Dreams by British Council

英倫聚焦

Dreams 夢撰文及考題設計 British Council 英協教育中心Nicholas Gray 中譯陳怡君（中央社編譯）

圖歐新社

ave you ever wondered whether your dreams

between 1 and 2 hours dreaming in 10-30 minute

have any meaning? Can they tell you anything

periods of a stage of sleep called REM (Rapid Eye

about your life? How often do you dream? Why do

Movement) sleep. If you think you don’t dream,

you dream?

it’s much more likely that you weren’t in the REM

你有沒有想過夢境是否有任何意義？夢能告訴

stage of sleep when you woke up, and therefore

你有關自己目前生活嗎？你做夢的頻率為何？還

can’t remember; it is estimated that we forget over

有，你為什麼會做夢？

90% of our dreams. Second, it’s believed that pets

dream too. There’s no way to confirm this as we

The answers to some of these questions might

can’t ask our dogs or cats, but they have the same

surprise you. First, everyone dreams every night.

brain activity as humans do when they’re dreaming.

Most people have 4 to 7 dreams a night and spend

Third, although experts disagree about whether newborn babies dream or not, babies do spend half of their sleeping time in REM sleep, and given that they spend 18 hours a night sleeping, this is around 9 hours every night when they might be dreaming. 這些問題的部分答案可能會讓你感到驚訝。首先，每個人每晚都會做夢。大部分的人一個晚上會花一到二小時做四到七個夢，這些夢發生於「快速動眼期」（REM）睡眠階段，每個週期約持續10至30分鐘。如果你認為你沒有在做夢，比較有可能的情況是當你醒來時不是在REM 階段，因此不會記得。一般估計我們

若以我們每晚都會做夢的觀點來看，「為什麼會做夢？」成為一個眾人好奇的問題。（歐新社）

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會忘記超過百分之九十的夢境；第

本文由BRITISH COUNCIL–全球最值得信賴的英語教學機構–提供，網址：www.britishcouncil.org.tw

二，據信寵物也會做夢，即使我們無法由身邊的貓狗口中證實，但牠們在做夢時會表現出和人類大腦相同的腦波活動；第三，儘管科學家對於新生兒是否會做夢沒有一致看法，但小寶寶確實有一半的睡眠時間是處在REM階段。鑒於他們一晚須睡上 18小時，因此大約有9小時的時間是處於夢境中。

2 Dreams can be powerful and are often bizarre, and if we all have them every night, dreaming must have a purpose. One popular idea about why we dream is Crick and Mitchison’s (1983) ‘We dream to forget’ theory. The idea of this is that when we are dreaming, the brain is sifting through all the information we have taken in during the day – the sights, sounds, smells, ideas etc. – and helping us

據信寵物也會做夢。即使我們無法由動物口中證實，但牠們在做夢時會表現出和人類大腦相同的腦波活動。（歐新社）

to keep and organize what is important, and forget what is unimportant. The images we see in dreams

擾入睡，大腦會把新問題拿去和過去曾有的問題

are the product of this process. Another lesser

做比較，並幫助我們尋求解方。

known theory is that dreams might help us solve our

problems. The idea behind this is that when we go to

Another way of looking at dreams that has

sleep with a mental or emotional problem, our brain

generated a lot of interest is thinking about whether

compares that problem to problems we have had

dreams can tell us anything about our lives. A quick

before and helps us to solve it.

search online will lead to many ‘dream dictionary’

夢境可以極具張力，且情節通常很詭異，若

websites that tell us the meanings of some of our

以我們每晚都會做夢的觀點來看，夢的存在就

common and less common dreams: falling dreams

一定有其目的。「為什麼我們會做夢？」其中一

may mean that your anxious about some situation

個極受歡迎的觀點，是克理克（Crick）與米其森

in your life, being chased could mean that you’re

（Mitchison）於1983年提出的「為了遺忘而做夢」

running away from a problem, and f lying might

理論。這個理論的概念是：當我們做夢的時候，大

indicate that you are feeling powerful. All of this

腦會仔細檢查我們在白天所接收的訊息，像是影

should be taken with a pinch of salt, however;

像、聲音、氣味與想法等等，有助我們篩選、整理

although there are some common themes and some

出重要的資訊加以保存，而忘記不重要的訊息。我

of the interpretations might contain some truth,

們在夢中看到的影像，即是這項過程的產物。另一

there is little scientific evidence and websites often

個較少為人所知的理論，認為做夢或許有助我們

contradict each other and offer very different expla-

解決問題。意思是當我們懷著心理或情緒上的困

nations of the same dream.

