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?
你会因为孤独而害怕与他人分享你的梦境么？如果你会做梦，别人可能也会。但是你做的梦是有规律的吗？
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.
这就是Calvin Kai-Ching Yu想要在《梦想》杂志十一月特刊中探索的新课题。他打算分析出做梦不仅仅是最普遍的现象，而且想知道什么样的梦境经常有规律地反复出现。
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翻看过去研究中有趣的发现，实施他自己的预设来测量做梦的普遍性（即做梦者的比率），做梦的反复性（做某个梦超过三次的人的比例），以及做梦的规律性（每年做某个梦至少数次的人的比例）。
First up: the broad basics of dreams.
首先：做梦的广泛基础
Dreams can transcend cultural differences. Past researchers have found that the most common dream themes were the same across different ethnic groups.
做梦可以跨越文化差异。过去的研究者一经发现，发生在不同种族的人身上的最普遍的梦境主题是相同的。
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.
最常见的梦的内容是什么呢？被追逐。牙齿脱落，车辆失控，飞翔，找不到厕所，这些情节占了最常发生的梦境内容的一半以上。
But dreams also have a darker side.
但做梦也有负面效果。
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援引一个先前的研究，就是把梦境主题与精神错乱做比较。精神病患者的共同特点是，产生类似于夸张的，被迫害的或者宗教方面的幻想，这些内容在梦境中也极为常见。实际上，像“被跟踪”和“成为名人”这些幻想，比起那些普遍的诸如掉牙和赤身裸体的梦境主题来说更加常见。
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?
然后，Yu在梦境的一个微小差异方面设计他的研究方式：规律性。什么样的内容使我们夜复一夜反复梦到的呢？
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.
当这个研究在香港开始实施，有600多人加入进来。他们拿到一张包含78个梦境主题的调查问卷。受访者回答他们是否从未梦到过这个东西，或者他们梦到过这个东西一次、两次、三次或者更多次，是每年数次梦到还是每月一次或者更频繁梦到。
So what dreams did participants revisit the most often?
什么梦是这些受访者们最常反复梦到的呢？
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."
老学校、老师、学习相关内容位列榜首。不仅80%以上的受访者曾做过关于这个主题的梦，而且50%以上的受访者称他们定期会梦到一次。超过半数的样本也显示受访者反复梦到“寻找某个地方”和“坠落”。
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.
有没有更惊奇的发现呢？“享受美食”位于最有规律梦到的主题第五位，排名比“飞翔”或者“被追赶”还要高。或许节食者们都在梦中追求平时望而却步的满汉全席。
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，这项研究发现，梦境的普遍性、反复性和规律性并不总是保持一致的。比如，68%的受访者梦到“返老还童”，但这个梦几乎从未反复过。
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，大部分人从未梦到过人身攻击，但那些曾梦到过被袭击的人会定期做这种梦。同样的，“牙齿脱落”在规律性梦境榜上排名之高甚于普遍性和反复性。
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.
回到幻想上来。虽然幻想在梦境中再常见不过，但绝大部分人不愿承认他们在清醒的时候也产生过错觉和幻想。Yu的研究发现，最富有规律性的20个梦境主题排行榜上，位列前6的内容都属于错觉。被爱妄想症，或者相信名人会爱上你的情况最为普遍。半数受访者曾梦到过与名人谈恋爱。在这种情形中，浪漫胜过了情欲，因为只有22%的人梦到过与名人发生性关系。