Part 6
You are going to read a magazine article about one person’s experience of being aware while she is dreaming, called lucid dreaming. Six sentences have been removed from the article. Choose from the sentences A-G the one which fits each gap (37-42). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. 37 __.
Lucid Dreaming
The other night I experienced a lucid dream. In the dream I was sitting gazing into our fish aquarium. I peered in closely, examining our spotted suckerfish. I often gaze at him because he never moves much in the daytime. I watch him to see if he is OK. As I stared at him, suddenly I noticed there were two more suckerfish! They were identical to the original.
37 . Then I wondered where they could have come from. As I pondered this I abruptly realised that I must be dreaming! 38 . I jumped up and looked around. There were other people in this dream with me. I had a husband, a son and a dog. Before looking at the fish, I had been going along, living my daily life in a mundane fashion. The last thing I had remembered doing was feeding the dog and kissing my little boy on the head while he played on the kitchen floor.
As i looked at these people, I realised it wasn’t my real husband or either of my real children – I excitedly blurted out at them that we were all dreaming. 39 . I yelled again “We are dreaming!” As I became even more self-conscious, I announced that I could test my theory by flying.
If this really was a dream, I should be able to fly! So I jumped up and flew to the ceiling. I can still see the look on the man’s face as he watched me float up to the ceiling. Unfortunately, as I watched the fear and doubt on his face, I began to fall. I sank all the way back down and landed with a hard thud on the floor. When that happened, I began to doubt my own perception and lost my awareness as I fell back into a regular dream state.
The above is an example of lucid dreaming. 40 . You are aware that you are dreaming, while dreaming. If you have ever had it happen to you spontaneously, you understand how exciting it is, the heart races with excitement at your prospects.
Gazing at something in your home or on your body, such as your hands during your regular workday is a technique used by dream researchers to induce lucid dreaming. Another technique is to continually ask yourself throughout the day if you are dreaming. 41 . On another occasion just before becoming lucid in a dream, I noticed that my kitchen cupboards were the wrong colour, which alerted me. The duplicated fish are another example.
Stephen LaBerge, the pioneer of lucid dreaming research, suggests that once you can become lucid, there is no limit to what your imagination can create in a dream. 42 . You can even try out things you’ve always wanted to try and see what it is like. It has been discovered, and my experience supports this, that when you do become lucid, it is extremely difficult to stay that way. Research has shown though that the more you do it, the better at it you get and the better your control is. Often a few seconds of lucidity is all that is manageable. It is still a thrilling experience.
A. “Of course!” I said; that explains this.
B. At first I was startled and shocked, surprised that there were more.
C. It truly is amazing, from flying, to inventing, to art.
D. After waking from the dream and becoming lucid, I remember gazing at my hands and noticing that they were an odd shape.
E. My husband looked at me, perplexed.
F. If you develop these habits – if you happen to be in a dream state while looking at your hands – you will be tipped off when your hands look odd.
G. Lucid dreaming is the state of being conscious in your dreams.
For this task: Answers with explanations :: Vocabulary