2020新托福阅读背景知识精选汇总

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新托福阅读背景知识：梦境探讨

梦境探讨

梦是一种正常的生理、心理现象，正如入经过白天活动後需要睡眠让身心获得充份休息来消除疲劳。梦对心理方面具有调和与舒解的作用。假使没有梦，许多人可能早就会得神经病了。佛洛伊德认为：做梦就是正常人发“神经病”，而神经病人就是白天睁著眼睛做“大梦”。梦境这种无意识心理活动是人类的第二精神世界，怛光怪陆离梦境常使人产生迷惑。佛洛伊德在“梦的分析”书中有详尽介绍。分析内容大致分三类：

1.睡眠时躯体受到的刺激：睡眠中如太冷时，会梦见在冰天雪地。太热时，会梦见处身火焰旁。太渴时，会梦见在找寻水源。膀胱胀满时，会梦见找不到厕所。

2.日间活动残迹的作用：所谓“日有所思，夜有所梦”，人们还可在梦中继续白天未完成的智力活动。很多科学家的发明或发现是在梦境中突然领悟出来。

3.潜意识内容的反映：佛氏把梦分“显梦”内容与“潜意”内容 两部分，前老好像“谜面”，後者好像“谜底”。精神分析医生工作是根据“梦”的规律进行解析来发掘做梦者被压抑在潜意识内的那些矛盾冲突，帮助病人正确解决其致病情结，从而使获得痊愈。

佛洛伊德把梦分析工作归纳六类：1.象征化，2.移置，3.凝缩，4.投射，5.变形，6.二次加工。

此处从略不详细介绍。梦境不单是受心理方面也受所在环境与生理状况的影响，如睡在生疏的地方，睡中嗅到气味、感到声音等都会影响梦境。

新托福阅读背景知识：梦的研究总结

寿命、智能的改善与“梦”

世界各地睡眠研究报告均显示：寿命、智能与快波睡眠有关，资优儿童及长寿人仕的快波睡眠较多，但快波睡眠是由先天遗传决定的。从图二我们可看到在快波睡眠时产生α波使潜意识和意识之间闸门开放，人脑白天意识到感知到的经验及旧的经验程式互相比较修改，自行设计出新程式或修改旧程式用来制造蛋白质改变大脑细胞的构造，形成永久记忆，使更适合生理及心理层面的需要。快波睡眠是遗传性主後天仍具有相当可塑性，透过以下日常方法可帮助追求良好“睡与梦”，获得较长快波睡眠是整体生命力的提升:

①按时早睡早起，配合人体“生物钟”21点至22点入睡，早上五至六点起床，床褥不可过硬或过软，睡房空气清新及光线较暗，注意睡眠姿势，陲前刷牙保持口腔清洁，睡前避免饮酒及进食，有失眠人仕建议睡前用热水洗脚，能刺激足部穴住，使容易入睡。

②优美音乐能对大脑右半球起活跃作用，做梦是由右脑专职。所以平时多欣赏一些喜爱优美音乐可改善左右脑半球脑电波的同步胁调性，对和缓消除紧张和疲劳及改善“睡与梦”有积极功效。

③香味对人体有心理效应也有理化作用，茉莉花香会引起大脑产生期待α波，符合改善“梦”境。

⑤坚持早餐要好，午饭要饱，晚饭要少，对大脑及睡眠有实际效用。从“睡与梦”角度证实少吃肉类，多吃谷物，蔬某、水果等含纤维素和碳水化合物的食物，能使睡眠很甜，可见素食能提高睡眠质量，是值得大力提倡。

⑥保持乐观情绪笑口常开，美“梦”自然与您同伴。

“梦”的研究及总结

由于“梦”都发生在快波睡眠“REM”快速眼球转动期，最近加州大学学者史毅德利用电极黏贴在眼皮上，配合快波睡眠时脑电波一起处理能测知“梦”发生，当做梦後脑电波转变慢波睡眠时眼球也停止转动，电子仪器即产生声响使做梦者清醒及启动录音机，使做梦者可将梦境所见用录音机录下才再入睡。史丹福大学学者伯兹利用特殊低频“粉杠噪音”调制发光二极管眼罩，使睡者能在快波睡眠期诱发“神志清醒的梦”，做梦者可以意识性地左右梦的内容，甚至自由导演出令自己满意的情节与结局，把恶梦转换成美梦或寻求解决日间疑难寻求创造性的答案。

