為什么大腦要用噩夢(mèng)來(lái)嚇唬我們？
導讀：這篇簡(jiǎn)短+通俗易懂的科普小文，不僅適合對「夢(mèng)境」「睡眠」感興趣的心理知識愛(ài)好者，也適合對「噩夢(mèng)」感到好奇又有些怕怕的小朋友。家長(cháng)們可以考慮讀給孩子們聽(tīng)哦~
Getting a fright from a dream is very normal. But our brains don't have a secret plan to freak us out with nightmares.
被噩夢(mèng)嚇到實(shí)屬平常，但這并不是大腦蓄意為之。
In the olden days, many people believed dreams were a window to another world. People lived two inseparable lives: on__e in a waking world and the other in a dream world.
古時(shí)候，很多人認為夢(mèng)是通往另一個(gè)世界的窗口，人有兩個(gè)生命，一個(gè)活在清醒的世界，一個(gè)活在夢(mèng)里，二者密不可分。
They believed the dream world contained a mixture of the past and the future, gods and goddesses, and helped people find purpose with their lives. These dreams often revealed new people and ideas, which explains why some people found them scary. Others saw them as a sign or a prophesy from the gods.
古人相信，過(guò)去與未來(lái)在夢(mèng)中交匯，諸神與眾仙在夢(mèng)中齊聚，夢(mèng)幫人找到生命的意義。夢(mèng)中常常出現新人物、新念頭，因此讓一些人覺(jué)得可怕。也有人把夢(mèng)看作一種征兆，或是來(lái)自神明的預言。
When scientists first studied dreams, around 200 years ago, they thought dreams were a special type of story that brains told themselves. Scientists thought it was a special language where ideas and emotions were explained using symbols and signs. Different parts of the brain would talk with other parts in this dream state.
大約200年前，科學(xué)家開(kāi)始研究夢(mèng)境，當時(shí)他們認為夢(mèng)是大腦為自己編造的故事，是一種用符號和標記來(lái)解讀思想與情感的特殊語(yǔ)言。大腦的不同部位會(huì )在夢(mèng)境中互相交談。
If your house was damaged, for example, it was supposed to represent the dreamer, and the brain was trying to tell you that you or your ego had been damaged. Dr. Sigmund Freud, seen by many as the founder of psychoanalysis, wrote a very famous book about dreams called The Interpretation of Dreams in 1900.
比方說(shuō)，如果你夢(mèng)見(jiàn)你的房子受到毀壞，那么房子代表你自己，這個(gè)夢(mèng)其實(shí)是大腦想要告訴你，你本人或者你的自我（ego）受到了破壞。被公認為是精神分析鼻祖的弗洛伊德于1900年發(fā)表了一本關(guān)于夢(mèng)的傳世巨著(zhù)，名為《夢(mèng)的解析》。
About 100 years ago, people started to explain things more thoroughly using science and technology. This brought a different way of understanding why things happen. But it doesn't mean the way other people thought about dreams was necessarily wrong.
大約100年前，人們開(kāi)始運用科技來(lái)更深入地解釋事物，為了解一切事物的根本原因帶來(lái)了全新的視角，但這并不意味著(zhù)有關(guān)夢(mèng)的其他觀(guān)點(diǎn)就一定是錯的。
There are two main types of sleep, according to scientists, and dreams occur during a stage called REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement).
科學(xué)家發(fā)現，人的睡眠主要分為兩種，其中一種稱(chēng)為快速眼動(dòng)睡眠（REM sleep），夢(mèng)都發(fā)生在睡眠的這一階段。
REM sleep is when we are most likely to dream. It is called REM because people quickly flick their eyes back and forward while they sleep.
快速眼動(dòng)睡眠是最容易做夢(mèng)的時(shí)候，之所以稱(chēng)為快速眼動(dòng)，是因為人們在睡覺(jué)時(shí)會(huì )迅速地轉動(dòng)眼珠。
If you watch cats or dogs sleeping, you will sometimes see their eyes moving and their paws twitching. This indicates they are in REM sleep and probably dreaming. But we don't really know what cats and dogs dream about because they can't tell us.
如果你觀(guān)察過(guò)貓或狗的睡眠，有時(shí)你會(huì )看到它們的眼珠在轉，或者爪子在動(dòng)，這說(shuō)明它們處于快速眼動(dòng)睡眠狀態(tài)，沒(méi)準兒正在做夢(mèng)，但我們不知道它們夢(mèng)見(jiàn)的是什么，因為它們沒(méi)法告訴我們。
The other main type of sleep is non-REM sleep, called deep sleep or Slow Wave Sleep (SWS). In this type, people sleep very deeply. But they don't typically report dreaming. If you try to wake them, they're often slow and confused.
除了快速眼動(dòng)睡眠，另一種主要的睡眠形式是非快速眼動(dòng)睡眠（non-REM sleep），又稱(chēng)深度睡眠、慢波睡眠（Slow Wave Sleep）。在這一階段，人們睡得很沉，但是一般不會(huì )覺(jué)得自己做夢(mèng)。如果在這個(gè)階段喊醒他們，他們多半會(huì )行動(dòng)遲緩，表情茫然。
For the last 50 years, some scientists believed that dreaming was the way brains decide what to keep and what to throw away each day. In a sense, it's like cleaning your room: your brain decides what you'll need to know and tosses the unimportant stuff into the bin.
過(guò)去50年，有些科學(xué)家相信，做夢(mèng)是大腦每一天對其存儲內容做出取舍的方式。在某種意義上就像是打掃房間：大腦把你需要知道的信息都留下，把不關(guān)緊要的內容都扔掉。
Scientists think young people find it harder to separate the waking and dreaming worlds and often confuse the two.
科學(xué)家認為，年輕人更難分辨清醒的世界和夢(mèng)中的世界，常常將二者混為一談。
Filmmakers have taken this confusion to the screen again and again over the years. There are many movies about how dreams can scare and confuse us.
多年來(lái)，電影工作者們不斷地將這種混淆表現在大屏幕上，制作了很多關(guān)于我們被夢(mèng)境驚嚇、迷惑的電影。
As you can see, lots of people wonder why dreams are scary. The truth is that we don't know for sure.
不難看到，很多人都很好奇為什么夢(mèng)境很恐怖，然而事實(shí)是我們還不是很清楚。
What we do know is that all people dream, and all people think dreams can be weird, scary and puzzling at times. We share the ability to dream with all warm-blooded animals, so it likely has an important function in keeping us healthy.
我們現在知道的是，所有人都做夢(mèng)，而且所有人都認為有的夢(mèng)很奇怪，很恐怖，很費解。做夢(mèng)是所有溫血動(dòng)物共通的能力，人類(lèi)也不例外，因此，維持健康很可能就是做夢(mèng)的其中一個(gè)重要功能。
I suspect everyone tries to make sense of their dreams—even scientists. But we still can't see inside someone else's brain to see what they are dreaming about. And that's probably a good thing.
我想，每個(gè)人都想搞懂自己的夢(mèng)，連科學(xué)家也包括在內。但我們仍然無(wú)法看穿別人的大腦，看看他們都夢(mèng)見(jiàn)了什么。不過(guò)這恐怕是件好事！
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