夢裏花落知多少——夢境主題跨越文化藩籬

Afraid to share your dreams with others because you think you are alone? Chances are, if you have dreamed it, others have too. But do you have these dreams regularly?

你會因爲孤獨而害怕與他人分享你的夢境麼？如果你會做夢，別人可能也會。但是你做的夢是有規律的嗎？

This is what Calvin Kai-Ching Yu wanted to explore in a new study published in the November issue of Dreaming. He set out to analyze not only what dreams are most common, but what dreams recur regularly.

這就是Calvin Kai-Ching Yu想要在《夢想》雜誌十一月特刊中探索的新課題。他打算分析出做夢不僅僅是最普遍的現象，而且想知道什麼樣的夢境經常有規律地反覆出現。

Yu reviews interesting findings from past studies and performs his own study to measure dream prevalence (what percent of people have ever had a dream), dream recurrence (what percent have had the dream more than three times in their life), and dream regularity (what percent have had the dream at least several times a year).

Yu翻看過去研究中有趣的發現，實施他自己的預設來測量做夢的普遍性（即做夢者的比率），做夢的反覆性（做某個夢超過三次的人的比例），以及做夢的規律性（每年做某個夢至少數次的人的比例）。

First up: the broad basics of dreams.
首先：做夢的廣泛基礎

Dreams can transcend cultural differences. Past researchers have found that the most common dream themes were the same across different ethnic groups.

做夢可以跨越文化差異。過去的研究者一經發現，發生在不同種族的人身上的最普遍的夢境主題是相同的。

The most common? Being chased. Teeth falling out, losing control of a vehicle, flying and not being able to find a toilet make up about half of the most commonly recurring dream themes.

最常見的夢的內容是什麼呢？被追逐。牙齒脫落，車輛失控，飛翔，找不到廁所，這些情節佔了最常發生的夢境內容的一半以上。

But dreams also have a darker side.
但做夢也有負面效果。

Yu cites a prior study that compared dream themes to psychosis. Traits common in psychotic and schizophrenic patients, such as delusions of grandiosity, persecution and religion, are very common in dreams. In fact, delusions such as "being tracked" and "becoming a celebrity" occurred more prevalently than common dream motifs such as "teeth falling out" and the classic "being nude."

Yu援引一個先前的研究，就是把夢境主題與精神錯亂做比較。精神病患者的共同特點是，產生類似於誇張的，被迫害的或者宗教方面的幻想，這些內容在夢境中也極爲常見。實際上，像“被跟蹤”和“成爲名人”這些幻想，比起那些普遍的諸如掉牙和赤身裸體的夢境主題來說更加常見。

Next, Yu designed his own study on a slightly different aspect of dreams: regularity. What type of dreams do we repeatedly have night after night?

然後，Yu在夢境的一個微小差異方面設計他的研究方式：規律性。什麼樣的內容使我們夜復一夜反覆夢到的呢？

Over 600 participants joined the study, conducted in Hong Kong. They were given a questionnaire which included 78 dream themes. Respondents then answered if they had never dreamed of the subject or if they had dreamed of it only once or twice, three times or more, several times a year or once a month or more.

當這個研究在香港開始實施，有600多人加入進來。他們拿到一張包含78個夢境主題的調查問卷。受訪者回答他們是否從未夢到過這個東西，或者他們夢到過這個東西一次、兩次、三次或者更多次，是每年數次夢到還是每月一次或者更頻繁夢到。

So what dreams did participants revisit the most often?
什麼夢是這些受訪者們最常反覆夢到的呢？

The age old school/teacher/studying trope ranked number one. Not only had over 80 percent ever had a dream on that subject, but also over 50 percent said they dreamed about it regularly. Over half of the sample also repeatedly dreamed of "searching for a certain place" and "falling."

老學校、老師、學習相關內容位列榜首。不僅80%以上的受訪者曾做過關於這個主題的夢，而且50%以上的受訪者稱他們定期會夢到一次。超過半數的樣本也顯示受訪者反覆夢到“尋找某個地方”和“墜落”。
Some of the more surprising findings? "Eating delicious foods" was the fifth most regularly dreamed theme, higher ranked than flying or being chased. Perhaps dieters are seeking out their shunned treats in regular nightly escapes.

有沒有更驚奇的發現呢？“享受美食”位於最有規律夢到的主題第五位，排名比“飛翔”或者“被追趕”還要高。或許節食者們都在夢中追求平時望而卻步的滿漢全席。

Most interestingly, the study found that dream prevalence, recurrence and regularity do not always correspond. For example, 68 percent of respondents dreamed "of being a child again," but hardly any have that dream repeatedly.

最有趣的是，這項研究發現，夢境的普遍性、反覆性和規律性並不總是保持一致的。比如，68%的受訪者夢到“返老還童”，但這個夢幾乎從未反覆過。

On the contrary, most had never dreamed of being physically attacked, but those who had were regularly dreaming of it. Likewise, "teeth falling out" rated significantly higher on regularity than on prevalence or recurrence. Ouch.

恰恰相反的是，大部分人從未夢到過人身攻擊，但那些曾夢到過被襲擊的人會定期做這種夢。同樣的，“牙齒脫落”在規律性夢境榜上排名之高甚於普遍性和反覆性。

Back to the delusions. While most people wouldn't want to admit experiencing delusions in their waking lives, delusions in dreams were very common. Yu's study found six of the top 20 regular dream themes were delusions. Erotomania, or believing a famous person is in love with you, was one of the most common. One half of participants had dreamt of having a love affair with a celebrity. Romance trumps sex here, because only 22 percent dreamed of having a sexual relationship with a celebrity.

回到幻想上來。雖然幻想在夢境中再常見不過，但絕大部分人不願承認他們在清醒的時候也產生過錯覺和幻想。Yu的研究發現，最富有規律性的20個夢境主題排行榜上，位列前6的內容都屬於錯覺。被愛妄想症，或者相信名人會愛上你的情況最爲普遍。半數受訪者曾夢到過與名人談戀愛。在這種情形中，浪漫勝過了情慾，因爲只有22%的人夢到過與名人發生性關係。