大學英語基礎教程(2)：學生用書(第三版)（簡體書）

"When I placed my head upon my pillow, Idid not sleep， nor could I be said to think... I saw-with shut eyes, but acture mental vision-I saw apale student kneeling beside the thing he had puttogether. I saw the hideous phantasm of a manstretched out,and then,on the working of somepowerful engine, show signs of life， and withan uneasy, half-vital motion. Frightful must it be;for supremely frightful would be the effect of anyhuman endeavor to mock the stupendous Creatorof the world.
"The idea so possessed my mind that a thrillof fear ran through me, and I wished to exchangethe ghastly image of my fancy for the realitiesaround... I could not so easily get rid of my hideousphanto;still it haunted me. I must try to think ofsomething else. I recurred to my ghost story-mytiresome,unlucky ghost story! O!If I could only contrive one which would frighten my readeras I myself had been frightened that night!
"I have found it! What terrified me will terrify others;and I need only describe thewhich had haunted me my midnight pillow. On the morrow I announced that I hadthought of a story. I began that day with the words,It was on a dreary night of November,making only a transcript of the grim terrors of my waking dream."
To appreciate the value of dreams， you have to understand what happens when you areasleep. Even then,a part of your mind is still working. This unconscious， but still active， partlyyour experiences and goes to work on the problems you have had during the day. Itstores all sorts of information and details which you may forgotten or never have really noticed.It is only when you fall asleep that this part of brain can send messages to the part you use whenyou are awake. However,the unconscious part expresses itself through its own logic and its ownlanguage. It uses strange images which the conscious part may not understand at first. This iswhy dreams are sometimes called "secret messages to ourselves."