“梦”的科学研究路途是漫长，展望将有一天能助我们真正认识您自己，此时人类就能真正操纵自己的昨天今天明天。尽管本文对“睡与梦”的探讨和改善不能使朋友们真正认识您自己及“梦”，但承认认识您自己及“梦”的重要性，在探讨过程中增强自我信念，至少我们已在这问题上前进一步。

著名中国古代梦研究学者刘文英教授，总结中国古代文学、历史、哲学文献记载梦的资料编写成《梦的迷信与梦的探索》一书，受到中外梦的研究学者重视。繁体字版将由台湾晓园出版公司出版。牛顿杂志《科学与人》/王溢嘉时间专栏，对“人”与“梦”、“心灵”、“物”、“科学”等有极之生动描绘。

新托福阅读背景知识：梦的背景

梦的背景知识

1953年，美国芝加哥大学，柯立行曼教授和他的研究生阿赛斯基(Reitman’s & Asterisk)正在用脑电波测量的方法研究睡眠，阿赛斯基负责观察被试----是一些婴儿----睡眠时的脑电图。阿赛斯基也许是个很细心的人，再不然就是婴儿可爱的面庞吸引了他。他在观察脑电图的同时，还看了婴儿的脸，遇然间他发现，每当脑电上波出现快波时，婴儿的眼球就会快束速运动，仿佛闭着眼睛在看什么东西。

这是怎么回事?柯立特曼和阿赛斯基猜想这或许和梦有关。他们把一些成人被试带到实验室里，在他们头上接到电极，然后让他们睡觉。当脑电图出现快波时，他们的眼球也开始了快速运动。柯立特曼和阿赛斯基急忙唤醒他们，问他们是否做梦，他们回答说：是的。

而当没有快速眼动的时候，被叫醒的被试大多数都说自己不是正在做梦。

由此，人们发现，梦和脑电图的快波和快速眼动是相联系的。

研究发现，一夜的睡眠过程是两种睡眠的交替，在较短的快波睡眠后，是时间较长的慢波睡眠，然后又是快波睡眠，如此循环。慢波睡眠又可划分为4个阶段或称4期。因此更具体他说，睡眠的程序是：觉醒→慢波、期→2期→3期→4期→快波睡眠，为第一个周期，然后再次重复慢波睡眠期→2期→3期→4期→快波睡眠，如此循环。一般从一次快波睡眠到下一次快波睡眠的间隔时为70-120分钟，平均90分钟。一夜大致要循环4-6次。越到后半夜，快波睡眠越长、越慢睡眠越短。

由于快波睡眠期是人做梦的时期，我们由睡眠过程的脑电图可推断，一个人每夜一般会做4-6个梦，前半夜的梦较短，后半夜的梦较长。根据研究，整夜共有约1-2小时的时间人是在做梦。

由于每个人正常睡眠时间都超过一个循环的时间，由此可知每个人每晚都要做梦。有些人自称自己睡觉从不做梦，是因为他醒来后把夜里的梦忘记了。

早期的研究者们假设，只在在快波睡眠时才有梦。但是近斯的研究却发现，慢波睡眠期也有梦。慢波睡眠的梦不像一般的梦那样由形象构，也不像一般的梦那么生动富于象征性。例如，一个从慢波睡眠中刚醒来的人会说“我正在想着明天的考试”，研究者还发现，大多数的梦游和梦话都是出现在慢波睡眠期。

脑电波可以指示出人是否在做梦，因此脑电波测测量是研究梦的一个主要手段。

但是脑电波却不能说明梦和睡眠的生理机制，更无法告诉我们梦是什么，关于梦的生理机制目前还有极少研究，但是对睡眠的生理机制却有很多的研究，这对我们的理解梦有一定的参考性价值。

早期的生理学家巴甫洛夫认为：睡眠就是大脑皮层神经活动停止，也即所谓抑制。梦是大脑皮神经活动停止时，偶尔出现皮层比做一个燃烧的火堆，那么按巴甫洛夫的观点，睡眠就是这堆火熄灭了，而梦就是在木炭灰烬中偶尔亮起来的火星。

近十几年来，通过对睡眠的生活机制的研究，人们知道巴甫洛夫的观点是不准确的。睡眠不是觉醒状态的终结，不是神经活动的停止或休息，而是中枢神经系统中另一种形式的活动，是一个主动的过程。

脑具有一种负责清醒----转换的中枢，即网状系统。这是脑于中一群弥散的神经核团，当它受到刺激时会使熟睡者醒过来。而当实验者破坏了实验动物的网状系统是时，这个动物就会从此“一睡不醒”。

