## Step 2 - Reading

#### Dreams explained

You are going to read a text about dreams.

- Read the text and do assignment 1.
- Read the text again and do assignment 2.

#### Assignment 1

Read the text and do the assignment on your own, then discuss the answer in your group.

Find the English words for the Dutch translations underneath in the text.

- droomuitleg
- dromen over beroemde mensen
- dromen over de dood
- dromen over vliegen
- dromen dat je valt
- rondlopen in een leeg huis
- kiespijn

Dreams explained We sleep in cycles which include "deep sleep", during which we don't dream, and "dreaming sleep" in which we have hallucinations which we call dreams. Every ninety minutes or so we have a period of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep during which we dream. This REM sleep lasts for up to half an hour. Dream interpretation has been a subject of intense interest for thousands of years. Dreaming about famous people means that you are bored with your social life and would like to have more fun. If you mix with the celebrities in your dream as an equal this indicates that you have high self-esteem. If you interact with the stars in a subservient way then you have little confidence in yourself. Similarly, dreaming that you are at a party or get-together is interpreted differently depending on whether you felt at ease or awkward there. Dreams about death can represent a new start in life; maybe you are changing jobs, moving house or starting a new relationship. Dreaming about flying is very common and may represent a wish to escape from a situation. If you dream that you are falling it may mean that you are not looking forward to something in the immediate future and that you feel powerless to avoid it. This type of dream is often experienced before events such as tests or exams and new beginnings such as getting married or starting a new job. They say that if you dream that you are wandering around an empty house it may reflect a subconscious uneasiness or anxiety in your life, and if you dream about losing your teeth it may originate from deep-seated memories of your own teeth falling out when you lost your "milk teeth", or may indicate that you have a little toothache which is not painful enough to break through into your conscious mind. The word "dream" does not only refer to hallucinations which occur when we are asleep. It can also refer to an ambition or an ideal state of affairs. It was used as such by the famous social justice campaigner, Martin Luther King (1929-1968), in many of his speeches when he said, "I have a dream." When Irving Berlin (1888-1989) wrote I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas in 1942, he was undoubtedly using the word in this sense rather than as a reference to dreaming during sleep. Victorian poet and critic, Matthew Arnold (1822-88), described Oxford as "that sweet city with her dreaming spires" in Thyrsis, a poem he wrote in 1866. Bron: www.englishclub.com