little disagreement about the profound effects the cloning
of human beings would have on human nature. However, some cloning apologists simply
respond, "So what?"
We hear most often that cloning could provide perfectly compatible body parts for people
who need them, or that it could enable infertile couples to have "biological" offspring. It is
hard to say without sounding callous, but death and bodily infirmity are concomitant with
human existence and, in the long run, unavoidable. Q.4- We live in a society where
longevity is becoming a value in itself, but longevity cannot justify a practice that is
basically wrong. As for infertility, it is not even a disabling sickness that, on
humanitarian grounds, we should feel obliged to alleviate. It is simply a limitation.
There is nothing heartless about saying that people should resort to alternatives besides
cloning, like adoption.
When defenders of cloning talk about the brave new world of medical techniques it is
important to remember what cloning entails: the DNA-laden nucleus from a somatic cell is
placed into a denucleated egg and stimulated into growth with an electric shock. What begins
to grow is a "fertilised" egg, an embryo — not a kidney or any other disembodied piece of
tissue.
Q.5- Charles Krauthammer recently wrote about experiments in which headless mice
were created, and raised the spectre of headless humans used as organ factories: "There
is no grosser corruption of biotechnology than creating a human mutant and
disembowelling it for spare parts." Actually, there is perhaps one grosser corruption, for the
"headless human" scenario is still a science fiction nightmare: it is much easier to delete
mouse genes (preventing the head from growing) than human genes. In the meantime, cloned
organs would probably have to develop within human foetuses, which would be aborted
when the organs were ready. This is called "organ farming": growing human life as material.
Advocates of cloning like to sidestep the idea of organ farming with visions of growing
organs, not a foetus.
The infertility applications of cloning have nightmares of their own. Consider: a woman
wants "biological" children, but her ovaries do not work because of age or other reasons. She
clones herself. The foetus will be female, and have, inside her ovaries, a lifetime supply of
eggs, exactly identical to the woman's own eggs. The foetus is then aborted and the eggs
harvested for implantation in the woman. This is an option actually entertained by some
fertility doctors, who say they already see a market for it; cloning defenders celebrate this as
a marvellous extension of a woman's reproductive capabilities.
The fact that people are already inventing — and endorsing —such scenarios demonstrates
the corrosive magic this technology works on the notion of human dignity. Indeed, it is not
just the horrific applications but cloning itself that are abominations. For we human beings
are unavoidably defined by our biological, embodied natures. How we come into being is not
trivial: it is central to who we are.

1 In the first paragraph the writer suggests that Americans

A are not keen to ban human cloning.
B have ethical objections to human cloning.
C want a lot more research into human cloning.
D are divided on the issue of human cloning.
2 The writer argues in the second paragraph that human cloning
A goes against nature.
B will help certain people.
C diminishes human dignity.
D should be done in a laboratory.
3 According to the writer, the arguments for human cloning
A stress the ethical issue.
B refer to real advantages.
C persuade politicians.
D are not well-founded.
4 What point is the writer making about infertility?
A It should be treated by any means possible.
B It is an unavoidable part of life.
C It does not justify cloning.
D It is not an important issue.
5 According to the writer, the creation of headless mice
A illustrates the potential direction of biotechnology.
B was done to create organs.
C makes it easier to create headless humans.
D is more wrongful than developing organs from human foetuses.
6 Which word sums up the writer's opinion of human cloning?
A exciting
B indefensible
C beneficial
D speculative

2/ GAP TEXT

1. D “We literally line up to trade our health and self-image for a few minutes of
pleasant mouth feel and belly comfort” connects with “This foolish exchange reflects a
glitch in our brains that may wreak more havoc in our lives and in society than any other.”

2 B “Recent research has brought to light evidence that it can be moved, thereby
counteracting the urge to make unwise decisions.” connects with “New insights into the
psychological subtleties of temporal discounting have suggested ways to counteract the
distorted thinking behind the phenomenon and change short-sighted behaviour.”

3 H “They found that this urge seems to originate mainly in the brain's limbic system, a
set of cerebral regions charged with emotion.” connects with “Thoughtful decisions to resist
temptation, on the other hand, appear largely rooted in the prefrontal cortex, the seat of
executive functions such as working memory, attention and inhibitory control.”

4 G “Important clues about how to combat rash behaviour come from studies of how we
perceive time when making decisions in which immediate desires conflict with longer-
term goals. Some of the same brain systems involved in temporal discounting also contribute
to our ability to estimate spans of time.” connects with “What is more, that perceived gap
between the value of sooner and later rewards grows as the time to the sooner reward
approaches.”

5 E “Finding ways to delay the more immediate reward can suppress the time-skewing
effect.” connects with “Certain environmental cues can also trick the brain into judging
time in ways that might mitigate temporal discounting.”

6 F “It also implies that a calming environment may temper temporal discounting- that a
mellow fast food restaurant might sell more salads and fewer cheeseburgers.” connects with
“Additional research supports the notion that the hustle and bustle of fast-food chains may
magnify our desire for a faster pay-off.”

7 C “Gathering specific information about more distant rewards, therefore, may help far-
off goals effectively compete for attention with more immediate wants.” connects with “This
concept has been successfully applied to anti-obesity programmes. People on these health-
clinic programmes are asked to document exactly how much weight they gain when they
slip and then how long it takes them to get back to their previous weight.”