9. Tell us, please, if you believe in a possibility not to sleep at all.

10. Review the article.

11. Read and translate the text:

A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP - AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM?

American sleep experts are sounding an alarm over America's sleep deficit. They say Americans are a somnambulant nation, stumbling groggily through their waking hours for lack of sufficient sleep. They are working longer days - and, increasingly, nights - and they are playing longer, too, as TV and the Internet expand the range of round-the-clock entertainment options. By some estimates, Americans are sleeping as much as an hour and a half less per night than they did at the turn of the century - and the problem is likely to get worse: "The 24-hour society is here, and it's growing," says one of the slumber scientists. "Physiologically, we just cannot adapt that well."

The health repurcussions of sleep deprivation are not well understood, but sleep researchers point to its ranging from heart problems to depression. In a famous experiment conducted at the University of Chicago, rats kept from sleeping died after two and a half weeks. People are not likely to drop dead in the same way, but sleep deprivation may cost them their life indirectly, when an exhausted doctor prescribes the wrong dosage or a sleepy driver weaves into someone's lane because driving while tired is very similar to driving drunk.

What irritates sleep experts most is the fact that much sleep deprivation is voluntary. "People have regarded sleep as a commodity that they could shortchange," says one of them. "It's been considered a mark of very hard work and upward mobility to get very little sleep. It's macho attitude." Slumber scientists hope that attitude will change. They say people have learned to modify their behaviour in terms of lowering their cholesterol and increasing exercise. Doctors also think people need to be educated that allowing enough time for sleep and taking strategic naps are the most reliable ways to promote alertness behind the wheel and on the job.

Naps would be nice, but at the moment, employers tend to frown on them. And what about the increasing numbers of people who work at night? Not only must they work while their bodies' light-activated circadian rhythms tell them to sleep, they also find it tough to get to sleep after work. Biologists say night workers have a hard time not paying attention to the 9-to-5 day, because of noises or family obligations or that's the only time they can go to the dentist.

As one may imagine, companies are springing up to take advantage of a sleeplessness. One of the companies makes specially designed shift-work lighting systems intended to keep workers alert around the clock. Shift-work's theory is that bright light, delivered in a controlled fashion, can help adjust people's biological clocks. The company president says they are using light like a medicine. So far, such special lighting has been the province of NASA astronauts and nuclear power plant workers. He thinks that, in the future, such systems may pop up in places like hospitals and 24-hour credit-card processing centres. Other researchers are experimenting with everything from welder's goggles (which night workers wear during the day) to human growth hormones. And, of course, there is always what doctors refer to as 'therapeutic caffeine use,' but everyone is already familiar with that.

So, is a good night, s sleep an impossible dream for Americans? Maybe so.

VIII. Answer the following questions:

1. Why do you think the text starts and ends with the same question?

2. Why are Americans called a somnambulant nation?

3. What are the consequences of sleep deprivation?

4. What experiment was conducted at the University of Chicago?

5. What are sleep experts irritated by?

6. What are the ways to promote alertness?

7. What problems do night workers face?

8. Is it possible to adjust people's biological clocks?

9. What are researchers experimenting with?

IX. Are you in favour of or against:

a) TV and Internet as night entertainment options;

b) sleep deprivation as a macho attitude;

c) taking strategic naps;

d) night work;

e) shift-work lighting systems;

f) therapeutic caffeine use?

X. Describe:

a) your physical state after a sleepless night;

b) your idea of a good night's sleep.

XI. Characterize the position towards sleep problems taken by:

a) slumber scientists;

b) doctors;

c) biologists;

d) some companies;

e) experimenters.

