大学英语精读第三版（第三册）学习笔记（原文及全文翻译）——8B - Dreams — What Do They Mean?（梦意味着什么?）

Unit 8B - Dreams — What Do They Mean?

Dreams — What Do They Mean?

Gerald Mosback

Dreams have always held a universal fascination. Some primitive societies believe that the soul leaves the body and visits the scene of the dream. Generally, however, dreams are accepted to be illusions, having much in common with day dreams — the fantasies of our waking life. When dreaming, however, one tends to believe fully in the reality of the dream world, however inconsistent, illogical and odd it may be.

Although most dreams happen without apparent cause, dream activity maybe provoked by external influences. “Suffocation” dreams are connected with the breathing difficulties of a heavy cold, for instance. Internal disorders such as indigestion can cause vivid dreams, and dreams of racing fire-engines may be caused by the ringing of an alarm bell.

Experiments have been carried out to investigate the connection between intentionally inflicted pain and dreaming. For example, a sleeper pricked with a pin perhaps dreams of fighting a battle and receiving a severe sword wound. Although the dream is stimulated by the physical discomfort, the actual events of the dream depend on the associations of the discomfort in the mind of the sleeper.

A dreamer's eyes often move rapidly from side to side. Since people born blind do not dream visually and do not show this eye activity, it is thought that the dreamer may be scanning the scene represented in his dream. If a sleeper is roused every time his eyes begin to move faster, actually depriving him of his dreams, he will make more eye movements the following night. Thus, a certain amount of dreaming seems to be a human requirement.

People differ greatly in their claims to dreaming. Some say they dream every night, others only very occasionally. Individual differences probably exist, but some people immediately forget dreams and others have good recall.

Superstition and magical practices thrive on the supposed power of dreams to foretell the future. Instances of dreams which have later turned out to be predicting have often been recorded, some by men of the highest intellectual integrity. Although it is better to keep an open mind on the subject, it is true that the power of dreams to predict future events still remains unproved.

Everyone knows that a sleeping dog often behaves as though he were dreaming, but it is impossible to tell what his whines and twitches really mean. By analogy with human experience, however, it is reasonable to suppose that at least the higher animals are capable of dreaming.

Of the many theories of dreams, Freud's is probably the best known. According to Freud, we return in our dreams to the modes of thought characteristic of early childhood. Our thinking becomes concrete, pictorial and non-logic, and expresses ideas and wishes we are no longer conscious of. Dreams are absurd because our conscious mind, not willing to acknowledge our subconscious ideas, disguises them. Some of Freud's interpretations are extremely fanciful, but there is almost certainly some truth in his view that dreams express the subconscious mind.

参考译文——梦意味着什么?

梦意味着什么?

杰拉尔德·莫斯巴克

梦一向具有一种普遍的吸引力。有些原始部落认为做梦是灵魂离开了躯体去寻访梦中的场景。但是，梦普遍地被认为是幻觉，跟白日梦—我们醒着的时候产生的幻想—有很多相同之处。 然而，人在做梦时，不论梦境是多么的不连贯，多么的有悖逻辑，多么的怪诞，却往往全然信其真。

尽管大多数梦的产生没有明显的原因，梦幻活动却可能是受外部影响的刺激而产生。例如，“窒息”的梦与重感冒引起的呼吸困难有关。消化不良这类身体内部的不适可能会引起生动的梦境，而梦见疾驶的消防车则可能是由于闹钟的铃声而导致的。

人们进行了不少试验来研究故意施加的肉体之痛与做梦之间的关系。比如说，遭受针刺的睡眠者也许会梦见打仗并遭受严重创伤。尽管这个梦是因身体的不适感刺激产生的，实际的梦境却取决于这一不适在睡眠者大脑中引起的联想。

做梦人的眼睛常常左右快速移动。生下来双目失明的人不会做有视觉形象的梦，也没有这种眼睛的活动，因而人们认为做梦人或许是在扫描梦中显现的场景。要是睡眠者每次眼睛开始快速移动时便被叫醒，让他做不成梦，第二天夜晚他的眼睛就会移动得更甚。由此看来，一定数量的梦似乎是人类的一种需要。

