IELTS Reading 練習我們為什麼做夢（含題目+詳解）

Why We Dream

IELTS · 雅思備考 · 11 min read · 2026-04-25

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主題: Why we dream
文章重點: Major theories of dreaming — Freud's hidden wishes, the activation-synthesis hypothesis and modern memory-consolidation accounts — each explain part of the phenomenon, and current research places dreams somewhere between meaningful and mechanical.
難度: 中等 · Intermediate
建議時間: 18 分鐘

重要單字

durable — lasting a long time, persistent / 持久的
unconscious — not aware of, in hidden parts of the mind / 潛意識的
sceptical — doubting whether something is true / 懷疑的
hypothesis — a proposed explanation to be tested / 假說
consolidation — making something stronger or more secure / 鞏固、整合
mechanical — done as if by a machine, without thought / 機械式的

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

Every night humans enter several REM sleep episodes filled with vivid dreams, but their purpose is debated. Freud said dreams disguised unconscious wishes; mainstream researchers now reject that. Hobson and McCarley's 1970s activation-synthesis hypothesis treated dreams as stories made from random brainstem signals. Recent theories link dreams to memory consolidation, supported by rat studies. Each explanation captures part of the truth.

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — A persistent question

Few questions about the human mind have proven as durable, or as resistant to clear answers, as why we dream. Every night, the typical adult enters four or five episodes of rapid-eye-movement sleep, during which the brain becomes highly active and produces vivid, often bizarre narratives. The phenomenon is universal across cultures, but its purpose remains the subject of competing theories.

本段重要單字 (3)

durable — lasting and persistent / 持久的
vivid — producing very strong, clear images / 鮮明的
narratives — stories or accounts of events / 敘事

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

How often does a typical adult enter REM sleep each night?

A. Once, just before waking.
B. Four or five times per night.
C. Continuously throughout the night.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — B. Four or five times per night.

The paragraph says "the typical adult enters four or five episodes of rapid-eye-movement sleep" each night.

2 段落 2 — Freud and hidden wishes

The first widely influential modern account came from Sigmund Freud, who argued in 1900 that dreams were the disguised expression of unconscious wishes, especially those that the waking mind found unacceptable. For much of the twentieth century this view was taken seriously even by clinicians who were sceptical of Freud's broader system. Today, however, mainstream sleep researchers regard the wish-fulfilment account as poorly supported by evidence: the imagery in most dreams is not obviously hidden, and many dreams concern recent everyday events rather than buried desires.

本段重要單字 (3)

disguised — hidden under a different appearance / 偽裝的
unconscious — in hidden parts of the mind / 潛意識的
sceptical — doubting whether something is true / 懷疑的

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

How do mainstream sleep researchers view Freud's wish-fulfilment theory today?

A. They regard it as the best-supported explanation.
B. They regard it as poorly supported by evidence.
C. They have not yet examined his theory.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — B. They regard it as poorly supported by evidence.

The text says today "mainstream sleep researchers regard the wish-fulfilment account as poorly supported by evidence".

3 段落 3 — Activation-synthesis hypothesis

A more biological explanation emerged in the 1970s with the activation-synthesis hypothesis of Allan Hobson and Robert McCarley. They proposed that during REM sleep the brainstem fires randomly, and the higher cortex weaves these signals into a story simply because narrative is what cortex does. On this view, dreams have no intrinsic meaning; they are a side effect of the brain's tendency to make sense of noise. Critics replied that even if the underlying signals are random, the choice of imagery is far from arbitrary — emotionally charged content appears more often than chance would predict.

本段重要單字 (3)

hypothesis — a proposed explanation to be tested / 假說
cortex — the outer layer of the brain / 大腦皮質
arbitrary — random, with no clear reason / 任意的

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

According to the activation-synthesis hypothesis, what role does the cortex play in dreaming?

A. The cortex sends random signals down to the brainstem.
B. The cortex weaves random brainstem signals into a story.
C. The cortex stops working entirely during REM sleep.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — B. The cortex weaves random brainstem signals into a story.

The paragraph says "the brainstem fires randomly, and the higher cortex weaves these signals into a story simply because narrative is what cortex does".

4 段落 4 — Memory consolidation

The most influential recent theories link dreams to memory consolidation. During slow-wave and REM sleep, the brain appears to replay and reorganise the day's experiences, strengthening useful associations and weakening trivial ones. Studies of rats show that the same neuronal patterns active while learning a maze re-fire during sleep, sometimes in reverse order. The resulting reorganisation may be experienced, in humans, as the loose narratives we call dreams.

本段重要單字 (3)

consolidation — making something stronger / 鞏固、整合
associations — connections between ideas / 聯想、關聯
neuronal — relating to nerve cells in the brain / 神經元的

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

What did the rat studies show about sleeping brains?

A. The same neuronal patterns active during learning re-fired during sleep, sometimes in reverse order.
B. Sleeping rats forgot every maze they had learned.
C. Rats only dream when they are awake and walking.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：A — A. The same neuronal patterns active during learning re-fired during sleep, sometimes in reverse order.

The text says "the same neuronal patterns active while learning a maze re-fire during sleep, sometimes in reverse order".

5 段落 5 — A measured conclusion

None of these explanations is universally accepted. What is clear is that dreaming is not the unfiltered window into the soul that Freud imagined, nor the empty noise that the activation-synthesis hypothesis first suggested. It sits, like much of the brain's behaviour, somewhere between meaningful and mechanical.

本段重要單字 (3)

universally — by everyone, in every case / 普遍地
unfiltered — not edited or held back / 未經過濾的
mechanical — done automatically without thought / 機械式的

Quick Check · 隨堂小測

How does the writer summarise the current view of dreaming?

A. Dreaming is exactly the unfiltered window into the soul Freud described.
B. Dreaming sits somewhere between meaningful and mechanical.
C. Dreaming has now been fully and universally explained.

看答案 · Show answer

答案：B — B. Dreaming sits somewhere between meaningful and mechanical.

The final sentence says dreaming "sits, like much of the brain's behaviour, somewhere between meaningful and mechanical".

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閱讀前先看 Before you read

30 秒快速理解 30-second summary

逐段練習 Read paragraph by paragraph

1 段落 1 — A persistent question

2 段落 2 — Freud and hidden wishes

3 段落 3 — Activation-synthesis hypothesis

4 段落 4 — Memory consolidation

5 段落 5 — A measured conclusion

每天 5 分鐘的系統練習

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