Question

    In your dreams, you may clearly see something or hear someone talking. But what about smells? Can you ever remember smells from your dreams?

A study published in 1896 looked at different sensory (感官的) experiences in dreams. It found visual (视觉的) experience ______ controls one’s dreams. It takes up about 85%, while auditory (听觉的) makes up 69%, and smell only 7%.

But why? Now scientists have possible reasons based on what is known about the brain.

In our brain, there is a special part called the cerebral cortex (大脑皮层). It is linked to our feelings. As much as two-thirds of the cerebral cortex works in vision (视力). So vision

______ often in dreams. Auditory is closely tied to language, and language is processed entirely in the cerebral cortex. Smell, ______, has little to do with the cerebral cortex. It connects directly into the memory and emotional systems. That’s why a smell can bring back a memory.

Another ______ is that perhaps smell is not easily affected (影响) by our imagination. For example, close your eyes and imagine your favorite dish. What do you get? It is easy to think about what it looks like. But it is not as easy to imagine its smell.

Vision and auditory is a complex (复杂的) process inside the brain. But smell is a direct measurement (衡量) of the chemicals in the air. There is ______ imagination involved in smell. Therefore, smell might not be much affected by the brain activity during dreaming.

It is ______ to taste and touch. That is why you don’t often have the experience of taste and touch in your dreams.

1.A.hardly B.firstly C.mainly D.completely

2.A.fails B.appears C.changes D.enters

3.A.of course B.for the first time C.after all D.on the other hand

4.A.possibility B.advantage C.fact D.challenge

5.A.better B.less C.more D.worse

6.A.kind B.used C.thankful D.similar

Answer

1.C

2.B

3.D

4.A

5.B

6.D

【解析】

本文是说明文。分析了人们梦中很少出现嗅觉的原因。

1.

句意：它发现视觉体验主要控制着人的梦境。
hardly 几乎不；firstly 首先；mainly 主要地；completely 完全地；根据“It takes up about 85%, while auditory (听觉的) makes up 69%, and smell only 7%.”可知视觉是占百分之八十五，是占主要作用，用mainly。故选C。

2.

句意：所以视觉经常出现在梦中。
fails 失败；appears 出现；呈现；changes 改变；enters 通过；根据“As much as two-thirds of the cerebral cortex works in vision”可知大脑皮层主要是视觉，因此它经常出现在梦中，用appears。故选B

3.

句意：另一方面，嗅觉与大脑皮层几乎没有关系。
of course 当然；for the first time 第一次；after all 毕竟；on the other hand 另一方面；根据“But why？”和“Auditory is closely tied to language, and language is processed entirely in the cerebral cortex.”可知这一段是解释梦里各种情况的原因，解释到和视觉听觉有关，而和嗅觉关系不大，因此是讲到两个不同的方面，故用on the other hand。故选D。

4.

句意：另一种可能是气味不容易受到我们想象的影响。
possibility 可能性；advantage 优点；fact 事实；challenge 挑战；根据“In our brain, there is a special part called the cerebral cortex (大脑皮层).”和“Another…”可知第四段是解释梦境的原因，因此第五段是解释梦境原因的另一种可能，用possibility。故选A。

5.

句意：很少有想象力参与气味。
better 更好；less 更少；more 更多；worse 更糟；根据“smell is not easily affected (影响) by our imagination.”可知视觉和听觉能和想象力有密切联系，而气味却没什么影响，故用less。故选B。

6.

句意：它与味觉和触觉相似。
kind 仁慈的；used 可用的；thankful 感激的；similar 相似的；根据“That is why you don’t often have the experience of taste and touch in your dreams.”可知味觉和触觉也不怎么影响梦，因为他们和嗅觉相似，用similar。故选D。