夢之緣The Bond1 of Dreams

喜歡白日做夢者大有人在，或為理想，或為空想。理想者，隨之為理想而奮斗，使理想最終成為現實；空想者，完全脫離實際，想入非非，終為空想所害。白日做夢是人的一種主動行為，夢之由衷。然而夜間做夢卻是被動的，不管你情愿與否，它都會闖入個人世界中。這是夢最真實的內涵。可又有誰愿做這最真實內涵的夢？然則我卻是最喜歡做夜間夢的，或更準確地說，是喜歡做一切真實入睡狀態中的夢。

Those who indulge in daytime fantasies are legion， either for ideals or mere whims. The idealists strive for their dreams， eventually endeavoring their aspirations into realization while dreamers are completely detached from reality， plunge themselves into daydreams， bringing harm as reality denies. Daydreaming happens of one’s own accord while night dreaming is a passive state. Whether you are willing or not， it will intrude into your personal world. This is the true essence of dreams. Who would dare to dream so real？ Yet， I love dreams I have at night the most， or more specifically， I like all dreams I have in real slumber.

夢有礙睡眠這樣的論調由來已久，雖美國科學家早已通過研究2證明這純屬無稽之談。就我個人的感受看，夢具有多種增益之功。譬如，夢可以幫助解決久而未決的難題；夢可以幫助憶起久已淡忘但又不該忘記的友情。更重要的是，夢是自我真實的反映。心理學上就有“日有所思夜有所夢”，現實生活中小氣的人夢里決不會大方；白日里對某位異性垂慕，夢中就敢越雷池半步3。敢承認夢中的真實，就等于大膽地認識了自己。時刻想著貪占別人便宜的人能做什么樣的夢？時刻想著貪色的人又能做什么樣的夢？敢不敢向人訴說那些“荒誕”的夢境？弗洛伊德4能對夢作出解析，看來自有夢真實的道理。時時常用夢“鏡”照，真理謬誤能分清。

The view had existed long that dreaming hinders people from having quality sleep even though it was proved by American scientists through research to be groundless. As far as I see， dreams possess benefits， and my personal experience c6CD0NOkbb3HUAz/r2NwvjA==an attest to these. For instance， dreaming can help contend with long-standing problems and have a restored recollection of long forgotten but should-not-be-forgotten friendships. More importantly， a dream is a reflection of one’s true self. Psychology states that “The day has thinks， and the night has a dream.” Hence， a narrow minded one will never be open-minded in a dream; a crush on someone in the day dares to cross of the line of shame in the dream. Venturing to admit the truthfulness of one’s dream amounts to embracing the true perception of oneself. What kind of dreams would a greedy heart create？ What kind of dream awaits the lewd mind？ Does one dare to tell others those “absurd” dreams？ Freud was able to analyze the dream， which shows the justification of dreaming. With a frequent look at yourself in a dream “mirror”， you can tell true from false clearer.

夢并不都是理智的，有時噩夢不請自來。或學老人圓夢：念叨一些咒語；或學宋定伯捉鬼5：吐些唾沫6，“驅妖鎮邪”，以此自我安慰。但我從未有因夜間噩夢而在白日倒霉的事。夢是人的精神在游蕩。那么，人可有魂靈？祥林嫂7曾發出過這樣的靈魂拷問。我來揚州工作數月余，雖熱愛新的環境，但“魂靈”卻丟在了故土，夢中從未有過揚州的蹤跡。歸來喲，我的魂靈！

Dreams are not always wise， and sometimes nightmares come with surprise. Some learn from old people， muttering spells to calm themselves down， while others learn from Song Dingbo in the ancient legends catching devils by spitting out some saliva to drive away evils seeking solace in this self-assurance. But my days， untouched by the night’s dismay， have kept nightmares at bay. Dreams enable our spirits to wander， beguiling the query of the soul’s existence. So， does a man have a soul？ That is also the question once raised by Mrs. Xianglin， a character in the well-known writer Lu Xun’s novel. For months I have been working in Yangzhou， though I cherish this new environment， my “soul” is still left behind in my hometown. I’ve never seen any trace of Yangzhou in my dreams. Come back， my soul！

