14．Early one morning，more than a hundred years ago，an American inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep．He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem：It seemed impossible to get the thread to run around the needle without any problems．
Though he was tired，Howe slept badly．He turned and turned．Then he had a dream．He dreamt that he had been caught by terrible savages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build a perfect sewing machine．When he tried to do so，Howe ran into the same problem as before．The thread kept getting caught around the needle．The king flew into the cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe．They came up towards him with their spears raised．But suddenly the inventor noticed something．There was a hole in the tip of each spear．The inventor awoke from the dream，realizing that he had just found the answer to the problem．Instead of trying to get the thread to run around the needle，he should make it run through a small hole in the center of the needle．This was the simple idea that finally made Howe design and build the first really practised sewing machine．
Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way．Thomas Edison，the inventor of the electric light，said his best ideas came into him in dreams．So did the great physicist Albert Einstein．Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre．
To know the value of dreams，you have to understand what happens when you are asleep．Even then，a part of your mind is still working．This unconscious（無意識的），but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day．It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed．It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake．However，the unconscious part acts in a special way．It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first．This is why dreams are sometimes called"secret messages to us"．
21．The problem Howe was trying to solve wasD．
A．what kind of thread to use
B．how to design a needle which would not break
C．where to put the needle
D．how to stop the thread from getting caught around the needle
22．Thomas Edison is spoken of becauseB．
A．he also tried to invent a sewing machine
B．he got some of his ideas from dreams
C．he was one of Howe's best friends
D．he also had difficulty in falling asleep
23．Dreams are sometimes called"secret messages to ourselves"becauseA．
A．strange images are used to communicate ideas
B．images which have no meaning are used
C．we can never understand the real meaning
D．only specially trained people can understand them．
分析 本文主要講述了一位美國發(fā)明家埃利亞斯豪在發(fā)明縫紉機(jī)的時候遇到了一個棘手的問題，在現(xiàn)實中怎樣也無法解決，而有一天在夢中他突然發(fā)現(xiàn)了這個問題的解決辦法，而同樣在夢中解決問題的還有愛迪生等人，引出夢對人們的價值．
解答 21．D細(xì)節(jié)理解題，由第一段最后一句可知，He had been working all night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a very difficult problem：It seemed impossible to get the thread to run around the needle without any problems．埃利亞斯要解決的問題是如何組織線繞住周圍的針，故選D
22．B細(xì)節(jié)理解題，由第三段Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answer to his problem in this way．Thomas Edison，the inventor of the electric light，said his best ideas came into him in dreams．可知提到愛迪生是因為他和埃利亞斯一樣在夢中解決過問題，故選B
23．A細(xì)節(jié)理解題，由最后一段可知This unconscious，but still active part understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day．It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgotten or never have really noticed．It is only when you fall asleep that this part of the brain can send messages to the part you use when you are awake．However，the unconscious part acts in a special way．It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first．夢給我們神秘的信息是因為在我們睡著的時候大腦的一部分仍然在解決我們白天遇到的問題，故選A．
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