网状系统的活动受到来自上下两方面的神经冲动的影响。上方，大脑皮层的活动会影响它，因此思虑过多忧心忡忡的人会失眠。下主，来自感觉器官的神经冲动影响它，因此噪杂的声音也会干扰人们的睡眠。除此之外，网状系统的活动还受到两个神经中枢的控制，一个叫中缝核，另一个叫蓝斑。中缝核可导致慢波睡眠。蓝斑则导致快波睡眠，从而与梦有关系。

蓝斑产生的神经兴奋，主要通过脑的视神经束。也许，这和人在梦中所见到的景色有关。另外，蓝斑可能也起着在睡眠中抑制身躯运动的作用。

研究脑生化的科学家发现，中缝核产生的神经递质主要是5--羟色胺。在电损毁动物中缝核前部后，脑5--羟色胺含量大减，同时，动物的慢波睡眠也明显减少，如果把5--羟色胺直接射到动物的中缝核，则动物的慢波睡眠延长，可见5--羟色胺和慢波睡眠有关。

蓝斑区域可产生去甲肾上腺素，它与快波睡眠有关。在损毁动物蓝斑中后部时，去甲肾上腺素减少。同时，快波睡眠也减少。

去甲肾上腺素不仅与快波睡波有关，与觉醒状态的维持也有关。当脑内去甲肾上腺素含量增加是，实验中的动物会从睡梦中醒来。

同生物的研究，似乎可以引向这样一种推测，快波睡眠和觉醒有相似之处，当然，快波睡眠和觉醒决不是一回事。首先就是快波睡眠时运动是被抑制的。但是，和慢波睡眠相比，它和觉醒状态在表现上共性还是稍多一些。它也有较多的心理活动。

对睡眠，特别是与梦有关的快波睡眠的生理层面的研究，使我们对梦的作用有了一定的理解。如果用药物或其它技术抑制快波睡眠，被试者的注意、学习记忆功能就会到损害，同时，情绪会变得焦虑，愤怒，并造成处理人际关系能力下降。由此提示，梦对改善学习与记忆，对改善情绪和社会能力可能有作用。

还有一些研究也发现，快波睡眠和梦可能与新信息的编码有关。一些没有见到过的新形象在梦里得到“复习”和“整理”，然后存入长时记忆库中去，根据这种假说，婴儿每天见到的新东西多，所以就需要多做梦，老年人难得会见到什么新东西，因此就不必多做梦。实际上，婴儿快波睡眠的时间占总睡眠时间的比例也确实远大于老年人。实验也发现，在环境丰富的条件下饲养大白鼠快波睡眠的总时间和百分比都比其它大白鼠更长更多。由此提示，至少“复习整理新形象和新知识”是梦的作用之一。

新托福阅读背景知识：汉谟拉比法典

The code of Hammurabi

Hammurabi was the ruler who chiefly established the greatness of Babylon, the world's first metropolis. Many relics of Hammurabi's reign ([1795-1750 BC]) have been preserved, and today we can study this remarkable King....as a wise law-giver in his celebrated code . . .

by far the most remarkable of the Hammurabi records is his code of laws, the earliest-known example of a ruler proclaiming publicly to his people an entire body of laws, arranged in orderly groups, so that all men might read and know what was required of them. The code was carved upon a black stone monument, eight feet high, and clearly intended to be reared in public view. This noted stone was found in the year 1901, not in Babylon, but in a city of the Persian mountains, to which some later conqueror must have carried it in triumph. It begins and ends with addresses to the gods. Even a law code was in those days regarded as a subject for prayer, though the prayers here are chiefly cursing of whoever shall neglect or destroy the law.

Yet even with this earliest set of laws, as with most things Babylonian, we find ourselves dealing with the end of things rather than the beginnings. Hammurabi's code was not really the earliest. The preceding sets of laws have disappeared, but we have found several traces of them, and Hammurabi's own code clearly implies their existence. He is but reorganizing a legal system long established.

新托福阅读背景知识：植物适应沙漠

Plant adaptation to the desert(背景材料)

Cactus adaptations.

The secret to the superior endurance of cacti lies in their adaptations. Over millions of years, through natural selection, only the strongest and best adapted species survived.

As you know, it is very dry in the desert. Plants that adapt to this are known as xerophytes (from zeros, dry and python, plant). There are plants that avoid the dry season by sprouting from seed just after the spring rain and growing very fast so that by the time the dry season comes, they have already produced a lot of seeds and died. These seeds lie on the soil for the dry season and sprout again in spring and the cycle repeats. Other xerophytes simply drop their leaves and stay dormant for the winter. But there is another special type of xerophytes which stores water in its fleshy tissues. Such plants are called succulents (from success, juicy). The cactus is a typical example of a succulent.

