Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, an American inventor called El

Early one morning, more than a hundred years ago, anAmerican inventor called Elias Howe finally fell asleep. He had been workingall night on the design of a sewing machine but he had run into a verydifficult problem: It seemed impossible to get the thread to run smoothlyaround the needle.      

Though he was tired, Howe slept badly. He turned andturned. Then he had a dream. He dreamt that he had been caught by terriblesavages whose king wanted to kill him and eat him unless he could build aperfect sewing machine. When he tried to do so, Howe ran into the same problemas before. The thread kept getting caught around the needle. The king flew intothe cage and ordered his soldiers to kill Howe. They came up towards him withtheir spears raised. But suddenly the inventor noticed something. There was ahole in the tip of each spear. The inventor awoke from the dream, realizingthat he had just found the answer to the problem. Instead of trying to get thethread to run around the needle, he should make it run through a small hole inthe center of the needle. This was the simple idea that finally made Howedesign and build the first really practiced sewing machine.

Elias Howe was not the only one in finding the answerto 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 AlbertEinstein. Charlotte Bronte also drew in her dreams in writing Jane Eyre.

To know the value of dreams, you have to understandwhat happens when you are asleep. Even then, a part of your mind is stillworking. This unconscious(无意识的), but still activepart understands your experiences and goes to work on the problems you have hadduring the day. It stores all sorts of information that you may have forgottenor never have really noticed. It is only when you fall asleep that this part ofthe 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 theconscious part may not understand at first. This is why dreams are sometimescalled “secret messages to ourselves”.

1.According to the passage, Elias Howe was________.

A. the first person we know of who solved problems inhis sleep

B. much more hard-working than other inventors

C. the first person to design a sewing machine thatreally worked

D. the only person at the time who knew the value ofdreams

2.The problem Howe was trying to solve was________.

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 prevent the thread from getting caughtaround the needle

3.Thomas Edison is spoken of because________.

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

4.Dreams are sometimes called “secret messages toourselves” because ________.

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

试题答案

【答案】

1.C

2.D

3.B

4.A

【解析】

试题