I wanted my two youngest sons, who live out of state, to say their goodbyes. As if we could negotiate with death, with fate. It seems to me that no matter what the circumstances are, we always think we have more time. We fool ourselves to justify our behavior. We can't really live every day as if it were our last. It would be exhausting. But we could be able to conduct ourselves in a reasonable manner if we thought everyone we loved wouldn't be around for another sunrise.

　We do love our pets, don't we? They become an integral necessary part of the family. So I can't help but cry.

　I still look for her in my home office, where she slept. I still expect her to come sit at my feet or to scramble to the front door when one of the children stops by. And I miss my routine of the walks, the feeding and the bathing.

　I miss her presence and the sense of being shadowed around the house; but more than anything I miss the knowledge that she loved me so unconditionally and without question.

24. How was the author's life with her dog?

A. Joyful. B. Upsetting.

C. Surprising. D. Troublesome.

25. How did the author feel when her dog died?

A. She was calm because of the preparations for the day.

B. She was heart-broken as if she had lost a family member.

C. She was happy that the dog was now free from pain.

D. She was at a loss about how to deal with death.

26. What does the author think about living every day as the last day?

A. It is meaningless and exhausting.

B. It makes people justify their behavior.

C. It makes people accept death peacefully.

D. It helps people value their loved ones.

27. The author wrote this article mainly to ______.

A. express how much it hurt to lose her dog

B. encourage readers to keep a pet

C. persuade people to accept what happens in life

D. show what she got from raising a dog

　　C

　　If you have ever talked about your dreams with your friends, you may have noticed something interesting. Some of your friends rarely remember their dreams, while others can describe their dreams very clearly. Why do people remember dreams differently?

　　The answer is simple: they are two different types of dreamers -- low-recall dreamers and high-recall dreamers.

　　According to researchers at the Lyon Neroscience Research Center in France, high-recall dreamers reported they remembered their dreams almost every day while low-recall dreamers said they only remembered their dreams once or twice a month, reported Live Science.

　　Perrine Ruby, a lead scientist at the research center in Lyon, studied 41 people (21 high-recall dreamers and 20 low-recall dreamers) and recorded their brain activity.

She found that a part of the brain called the temporo-parietal junction (前颞顶叶交界处) was more active in high-recall dreamers. This was true both when they were sleeping and awake.