If you cut a cactus open, you see a juicy, slimy tissue. This is where the moisture is stored for the dry season. The part between the middle circle (and pith) and just under the very green part of the plant (or palisade parenchyma) just under the skin is allocated for the storage of water and food for the plant. This is a type of spongy parenchyma and can take up to 85% of the plant's volume. This is a major adaptation in the desert. Because the plant remains completely alive during the dry season and there is no need for it to dry up and lose everything, makes it possible for the plant to grow to large sizes. Another advantage is that the plant retains supplies (in the form of starch) for the winter so that it can flower right away in spring without accumulating more supplies (as most plants need to do in spring). The whole purpose of storing supplies for the winter is mostly to energize flowering in spring but it also lets the cactus start growing much sooner.

Flowering plants breathe and transpire (evaporate water from their surface) through closeable microscopic pores called stoats on the leaves or stems. To do this, their pores have to be open. In most plants these are open all day and on warm nights. But for cacti this is inconvenient as in daytime it is very hot and thus the plant would lose a lot of water through evaporation. So the cactus must close them in the daytime. But then it cannot breathe or photosynthesize (the process where sugars are made from carbon dioxide and water and releasing oxygen using the sun's energy). Succulents have an adaptation to that. Their stoats are closed during the day and are open at night, when it is not that hot and store carbon dioxide in its tissues as crass lean acid and then turn it back to carbon dioxide in the daytime. This process is called crass lean acid metabolism or CAM and it is a very smart way of respiring in the desert.

If we look at the outside of the plant, we notice that there is a tough leathery skin covering the plant, we can also notice the presence of ribs and spines and sometimes fur. These are all very smart adaptations. They serve mainly for surviving heat but are also used as defense.

The tough leathery skin is very impermeable to water, thus reducing evaporation from the surface of the plant. This skin often has a layer of plant wax on it which is often lightly colored (Pilosocereus azures is an example of a plant with such wax), white or blue. This reflects light and also reduces evaporation from the inside.

The ribs are special structures that are also used for enduring extreme heat. The ribs (and spines) trap wind so that the plant is enveloped in a layer of extremely still air, and this is a very important factor in reducing evaporation. On very windy days even the ribs don't help and cacti sometimes wilt because of high water loss.

The spines have different functions. They not only help shade the plant from the sun but are also known to help the cactus absorb water. They do it like this. On cool nights, dew settles on the spines of the plant. The spines are actually known to draw droplets of water towards the areole (the point out of which the spines grow) and here the droplets are absorbed. You can try this at home. Spray the plants with a very fine mist of water and watch what happens to the droplets that settle on the spines. They literally get attracted to the areole along the spine. The spine's structure allows them to do this. Even spines pointing downwards seem to suck the droplets up themselves.

Adaptation features are visible in this Pilosocereus glauchochorous. Notice the spines, ribs, fur and wax (the blue coloration). The top of a typically adapted plant.

Some plants have fur; sometimes all over the plant, sometimes only near the top. This fur shades the plant even further and is also known to attract water towards the areole. Some plants only have fur near the top. This is very beneficial because the top of the plant is very sensitive to sunlight, new tissues get formed there. Young areoles, with their spines not even wooded yet can get dried up completely in the sun. When an areole is born near the top of the plant, it starts developing spines. At this time the fur appears as well. This fur accompanies the areole as it moves down the plant, shading the growing point inside. By the time the areole is about 15cm away from the top, the fur wears out completely and the now inactive areole gets exposed to the sun.

As for the roots of cacti, they are also fully adapted to living in the desert. Some species (especially plants from very dry deserts) have very shallow root systems that spread very far from the plant. This way the plant can take advantage of tiny amounts of moisture from dew or light rain as the roots spread far away and are very shallow (less than 10cm deep while spreading up to 5 meters from the parent plant). On the other hand, some cacti send their roots deep down (like many Echinocacti) to reach the ground water.

Rainforest cacti often have aerial roots that can collect water all the time when it rains (and it rains very often in South American forests).

The shape of cacti itself is an adaptation. You may have noticed that cacti have a barrel like or candle like shape. This allows for maximum internal volume with a minimum surface area, which is also very smart adaption as a cactus can store a lot of water and have a small external surface area to reduce water loss.