梦，不都是平等的

By+Larry+Schwartz

There arent many things that fascinate， frighten， sadden， intrigue， confuse or enlighten us more than dreams.1 While science seems stumped about dreams， artists are inspired， creating countless books， movies， poems， paintings， dances and plays about dreams in an effort to understand more about this mysterious unconscious existence we enter when we sleep.2

More than 100 years after Freud wrote The Interpretation of Dreams， we still arent exactly sure what a dream really is.3 Science tells us that our sensory abilities （like vision， hearing， etc.） reside in various areas of the neocortex of our brains， and that during sleep these various areas fire randomly， producing illusions that seem disjointed and enigmatic.4 （In other words， dream-like.） Freud theorized that dreams were manifestations of our deepest， sometimes darkest desires.5 Still others have posited that dreams are sort of virtual simulations in which we rehearse threatening situations in case they happen to us in real life （and in fact some dream studies have shown that 70 percent of dreams involve threats of some kind）.6 Dreams often draw on our memories， but because longterm memory is associated with another part of the brain， the hippocampus， and the neocortex and the hippocampus dont communicate well during sleep， our memory dreams are often fragmented and rarely follow a sensible plot line.7 We also have different kinds of dreams during different stages of sleep. Dreams during early REM sleep （a lighter phase of sleep） tend to incorporate recent memories from our waking hours.8 Dreams during late-night REM sleep tend toward the strange and fragmented. Non-REM sleep （a deeper sleep） tends to produce shorter but more straightforward9 dreams.

In the end， we still dont know why any of this is so， although there is some speculation that dreams help integrate new memories with past experiences.10 There is also evidence that the free association of dreams helps the brain to be more creative and solve problems more efficiently.

Amerisleep， an online mattress11 company， recently did a survey of more than 2，000 men and women across America to see how their dreams compared. While the results arent strictly scientific， they paint an interesting picture of the shadow world we spend a third of our lives traveling through.12

1. The subjects of recurring13 dreams

Dreams may start recurring at any point in our lives， but the survey participants most commonly reported （39 percent） that they began having recurring dreams in childhood， while 21 percent said adolescence， and 15 percent said as adults. A full 25 percent said they had never had a recurring dream.

It is rare to find a single person who has not had a dream about falling. Indeed， over 53 percent of the survey participants report recurring dreams about falling. Not far behind are recurring dreams about being chased （almost 51 percent）. Here are some of the other most reported recurring dreams（rounded up to14 the nearest percent）：

* Being back in school （38 percent）

* Being unprepared for a test or event （34 percent）

* Flying （33 percent）

* Encountering15 someone who has died in real life （31 percent）

* Death of yourself or a loved one （30 percent）

* Having your teeth fall out （27 percent）

* Being lost （27 percent）

* Running but getting nowhere， or running in slow motion （26 percent）16

* Being late or missing a plane， train or bus （26 percent）

* Being paralyzed17 or unable to speak （24 percent）

* Seeing snakes， spiders or other creatures （17 percent）

* Intruders18 breaking into your house （16 percent）

2. Our jobs may dictate19 our dreams

People in certain professions seem more prone to20 having certain recurring dreams. According to the survey， 74 percent of people in the telecommunications21 business have had recurring dreams about falling. 46 percent of those in public safety （police， fire， paramedic22， security） fly in their dreams. 55 percent of people who work in journalism23， publishing or writing， report having recurring dreams about being back in school. 26 percent of retired people find themselves naked in public. And early childhood education professionals often find themselves unable to find a toilet （25 percent）.

3. The kinds of dreams we have

About 70 percent of participants say that their dreams are either“realistic” or “somewhat realistic.” The remainder report that their dreams tend to be “somewhat bizarre” or “very bizarre.”24

4. Dream recall25

Only 19 percent of survey participants say they remember their dreams every night. 42 percent say at least once a week； 38 percent say they rarely recall their dreams and 1 percent say they never recall their dreams.

