Imagination and fantasy can play an important role in achieving the things we fear. Children know this very well. Fred Epstein ,in his book If I Make It to Five, tells a story he heard from one of friends about Tom, a four-year-old boy with a cancer in his back bone. He came through several operations and a lot of pain by mastering his imagination.

Tom loved to pretend, and he particularly loved to play superheroes ,Dr. Epstein explained that it was actually a brilliant way for his young mind to handle the terrifying and painful life he led.

The day before his third trip to the operating room, Tom was terribly afraid. ”Maybe I could go as Superman ,”he whispered to his mom. Hearing this, the mother hesitated for a while. She had avoided buying the expensive costume（戏装），finally she agreed.

The next day Tom appeared as the powerful Superman, showing off through the hospital halls and coolly waving his hand to the people greeting him along the way. And Tom, with the strength of his fantasy, successfully made it through the operation.

The power of imagination need not be reserved for children only. We all have the power to use our fantasies to attempt things we never thought possible, to go through those things that seem impossible, and to achieve what we never believed we could. Just as Dr. Epstein puts it ,”If you can dream it, you can do it”

It doesn‘t mean that you should dress as a superhero for your next job interview. But, next time you are texted in a way that seems impossible, imagine what it would take to overcome it .Become the person you need to become to win over your challenge and do it in your mind first. So, let your imagination run wild, and dare to dream.

1.What do we know about Tom?

A．He was seriously ill                      B．He was a dishonest boy.

C．He was crazy about magic                 D．He was Dr.Epstein’s patient

2.What can be inferred about Tom’s mother?

A．She was a rich lady                      B．She refused Tom’s request

C．She wanted Tom to be a superhero          D．She wanted to get Tom through the pain

3.When Tom went for the third operation,he    .

A．pretended to be painful                  B．acted like a superhero

C．appeared in poor spirit s                  D．argued with his mother

4.In the last paragraph, you are advised    .

A．to go through some difficult tests

B．to wake up from your wild dreams

C．to become a powerful person in your mind

D．to wear expensive clothes for job interviews

5.What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To tell us an interesting story.

B．To help us make right decisions.

C．To advise us to care about children.

D．To encourage us to use our imagination.

Imagination and fantasy can play an important role in achieving the things we fear. Children know this very well. Fred Epstein, in his book I Make It to Five, tells a story he heard from one of his friends about Tom, a four-year-old boy with a cancer in his back bone. He came through several operations and a lot of pain by mastering his imagination.

Tom loved to pretend, and he particularly loved to play superheroes. Dr. Epstein explained that it was actually a brilliant way for his young mind to handle the terrifying and painful life he led.

The day before his third trip to the operating room, Tom was terribly afraid. “Maybe I could go as Superman,” he whispered to his mom. Hearing this, the mother hesitated for a while. She has avoided buying the expensive costume(戏装), but finally she agreed.

The next day Tom appeared as the powerful Superman, showing off through the hospital halls and coolly waving his hand to the people greeting him along the way. And Tom, with the strength of his fantasy, successfully made it through the operation.

The power of imagination need not be reserved for children only. We all have the power to use our fantasies to attempt things we never thought possible, to go through those things that seem impossible, and to achieve what we never believed we could. Just as Dr. Epstein puts it, “If you can dream it, you can do it.”

It doesn’t mean that you should dress as a superhero for your next job interview. But, next time you are tested in a way that seems impossible, imagine what it would take to overcome it. Become the person you need to become to win over your challenge and do it in your mind first. So, let your imagination run wild, and dare to dream.

1.What do we know about Tom?

A. He was seriously ill.

B. He was a dishonest boy.

C. He was crazy about magic.

D. He was Dr. Epstein’s patient.

2.What can be inferred about Tom’s mother?

A. She was a rich lady.

B. She refused Tom’s request.

C. She wanted Tom to be a superhero.

D. She wanted to get Tom through the pain.

3.When Tom went for the third operation, he_________.