XII. Divide the article into logical parts. Give a heading to each part.

XIII. Review the article.

XIV. A role-play: Your uncle is a night worker. Ask him about his job and disadvantages of working at night.

XV. Read the article and render its contents in Russian:

SWEET DREAMS

(by GAYNOR DAVIES)

Everyone of us dreams on and off throughout each night, no matter how vehemently some of us may deny it. True, we probably don't remember even a fraction of our dreams, but laboratory tests have shown that all our brains are busy while we are asleep. Exactly why we dream isn't fully understood, but there's little doubt dreams act as a kind of safety valve, helping us to sift through our waking experiences, and to reconcile conflicting feelings about our lives. In this way, dreams can be of great value in understanding our problems and in getting to know ourselves better.

The language of dreams is undeniably puzzling, and yet it does have a logic of its own. To help you understand your dreams it's a good idea to keep a dream journal by your bedside so that you can capture the fleeting details the moment you awake. Note down not just what happens in the dream but the mood and feelings it evokes. Over the months you should begin to see a pattern in your dreaming. One thing's for sure, the more you study your dreams, the more you will be amazed at how clever your mind is. In dreams we become artists, dramatists and poets, conjuring up marvellous imagery.

Sometimes the messages of our dreams simply resolve around recognisable people, objects and events which are out of their normal context, but surprisingly the dream message will often involve a pun, either visual or verbal.

Along with symbols that are special to us, there is the amazing phenomenon of universal symbols, the idea that we are all born knowing a shared dream language. This arises from what Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung called 'the collective unconscious'. All over the world people are dreaming in the same symbolic language every night, with only slight differences according to culture and customs. If you find it hard to accept, ask around your friends and family and you'll see how many of them regularly dream of the following:

WATER: It's our emotional life that's being focussed on when we dream of water. A flood can indicate we are being overwhelmed by emotion. Or the water may be stagnant and murky, turbulent or calm, showing various feelings in our waking lives.

JOURNEYS: Whatever the mode of transport, a travelling dream symbolizes our journey through life. If we dream we keep missing buses or planes we should not panic. It means we are anxious, but that any real life setbacks are only temporary.

FLYING: Flying can show that the dreamer suffers from a lack of confidence and would like to feel more on tops of things, and to rise above difficulties.

SITTING AN EXAM: When we dream we're sitting an exam we feel ill-prepared for, it may be a sign that we fear we're about to face a test in life we won't be able to cope with.

Recurring dreams can be disturbing, and dream analysts say they indicate that we need to take another look at events in our lives - things which we thought we understood the significance of but perhaps didn't.

Can dreams fortell the future? This is the $64,000 question. There are plenty of people who claim to have dreamed the results of horse races, which must come in handy. All too many people have foreseen tragedies such as the TITANIC disaster in their dreams. I personally have no doubt that the future can occasionally be glimpsed in dreams.

XVI. Make up disjunctive questions and respond to them:

1. The language of dreams is puzzling.

2. To keep a dream journal by your bedside is a good idea.

3. The dream message involves a pun.

4. All of us share a dream language.

5. People are dreaming in the same symbolic language.

6. Our dreams reflect our past experiences and present emotions.

7. Dreams indicate we need to take another look at events.

XVII. Do you remember what dreams signify? Could you interpret a dream with a flood; a journey; flying; being naked?

XVIII. Choose the statement you think to be correct. Give your arguments.

1. Dreams reflect a) our hidden wishes;

b) past events;

c) future.

2. Our brains a) are busy while we are asleep;

b) are at a rest;

c) make up a future chain to events.

3. Dreams act as a) a safety valve;

b) a warning;

c) a means of relaxation.

4. To understand a dream you must a) study a number of books interpreting

dreams;

b) note down it into a dream journal;

c) imagine what you would like to see in

your dream.

5. The messages of our dreams revolve around a) familiar people;

b) strangers;

c) your future friends.

6. If in your dream you are sitting an exam,

it symbolizes a) your fear;

b) your negative attitude towards this psychological testing;

c) your failure.

