Dream is a story that a person "watches" or even takes part in during sleep. Dream events are imaginary, but they are related to real experiences and needs in the dreamer's life. They seem real while they are taking place. Some dreams are pleasant, others are annoying, and still others are frightening. Everyone dreams, but some persons never recall dreaming. Others remember only a little about a dream they had just before awakening and nothing about earlier dreams. No one recalls all his dreams. Dreams involve little logical thought. In most dreams, the dreamer cannot control what happens to him. The story may be confusing, and things happen that would not happen in real life. People see in most dreams, but they may also hear, smell, touch, and taste in their dreams. Most dreams occur in color, but persons who have been blind since birth do not see at all in dreams. Dreams are a product of the sleeper's mind. They include events and feelings that he has experienced. Most dreams are related to events of the day before the dream and strong wishes of the dreamer. Many minor incidents of the hours before sleep appear in dreams. Few events more than two days old turn up. Deep wishes or fears—especially those held since childhood—often appear in dreams, and many dreams fulfill such wishes. Events in the sleeper's surrounding—a loud noise, for example, may become part of a dream, but they do not cause dreams. Some dreams involve deep feelings that a person may not realize he has. Psychiatrists (精神病医生) often use material from a patient's dreams to help the person understand himself better. Dreaming may help maintain good learning ability, memory, and emotional adjustment. People who get plenty of sleep—but are awakened each time they begin to dream—become anxious and restless.

Cheating is nothing new. But today, educators and administrators are finding that instances of academic dishonesty on the part of students have become more frequent—and are less likely to be punished than in the past. Cheating appears to have gained acceptance among good and poor students alike. Why is student cheating on the rise? No one really knows. Some blame the trend on a general loosening of moral values among today's youth. Others have attributed increased cheating to the fact that today's youth are far more pragmatic (实用主义的) than their idealistic predecessors. Whereas in the late sixties and early seventies, students were filled with visions about transforming the world, today's students feel great pressure to conform (顺从) and succeed. In interviews with students at high schools and colleges around the country, both young men and women said that cheating had become easy. Some suggested they did it out of spite (恶意) for teachers they did not respect. Others looked at it as a game. Only if they were caught, some said, would they feel guilty. "People are competitive," said a second-year college student named Anna, from Chicago. There's an underlying fear. If you don't do well, your life is going to be ruined. The pressure is not only from parents and friends but also from yourself. To achieve. To succeed. It's almost as though we have to outdo other people to achieve our own goals. Edward Wynne, editor of a magazine blames the rise in academic dishonesty on the schools. He claims that administrators and teachers have been too hesitant to take action. Dwight Huber, chairman of the English department at Amarillo sees the matter differently, blaming the rise in cheating on the way students are evaluated. "I would cheat if I felt I was being cheated," Mr. Huber said. He feels that as long as teachers give short-answer tests rather than essay questions and rate students by the number of facts they can memorize rather than by how well they can synthesize information, students will try to beat the system. "The concept of cheating is based on the false assumption that the system is legitimate and there is something wrong with the individual who's doing it." He said "That's too easy an answer. We've got to start looking at the system."

Before you get the idea that economics is relevant only for politics or business, we should mention that economics focuses on all the choices people make and the personal and social consequences of these choices. Some choices involve money, but many do not Even seemingly non-economic decisions fall within the realm of economics. Most decisions involve attempts to balance costs against benefits, which may or may not be measurable with money. For example, many costs and benefits are primarily psychological. Will you continue college? Potential benefits include higher lifetime income, the joy of learning, or good times and personal contacts; costs include expense for tuition and outlay for books, the drudgery (单调沉闷的工作) of sitting through dull classes, and income you could be making right now. What will be your major area of study? Will you only take classes in lucrative (可赚钱的) fields, or will you weigh enjoyment of the subject matter against potential monetary rewards? Where will you live and work? Should you marry? If so, when? To whom? Marriage involves both financial and psychological costs and benefits. Should you have children? If so, how many? How will you spend your limited income? Your decisions about these and other economic choices will shape your life. Economics is important in everyday life, but you may know little about it as a field of study. You have probably heard words such as prices, costs, profit, supply and demand, inflation, unemployment, and socialism mentioned for much of your life. Right now, you may be skeptical about the models, graphs, and theories that economists use to interpret how the world works. These concepts and many more are woven into the fabric of economics. We believe that when you finish this book you will join us in the view that the economic way of thinking offers valuable insights into our everyday interaction with one another— producing, consuming, voting, and striving for the good life.

The fact that blind people can "see" things using other parts of their bodies apart from their eyes may help us to understand our feelings about color. If they can sense color differences then perhaps we too, are affected by color unconsciously. Manufacturers have discovered by trial and error that sugar sells badly in green wrappings, that blue foods are considered unpleasant, and the cosmetics (化妆品) should never be packaged in brown. These discoveries have grown into a whole discipline of color psychology that now finds application in everything from fashion to interior decoration. Some of our preferences are clearly psychological. Dark blue is the color of the night sky and therefore associated with passivity and calm, while yellow is a day color with associations of energy and excitement. For primitive man, activity during the day meant hunting and attacking, while he soon saw as red, the color of blood and rage and the heat that came with effort. And green is associated with passive defense and self-preservation. Experiments have shown that colors, partly because of their physiological associations, also have a direct psychological effect. People exposed to bright red show an increase in heartbeat, and blood pressure. Red is exciting. Similar exposure to pure blue has exactly the opposite effect. It is a calming color. Because of its exciting connotations (内涵), red was chosen as the signal for danger, but closer analysis shows that a vivid yellow can produce a more basic state of alertness and alarm, so fire engines and ambulances in some advanced communities are now rushing around in bright yellow colors that stop the traffic dead.

Despite the fact that advertisers spend $44 billion on the major television networks and cable TV advertising, a new study shows that consumers consider print ads more entertaining and less offensive than television commercials. The study, conducted by Video Storyboard Tests in New York, showed that more consumers considered print ads "artistic" and "enjoyable." The 2,000 consumers surveyed blasted TV ads compared to their print counterparts: 34 percent of respondents thought print ads were artistic, compared with 15 percent for television ads; 35 percent thought print ads were enjoyable, compared to 13 percent for television; and, most surprising, 33 percent of consumers felt print ads were entertaining, compared to only 18 percent for TV ads. Much of the artistic impact and positive reaction to print ads comes from the illustrations used. The illustration is primary in creating the mood for a print ad, which ultimately affects consumers' feelings about the image of a brand. While the study's sponsors were somewhat surprised by the survey results, some industry executives felt that print ads were finally getting the credit they deserve. Richard Kirshenbaum, chair and chief creative officer of Kirshenbaum, Bond & Partners, a New York advertising and public relations firm, is one such believer. In fact, Kirshenbaum says that when he looks to hire a new person for a creative position in his agency, "I always look at the print book first because I think it is harder to come up with a great idea on a single piece of paper." But impressed as consumers say they are by the aesthetics (美学) and style of print ads, television executives (as you might expect) dismiss the findings. One network official said, "Nothing will replace the reach and magnitude of an elaborately produced television spot. TV ads get talked about. Print ads don't."