A. pretended to be painful              B. acted like a superhero

C. appeared in poor spirits    D. argued with his mother

4.In the last paragraph, you are advised________.

A. to go through some difficult tests

B. to wake up from your wild dreams

C. to become a powerful person in your mind

D. to wear expensive clothes for job interviews

Suppose we built a robot to explore the planet Mars. We provide the robot with seeing detectors(探测器) to keep it away from danger. It is powered entirely by the sun. Should we program the robot to be equally active at all times? No, the robot would be using up energy at a time when it was not receiving any. So we would probably program it to stop its activity at night and to wake up at dawn the next morning.

According to evolutionary(进化的) theory of sleep, evolution equipped us with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking for the same reason. The theory does not deny that sleep provides some important restorative functions. It merely says that evolution has programmed us to perform those functions at a time when activity would be inefficient and possibly dangerous. However, sleep protects us only from the sort of trouble we might walk into; it does not protect us from trouble that comes looking for us. So we sleep well when we are in a familiar, safe place, but we sleep lightly, if at all, when we fear that bears will nose into the tent.

The evolutionary theory explain the differences in sleep among creatures. Why do cats, for instance, sleep so much, while horses sleep so little? Surely cats do not need five times as much repair and restoration as horses do. But cats can afford to have long periods of inactivity because they spend little time eating and are unlikely to be attacked while they sleep. Horses must spend almost all their waking hours eating, because what they eat is very low in energy value. Moreover, they cannot afford to sleep too long or too deeply, because their survival depends on their ability to run away from attackers.

The author uses the example of the robot in space exploration to tell us _______.

A. the differences between robots and men

B. the reason why men need to sleep

C. about the need for robots to save power

D. about the danger of men working at night

Evolution has programmed man to sleep at night chiefly to help him ______.

A. keep up a regular pattern of life

B. prevent trouble that comes looking for him

C. avoid danger and inefficient labor  

D. restore his bodily functions

Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

A. Evolution has equipped all creatures with a regular pattern of sleeping and waking.

B. The study of sleep is an important art of the evolutionary theory.

C. Sleeping patterns must be taken into consideration in the designing of robots.

D. The sleeping pattern of a living creature is determined by the food it eats.

Have you ever been in a meeting while someone was making a speech and realized suddenly that your mind was a million miles away? You probably felt sorry and made up your mind to pay attention and never have daydreaming again. Most of us from earlier school days have been told that daydreaming is a waste of time.
“ On the contrary,” says L.Giambra, an expert in psychology（心理学）, “ daydreaming is quite necessary. Without it, the mind couldn’t get done all the thinking it has to do during a normal day… .
You can’t possibly do all your thinking with a conscious（有意识的） mind. Instead, your unconscious mind is working out problems all the time. Daydreaming then may be one way that the unconscious states of minds have silent dialogues.”
Early experts in psychology paid no attention to the importance of daydreams or even considered them harmful. At one time daydreaming was thought to be a cause of some mental illness. They did not have a better understanding of daydreams until the late 1980s. Eric Klinger, a professor of psychology, is the writer of the book Daydreaming. Klinger says, “we know now that daydreaming is one of the main ways that we organize our lives, learn from our experiences, and plan for our futures… Daydreams really are a window on the things we fear and the things we long for in life.”
Daydreams are usually very simple and direct, quite unlike sleep dreams which may be hard to understand. It’s easier to gain a deep understanding of your life by paying close attention to your daydreams than by trying to examine your sleep dreams carefully. Daydreams help you recognize the difficult situations in your life and find out a possible way of handling them.
Daydreams cannot be predicted; they move off in unexpected directions which may be creative and full of useful ideas. For many famous artists and scientists, daydreams were and are a main source of creative energy.
So the next time you catch yourself daydreaming, don’t stop. Just pay attention to your dream. It may be more important than you think.
【小题1】In what way are daydreams different from sleep dreams?