XIX. Speak on the article in accordance with the plan:

1. The meaning of dreams.

2. The language of dreams.

3. The messages of dreams.

4. The symbols of dreams.

5. Dream forecasts.

XX. Read the article and say what new information you have learnt.

THE MEANING OF DREAMS

( by Dr Vernon Coleman)

Nearly half of all women admit they dream several times a night but usually have no idea what the dreams mean. That's a pity because your dreams can tell you a lot about yourself. During an average night you'll drift into light sleep and then deep sleep. You'll go through five of these hour-long cycles. Before each new cycle - for between 10 and 30 minutes - you'll be in dreamland: an unstructured world where nothing is impossible.

By studying your dreams you can learn a great deal about yourself. Overweight people dream more than thin. Women dream more than men: 45 per cent of women say that they dream several times a night, but only 34 per cent of men say they dream that often.

It is possible to choose what to dream about. As you fall asleep, make sure that the last thing on your mind is the scene or person you want to dream about. But be warned. It is impossible to decide exactly what is going to happen. Your plans for a night of romantic passion could easily turn into something else.

A growing number of scientists believe that premonitions - either when you are awake or when you are in dreamland - may be just as real as other senses. But if you regularly have dreams about terrible things happening to you or those you love, you are almost certainly not dreaming about things that are going to happen but events that you are worried about.

If you dream of TV stars, this may mean that you want your life to be more exciting. If you felt inferior, then your confidence probably needs a boost.

A dream about death may signify you are looking forward to something about to happen - a new job or a new relationship, for example.

XXI. Answer the following questions:

1. How is the dreamland characterized?

2. Who dreams more often depending on the weight?

3. Do males or females dream more often? How can you explain it?

4. Do dreams ever predict the future?

5. What dreams can you see if you want your life to become more exciting?

XXII. Render the contents of the article in 10 sentences.

XXIII. Develop the following situations:

1. You are writing a report on dreaming. Your work is more theoretical than practical but still you are going to carry out a poll. What possible questions would you like to include into your questionnaire?

But first ask respondent:

- if he always remembers his dreams;

- if he dreams more in black and white or in colour;

- if his dreams depend on his mood on the eve;

- what dreams he sees more often;

- if he ever sees horror dreams;

-what he feels after that;

- if he believes that dreams predict our future

2. Once among the books in the bookcase (the collection belonged to your grandmother) you found the book "Your Dreams and What They Mean". You were puzzled and surprised. You ask your friend to share your emotions.

Ask him:

- if he has ever read anything of the same kind;

- if he believes that a journey in a dream may signify anxiety;

- how psychologists interpret dreams;

- who was the first to analyze dreams;

- what our dreams may reflect;

- if different people can see the same dreams.

3. On the eve of the examination your close friend saw a dream in which he failed his exam. Now he feels afraid and anxious. You ask him about the state and try to support him emotionally.

Ask him:

- if he feels ill-prepared for the exam or he revised all the material completely;

- why he believes that dreams foretell a person's future;

- if he thinks that our dreams reflect future or past events;

- if he doubts the idea that dreaming is simply a psychological safeguard mechanism;

- what dream he saw on the eve of the last exam;

- what he experienced in dreaming.

4. Your friend has just attended a lecture on dreaming given by a famous psychologist. But you didn't manage to attend this lecture. That's why you ask your friend about it as you are deeply concerned with the problem of the unconscious.

Ask him:

- what sort of people dream most;

- if it is possible to choose what to dream;

- if people dream all night long;

- what people can experience if deprived of dreams;

- what books interpreting dreams are based on;

- if our dreams may come true.

XXIV. Translate the text in writing:

FREUD AND DREAMS

According to the Freudian theory, dreams don't reveal anything about the future. Instead they tell us something about our present unresolved and unconscious complexes and may lead us back to the early years of our lives, when, according to psycho-analytic theory, the ground was being prepared for these later defects. There are three main hypotheses in this general theory.

The first hypothesis is that the dream is not a meaningless jumble of images and ideas, accidentally thrown together, but rather that the dream as a whole, and every element in it are meaningful. This idea is a very ancient one. For Freud it follows directly from the deterministic standpoint: i.e., from the view that all mental and physical events have causes and could be predicted if these causes were fully known. This is a philosophical notion with which few scientists would wish to quarrel. Freud's argument of the meaningfulness of dreams is directly connected with his general theory that all our acts are meaningfully determined; a theory which embraces mispronunciations, gestures, lapses, emotions and so forth.

