December 6, 1987

LEAD: AFTER a week of tough talk, conciliatory platitudes and other pre-summit maneuvers, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail S. Gorbachev now stand on the verge of what could be one of the most serious and constructive dialogues that Soviet and American leaders have had in many years.

LEAD: SOON after successful open-heart surgery, a middle-aged woman hemorrhages and doctors are unable to stop it.

LEAD: The New York of two very different periods will live again on the walls of the PaineWebber art gallery, at 1285 Avenue of the Americas, beginning Thursday when it opens an exhibit of photographs taken during the first decades of the century by the the architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White and during the Depression by photographers working for the Works Progress Administration.

LEAD: ISRAELI writer Dahn Ben-Amotz was standing on his second-floor balcony recently, repairing cracks in his stone wall with plaster. As he worked away, an Israeli couple came walking down the street. The Israeli man looked up at Mr. Ben-Amotz and shouted at him in Hebrew, ''Hey Ahmed, what time is it?

LEAD: In an erratic, emotional game, Miami defeated South Carolina tonight to go 11-0 and set the stage for a game that will decide the national championship.