CNA NEWSWORLD

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英倫聚焦

關於夢的探討，另一個引起眾

療他們的心理問題，他認為夢境

多興趣的方式，是探討我們能否

能告訴我們潛意識中的恐懼與

透過夢境來詮釋我們的生活。只

希望。然而有些人雖同意解析夢

要在網路快速檢索，就會出現許

境是微妙的，但並不贊同佛洛伊

多「夢境辭典」網站，煞有其事

德的看法；其他科學家認為，要

地解析那些常見或是少見的夢

理解夢境更好的方法，是去思考

境。例如，「下墜的夢」代表你對

夢境中的感受，縱使夢中的情境

生活中某些環節的焦慮感；「被

有時並不合理，但它仍能讓你體

追趕的夢」意味著現實生活中

會某些難捱但重要的感受。

你試圖逃避某些問題；「飛行的夢」則表示你感到自信滿滿。然

Another aspect of dreaming

而，這些說法也應並不宜全信，

that has generated interest is

因為即使一些常見的情節解析可能亦含有部分事實，但仍是少有科學根據，且針對相同的夢

精神分析之父佛洛伊德認為，夢是一把通往潛意識的鑰匙。（取自wikimedia commons）

dreams. Imagine this: you’re in a dream and it’s as vivid and as real

境，不同網站間的評析往往也彼此衝突，提供完全

as any waking experience, except there are no rules

不同的解釋。

and you can do anything you want. This is known as

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whet he r we ca n c ont rol ou r

lucid dreaming. Sometimes it happens by accident –

Sigmund Freud, known as the father of psycho-

you’re dreaming and you become aware that you’re

analysis, believed that dreams were the key to our

dreaming, but you continue dreaming. Other people

unconscious minds. He had his patients recall their

use various techniques to do this; it takes a lot of

dreams in detail and used this information to help

practice, but those who do it say that it leads to a

treat their psychological problems, believing that

greater understanding of our life experience, and it

dreams can tell us all about our unconscious fears

can be really enjoyable engaging in activities such

and wishes. Not everyone agrees with Freud, and

as flying, that they can’t do in waking life.

even those that do acknowledge that interpreting

另一個亦引起諸多興趣的面向，是探討我們是

dreams is tricky. However, other scientists say that

否能左右夢境的發展。試想：你正在夢境中，生

a better way of understanding dreams is to think

動清晰正如真實清醒般的經歷，沒有規範且你可

about the feeling in the dream; even if the dream

以隨心所欲，這就是所謂的清醒夢，有時候不經

doesn’t seem to make sense, it might be allowing

意地發生，你正在做夢而你亦意識到自己正在做

you to experience some difficult but important

夢，但你仍持續做夢。其他人會利用各種技巧來

feelings.

經歷清醒夢，這需要很多練習，但做到的人表示

人稱「精神分析之父」的西格蒙德•佛洛伊德，

可以經由清醒夢來讓我們更能去理解生活體驗，

認為夢是一把通往潛意識的鑰匙。他讓他的病患

且藉由從事現實中無法做到的事 ─ 例如飛翔

鉅細靡遺地回想夢境，並利用這些資訊來協助治

─來達到樂趣。

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本文由BRITISH COUNCIL–全球最值得信賴的英語教學機構–提供，網址：www.britishcouncil.org.tw

Key Words bizarre 怪異的 – very strange

about his or her past experiences, feelings, dreams etc. to ﬁnd out what is making him or her ill.

sift through something 仔細檢查 – to examine all the parts of something very carefully

unconscious 沒有意識的 – an unconscious thought or feeling is one that you do not know you have

to take something with a pinch of salt 半信半疑– to not completely believe something you are told

recall 想起 – to remember something (fact, event, feeling) from the past

interpretation 解讀 – an explanation or understanding of something.

tricky 難以理解或應付的 – diﬃcult to understand, do or deal with

contradict 牴觸 – to say the opposite of what someone else has said

vivid 色彩鮮明的 – brightly colored, or producing clear, detailed images in the mind.

psychoanalysis 精神分析 – a method of treating somebody with a mental problem, by asking

雅思考試粉絲團： www.facebook.com/ielts.testcentre

雅思考試模擬試題 IELTS questions

Match the headings i-vi to the paragraphs 1-5. There’s one extra heading. 1. Paragraph 1 _____

i Why we dream

2. Paragraph 2 _____

ii You can do anything you want

3. Paragraph 3 _____

iii Facts about dreams

4. Paragraph 4 _____

iv My dreams, your nightmares

5. Paragraph 5 _____

v Revealing our unconscious mind vi Popular dream interpretation

True / False / Not Given Say whether the following statements are true (T), false (F), or not given (NG). 6. People spend up to 2 hours dreaming every night. 7. We know for sure that babies dream a lot. 8. Dreams might help our brains to organize new information. 9. Different online dream dictionaries have the same ideas about what dreams mean. 10. Lucid dreaming is difficult to do.

Answers:1. iii CNA NEWSWORLD

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2. i

3. vi

4. v

5. ii

6. T

7. F

8. T

9. F

10. NG