5. Men vs. women

Women are the winners in the dream-recall sweepstakes26： 24 percent of female participants remember their dreams almost every night， while 43 percent remember them at least once a week. Only 14 percent of the guys can recall their dreams nightly， although 41 percent can recall them at least once a week. 32 percent of women rarely or never recall their dreams， vs. 46 percent of men. （This lines up with27 a study by the Association of Psychological Science， which concluded that women have better short-term memory than men.）

6. What men and women dream about most？

The survey drew a clear line in the types of recurring dreams men and women have.28 Women tend to have more stressful dreams， whereas men tend to report more positive ones. 54 percent of women have recurring dreams about being chased， while only 48 percent of men have these dreams. 32 percent of women find their teeth falling out in dreams， vs. 24 percent of men. 24 percent of women discover their partners are cheating on29 them， against only 12 percent of men. Spiders， snakes and other creepy crawlers recur in 21% of womens dreams vs. 13 percent of mens.30

Conversely31， 36 percent of men report flying dreams， against only 29% of women. 16 percent of men meet beautiful strangers vs. 11 percent of women. 19 percent of men strike it rich32 against only 12 percent of women.

1. intrigue： 激起……的兴趣；enlighten： 启发，启蒙。

2. 尽管科学还未能解开梦的谜题，但艺术家们却受到梦的启发，创作了无数关于梦的书籍、电影、诗歌、绘画、舞蹈和戏剧，试图更深入地了解人们入睡时进入的这种神秘的无意识状态。stump：把……难住。

3. 在弗洛伊德写出了《梦的解析》100多年后，我们仍然无法确定梦究竟是什么。

4. 科学告诉我們，人类的感官能力（如视觉、听觉等）存在于大脑皮层的不同区域。当人睡觉的时候，这些不同区域的细胞开始活跃起来，从而产生彼此脱节而又神秘的幻觉。sensory： 感官的；neocortex： 大脑皮层；randomly： 任意地，随机地；disjointed： 杂乱的；enigmatic：谜一般的，难以捉摸的。

5. theorize： 建立理论或学说；manifestation： 表现，显示。

6. 还有人则假设梦是一种虚幻的模拟，人在梦里预演各种威胁性的场景，以免其在现实生活中真的发生（事实上，一些关于梦的研究表明，70%的梦均涉及某种威胁）。posit： 假设；virtual： 虚拟的；simulation： 模拟；rehearse： 排练，演练。

7. 梦经常“借用”到我们的回忆，但由于长期记忆与大脑的另一个部分——海马体相关，而睡眠期间大脑皮层和海马体不能够很好地交流，所以回忆性的梦经常是支离破碎的，极少会沿着合理的情节发展。hippocampus： 海马体；fragmented： 分裂的，片断的。

8. REM sleep： 快速眼动睡眠（rapid eye movement sleep）；incorporate：包含，吸收。

9. straightforward： 直白的，浅显的。

10. speculation： 推测；integrate： 使合并。

11. mattress： 床垫。

12. 尽管调查结果并非那么科学严谨，却为研究占去每个人一生1/3时间的这个“虚幻世界”提供了一个有趣的视角。shadow： 虚幻的事物。

13. recurring： 循环的，反复发生的。

14. round up to： 把数字调高为整数。

15. encounter： 遇到。

16. 漫无目的地奔跑，或慢动作地奔跑（26%）。

17. paralyzed： 瘫痪的。

18. intruder： 入侵者。

19. dictate： 主宰，主导。

20. prone to： 易于……，有……的倾向。

21. telecommunication： 电信。

22. paramedic： 护理人员。

23. journalism： 新闻工作。

24. （the） remainder： 其他人；bizarre： 奇异的，怪异的。

25. recall： 记忆力，记性。

26. sweepstake： 赌金独得，此处指“胜者”。

27. line up with： 与……对齐，与……相符。

28. 调查结果显示，男性和女性反复出现的的类型不尽相同。draw a line： 划界限。

29. cheat on： 背叛，对……不忠。

30. creepy： 令人毛骨悚然的，可怕的；crawler： 爬行动物。

31. conversely： 相反地。

32. strike it rich： 走运。