人们关于做梦的说法各不相同。有人说自己每天晚上做梦，有人则偶尔做梦。也许的确存在着个别的差异，不过有的人是梦过即忘，而有些人则能清晰地记住自己的梦。

迷信和巫术由于据认为梦有预示未来的力量而兴盛。事后表明是预示未来的梦例常被记录下来，有些还是由才智非凡的人所记录。尽管对这个问题以不抱成见为宜，但无可置疑的是，梦能预示未来这一点迄今仍未得到证实。

大家知道，一条睡眠中的狗常常会有好似在做梦的行为，但无法确定它的呜呜作声和身体抽动到底意味着什么。不过，依照人类的体验来推测，有理由认为，至少高级动物会做梦。

在关于梦的许多理论中，弗洛伊德的理论也许是最著名的。根据弗洛伊德的观点，在梦中，我们回到幼年时期那种典型的思维模式，我们的思维变得具体、形象、非逻辑性，表达了我们不再意识到的想法和意愿。梦是荒唐的，因为我们有意识的大脑由于不愿正视潜意识的想法，而去掩饰它们。弗洛伊德的某些解释毫无根据，可他那有关梦表达潜意识的观点，几乎可以肯定是有一定道理的。

Key Words:

fascination     [.fæsineiʃən]  

n. 魔力，魅力

vivid ['vivid]   

adj. 生动的，鲜艳的，栩栩如生的

external  [ik'stə:nl]

adj. 外部的，外面的，外来的，表面的

scene      [si:n]

n. 场，景，情景

inconsistent   [.inkən'sistənt]

adj. 不一致的

apparent [ə'pærənt]     

adj. 明显的，表面上的

primitive ['primitiv]      

adj. 原始的

n. 原始人，文艺复兴前的艺

universal [.ju:ni'və:səl]   

adj. 普遍的，通用的，宇宙的，全体的，全世界的

internal   [in'tə:nəl]

adj. 国内的，内在的，身体内部的

intentionally   [in'tenʃənli]    

adv. 有意地，故意地

predict    [pri'dikt] 

v. 预知，预言，预报，预测

magical   ['mædʒikəl]   

adj. 魔术的，有魔力的，神奇的

scene      [si:n]

n. 场，景，情景

integrity  [in'tegriti]      

n. 诚实，正直，完整，完善

sword     [sɔ:d]     

n. 剑，刀

thrive      [θraiv]    

vi. 兴旺，繁荣，茁壮成长

investigate     [in'vestigeit]  

v. 调查，研究

intellectual     [.intil'ektʃuəl] 

n. 知识份子，凭理智做事者

adj. 智力的

occasionally   [ə'keiʒənəli]    

adv. 偶尔地

willing     ['wiliŋ]    

adj. 愿意的，心甘情愿的

pictorial  [pik'tɔ:riəl]     

adj. 绘画的 n. 画报

capable   ['keipəbl]

adj. 有能力的，足以胜任的，有 ... 倾向的

reasonable     ['ri:znəbl]

adj. 合理的，适度的，通情达理的

fanciful   ['fænsifəl]      

adj. 奇怪的，稀奇的，想像的

acknowledge [ək'nɔlidʒ]      

vt. 承认，公认，告知收到，表示感谢，注意到

absurd    [əb'sə:d] 

adj. 荒唐的

n. 荒唐

concrete ['kɔnkri:t]

adj. 具体的，实质性的，混凝土的

n. 水

extremely       [iks'tri:mli]     

adv. 极其，非常

conscious      ['kɔnʃəs] 

adj. 神志清醒的，意识到的，自觉的，有意的

参考资料：

1. 大学英语精读(第三版) 第三册:Unit8B Dreams — What Do They Mean?(1)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语
2. 大学英语精读(第三版) 第三册:Unit8B Dreams — What Do They Mean?(2)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语

大学英语精读(第三版) 第三册:Unit8B Dreams — What Do They Mean?(3)_大学教材听力 - 可可英语