The second point that Freud makes is that dreams are always in some sense a wish fulfillment; in other words, they have a purpose, and this purpose is the satisfaction of some desire or drive, usually of an unconscious character. This is linked up with his general theory of personality. Roughly speaking, Freud recognizes three main parts of personality: one, which he calls the id, is a kind of reservoir, as it were, provides the dynamic energy for most of our activities. Opposed to it we have the so-called super-ego, which is partly conscious and partly unconscious and which is the repository of social morality. Intervening between the two, and trying to resolve their opposition, is the ego; i.e., the conscious part of our personality.

Thirdly, Freud believes that desires and wishes, having been repressed from consciousness because they are unacceptable to the socialized mind of the dreamer, are not allowed to emerge even into the dream without disguise. A censor or super-ego watches over them and ensures that they can only emerge into the dream in a disguise so heavy that they are unrecognizable.

The link-up between Freud's theory of personality and his theory of dream interpretation is a very simple one: the forces of the id are constantly trying to gain control of the ego and to force themselves into consciousness. During the individual's waking life, the super-ego firmly represses them and keeps them unconscious; during sleep, however, the super-ego is less watchful, and consequently some of the desires start up in the id and are allowed to escape in the form of dreams. However, the super-ego may nod, but it is not quite asleep, and consequently these wish-fulfilling thoughts require to be heavily disguised. This disguise is stage-managed by what Freud calls the dreamwork. Accordingly, it is necessary to distinguish between the manifest dream, i.e. the dream as experienced and perhaps written down, and the latent dream, i.e. the thoughts, wishes, and desires expressed in the dream with their disguises removed. The task of the analyst and interpreter on this view is to explain the manifest dream in terms of the latent dream.

WORD STUDY

I. Give Russian equivalents for:

Dreaming; average lifespan; to reflect; to recollect; deprived of dreams; to experience psychic changes; to fall asleep; slumber; superficial sleep; imagination; to foretell future; to penetrate the subconscious; a somnambulant nation; sleep deprivation; a macho attitude; nap; to promote alertness; circadian rhythms; sleeplessness.

II. Give English equivalents for:

Примирить чувства; представлять большую ценность; просыпаться; настроение; удивительное явление; универсальные символы; язык сна; согласно культуре и обычаям; захваченный эмоцией; символизировать; встретиться с испытанием в жизни; страна сновидений; предчувствие; вина.

III. Arrange the following words in the pairs of synonyms:

Desire vital

Slumber enter

Crucial facilitate

Tribulation self-awareness

Resolve wish

Compile trial

Penetrate predict

Foretell responsibility

Modify treat

Promote sleep

Obligation settle

Adjust mean

Self-confidence make up

Heal change

Signify adapt

IV. Complete the following sentences. Use the words of the above exercises.

1. A dream is a safeguard against ... .

2. When deprived of dreams people experience ... .

3. Dream interpreters try to ... .

4. Sleep experts regard sleep as ... .

5. Slumber scientists investigate ... .

6. The messages of our dreams resolve around ... .

7. Dream symbols signify ... .

V. Characterize the necessity of dreaming. Use the following word-combinations:

To reflect desires; to motivate behaviour; a vital mechanism; psychological safeguard; to inspire a hope; to resolve a problem; sleep deprivation; to promote alertness; to experience psychic changes; a safety valve; to reconcile conflicting feelings; to have a healing effect.

VI. Describe:

a) your most pleasant dream ( use the following: amazing, fascinating, overwhelmed by emotions, puzzling, marvellous imagery);

b) the most unpleasant dream ( use the following: feel panic, anxiety, worry, horror, alarm, awful).

What did you feel while asleep and when awake?

UNIT VI

TEXT I