Question

这篇文章大致讲了什么？主旨大意是什么？

You awake with a pounding heart and sweaty hands. Relax, you think to
yourself—it was just a bad dream. But are nightmares truly benign? Psychologists
aren’t so sure. Although some continue to believe nightmares reduce
psychological tensions by letting the brain act out its fears, recent research
suggests that nocturnal(夜间的) ordeals(折磨) are more likely to increase anxiety in
waking life.
　　In one study Australian researchers asked 624 high school students about
their lives and nightmares during the past year and assessed their stress
levels. It is well known that stressful experiences cause nightmares, but if
nightmares serve to diffuse that tension, troubled sleepers should have an
easier time coping with emotional ordeals. The study, published in the journal
Dreaming, did not bear out that hypothesis(假设): not only did nightmares not
stave off anxiety, but people who reported being distressed about their dreams
were even more likely to suffer from general anxiety than those who experienced
an upsetting event such as the divorce of their parents.
　　It is possible, however, that something is going wrong in the brains of
individuals who experience a lot of anxiety, so that normal emotional processing
during dreaming fails, says Tore Nielsen, director of the Dream and Nightmare
Laboratory at Sacred Heart Hospital in Montreal.
　　But Nielsen’s most recent results, published in the Journal of Sleep
Research last June, actually confirm the Australian findings. To find out how
REM sleep—during which most dreaming takes place—affects our emotions, the
Canadian researchers showed horrible images (such as death scenes) to a group of
healthy volunteers just before they went to bed. When the subjects viewed the
same pictures in the morning, those who had been deprived of REM sleep were less
emotionally affected than those deprived of other sleep phases. The same was
true for those who experienced fewer negative emotions in their dreams. In other
words, having nightmares did not make dreamers more relieved in waking life—just
the opposite.
　　What is not clear from these studies is whether nightmares play a causal
role in anxiety. Most researchers agree that if the dreams give rise to constant
anxiety and concern, it may be a good idea to talk to a mental health
professional about it.
【 注意：回答问题并解析！答案在第几段？怎么分析出来的？谢谢！】

　59. What do we learn about the study of Australian researchers?
　　A. The study indicates that those who suffered from the divorce of their parents are inclined to have more nightmares.
　　B. The study finds that troubled sleepers have an easier time coping with emotional sufferings.
　　C. The study proves that stressful experiences lead to nightmares.
　　D. The study discovers that nightmares may fuel anxiety rather than serving as an emotional release.
　

Answer 1

选D，答案在第二段。
第一段讲研究表明，噩梦更有可能会增加白天的焦虑感。
第二段讲，澳大利亚人员做了个测试。紧接着没有讲测试结果，而是话锋一转，提到我们普遍认为生活的压力导致噩梦的产生，但是如果噩梦可以缓解紧张感，那么难以入眠的人能够更容易应对感情上的苦恼。然后研究发现这个假设是不成立的（bear out为“证实”之意）：
结论（1）做恶梦不能让我们舒缓焦虑。（2）为梦想而苦恼的人比正在经历心烦之事的人（比如父母闹离婚）更加容易焦虑不安。

选项A，强加因果联系。并没有暗示因为父母闹离婚，所以晚上的噩梦变多。

选项B与第二段“ troubled sleepers should have an easier time coping with emotional ordeals.”可以说是同义转换，但是紧接着一句The study…… did not bear out that hypothesis(假设)，研究发现这个假设是不成立的。

选项C，研究证明生活的压力导致噩梦的产生。与选项A的观点类似，强加因果。

选项D，研究发现噩梦更有可能会带来焦虑（与第一段最后一句呼应），而没有起到舒缓的作用（与第二段的发现（1）呼应）。

本段难点就是长难句。

（打字打得好辛苦呀~~）