“夢”有褒貶二義，既有“夢想成真”，也有“夢幻泡影”，或許因為語言學上有“劣義驅逐良義定律”8？有一首英語歌曲，其中一段是：Row， row， row， row the boat down the stream， Merrily， merrily， merrily， Life is but a dream. 大意是：劃呀劃，劃著小船順流而下；快活，快活，真快活，生活就是一場夢。初聞某中學師生唱成“Life is interesting.（生活真有趣。）”時，便感覺此慮多余。似乎此夢是“南柯一夢”“黃粱美夢”之夢。上文昭昭，下文只能是：生活就是五彩的夢。“夢”就是這么一個褒貶難辨、令人矛盾的字，就像對“天堂”一詞一樣，或趨之若鶩，或避之唯恐不及。

“Dreams” have both negative and positive sides， either coming true or to nothing. Why do people always mention its illusory fallacy？ Perhaps due to linguistic tendencies， the “law of inferiority driving out good meaning” applies in this case. An English song goes as Row， row， row， row the boat down the stream， Merrily， merrily， merrily， Life is but a dream. When I first heard that， some middle school teachers and students changed the lyrics to “life is interesting”， I felt my concern was superfluous. It appears that this dream is similar to “an empty dream” or “a dream of golden millet”. The reality is that， as previously stated， life is a colorful dream. In fact， the above text clearly shows that the following can only be： life is a colorful dream. “Dream” is such an ambiguous and contradictory word. It’s like the word “heaven”， which people either aspire to or dread.

夢是潛意識的“我”，更是現實中我的朋友。正是有了夢，生活才不會蒼白，也正是有了夢，才一步步走出一個踏實的人生。我愛做夢，夢為我鑒，夢是我幕后的英雄。

The dream is my subconscious “self”， who in turn is my friend. Life is not empty due to dreams being so bright; they help to bring forth a future so light. I love dreaming， and my dreams reflect my inner self. Dreams are the unseen hero that brings forth my true self at every stage of life.

1“緣”本來指的是緣由，雖然可以用reason、cause之類的表示原因的詞語表示，但不夠鮮明和深入內涵，故選用bond，表明做夢人好像與夢有了約定，進一步表明做夢人對于做夢的癡迷。 2美國科學家研究指做夢的時間不會超過睡眠時間的19%，做夢次數一般在3—4次，所以安睡時間并不少。因此，不是做夢影響睡眠質量，而是身體或精神的原因影響了睡眠質量，而人們認為醒來后還記得夢境，是頻繁做夢所致。該結論出自美國睡眠專家威廉·德門特于1960年在《科學》雜志上發表的文章。

3“不敢越雷池半步”，比喻不敢超越一定的范圍和界限。 4奧地利精神病醫師、心理學家、精神分析學派創始人。1899年出版《夢的解析》，被認為是精神分析心理學的正式形成。

5《宋定伯捉鬼》是東晉文人干寶創作的一篇小說，講述的是宋定伯和一只鬼斗智斗勇的故事，宋定伯最終用人類的智能和勇氣征服了鬼。 6宋定伯在看到鬼后不但不害怕，還騙了鬼，說自己是鬼。后來當他以請教的口吻問鬼怕什么時，鬼如實回答怕人的口水。當鬼發現他渡河有聲音時他又騙了鬼，最后他使鬼化為一羊，并把鬼賣了，還用口水吐鬼，不讓它再變回來。 7在魯迅的小說《祝福》中，祥林嫂害怕所謂的輪回，對自己的來生產生恐懼，同時她又希望沒有輪回之說，她看到“我”是一個讀書人，所以才問我“這世上究竟有沒有靈魂”，希望“我”能夠給她解除內心的煩惱。 8語言學家稱之為“語義演變的格雷欣定律”（Greshams law of semantic change），指的是在詞語意義演變的過程中，有些情況下意義原本積極或者中性的詞語出現了消極的意義，特別是當令人不快或者容易引起尷尬的誤解出現后，人們趨向于更多使用該詞的消極義，使原有的積極或者中性意義完全或者部分退出。