in; someone threw a pencil at you; you were in the back of a big car with your grandmother,

有人向你丟了一支鉛筆，你和奶奶在一台車的後座

on the way to sit an exam; you had to climb over a wall but kept being tickled by a giant

去參加考試的路上，你爬過了一座牆但是卻有一隻大松鼠不停搔你癢

squirrel. Then you woke up. It felt immensely important, but when you go downstairs and

然後你醒來了，覺得這很重要，但當你要下樓

try to tell your companions about the extraordinary things that travelled through your sleeping

告訴朋友關於在睡夢中所經歷的這些特別的事情時，

brain, the results are sobering. You keep saying that it felt "exciting", "so

結果顯而易見，你一直說那感覺很刺激、

weird" and "absolutely amazing" , but – strangely – your attempts to get others

很怪、非常的奇妙，但奇怪的是你想讓其他人

to experience the particularities of your night are met by some dispiritingly blank

和你一樣體驗夢境中的一切，有些人卻很茫然地看著你

stares. Half-way through the narration, someone pipes up to say the cereal is running low.

才講到一半，有人就突然說麥片好像快沒有了

Another person mentions it might rain later. Then the doorbell rings. It's a poignant

另一個人則說等等可能會下雨，然後門鈴就響了，真的是很尷尬

impasse, but not an untypical one either. It's tempting to think the problem has to

的局面，但又不是一般的那樣子，這開始讓人思考這問題和

do with dreams themselves – because they are so odd, unique and specific to us. But

夢本身是有關的–因為對我們來說那些夢很奇怪、很特別，又很清楚

the difficulty isn't limited to dreams: it's a general problem of existence, which

可是困難的點不只限於夢而已：普遍來說這是個很實在的問題，

can just as well strike when we try to explain how our holiday was, what we feel about our

在當我們要敘述假期過得如何，或者是對於童年的感是什麼

childhood or our ideas about how society should be run. Much about our lives is like a very

還有對於社會是如何運作的想法時，它就會突然浮現。關於我們的生活就像

intensely-felt dream we can’t quite get others to listen to properly. The reason is

是個很敏感的夢境，沒辦法讓別人仔細地去傾聽， 原因就是我們很積極想去表達

to a striking extent down to a collective lack of preparation, an insufficient sense

，卻沒有很完整在準備。而意識不夠清楚時

that what we’re trying to do is really very hard and therefore will require a high degree

我們也就會很難去表達想要說的事情，所以就會需要更聰明的技巧來作練習

of skill and practice. We naively assume that enthusiasm and authenticity can be enough;

我們天真地認為用心地去想，然後要說的東西真的存在就夠了；

and that if we feel something to be important or beautiful, it will inevitably and immediately

而那也就是說如果我們覺得某些東西很重要或者很美好，好像自然而然其他人就直接會有

strike others as being so as well. This charming, though ultimately lonely, egocentricity can

一樣的感覺，儘管基本上這令人著迷的自我中心意識是很孤獨的，但是對那些不太會敘述故事的孩子

be best seen in children who are among the worst story tellers, because they have a touchingly

而言是還滿好的，因為他們痛苦的想法所產生

weak hold on a very painful idea: that other people are liable to be in different places

的脆弱情感：如果不想要讓其他人內心所想的和我們有所不同，

from us internally and are highly unlikely to understand, feel and see as we do unless

也就是說會比較難去理解、感受、看清我們所要做的話，我們就要

we go to considerable lengths to extract, arrange and systematically package up the

去擷取重點，還有調整及把內心所要表達的東西整個都系統化

contents of our minds for them. These are some of the rules for storytelling: – firstly,

這裡有一些敘述故事的準則：首先，

we know what we mean far earlier than anyone else can and so we must understand a story

我們比其他人還早理解到自己所要表達的意思，所以至少必須先搞懂整個夢境

at least five times as well when it is to be shared in company as when it is merely

的來龍去脈五次以上，同樣的在與別人分享時，要講的東西就好像就已經烙印

left to marinade in our own brains. – secondly, keeping a story brief takes far more effort

在腦海裡一樣了，再來，盡可能簡單的敘述事情而不是

than letting it expand. The philosopher Pascal once touchingly apologised to a friend for

一直把要說的東西延伸下去，哲學家帕斯卡曾因為寫給朋友的信太冗長

the length of a letter he had written him. As he admitted, "I'm sorry I didn't

而誠懇地向一位朋友道歉，他承認說：我很抱歉

have time to make it shorter." – Thirdly, we need to simplify. The downfall of almost

沒有時間縮減信件內容。接著我們需要的則是簡化，沒辦法完整表達的趣事幾乎

all anecdotes is an accumulation of incidental detail untethered to the underlying logic

都是由於加了一堆不相關的細節，而整個故事都是從這樣的邏輯

of the story. If one is explaining how it felt to see one's grandmother, it is irrelevant

建立出來的，如果有一個人在解釋他對別人的奶奶有什麼感覺的時候，

(and a waste of someone else's rather precious life) to say what time one left the house

卻從什麼時候離開房子到那天天氣是如何來說起，那根本就沒有任何關係

and what the weather happened to be like. We need a view of the branches, not of every

而且是在浪費別人的寶貴生命。我們要看的是重點，而非那些小地方

leaf. – fourthly, factual events (dates, times, actions) are always less interesting

最後，客觀的訊息 (像時間和日期還有做了什麼事情) 都沒有感受來得有趣，

(though far easier to remember) than feelings – and yet it's the feelings that invariably

永遠都是感受才會激起其他人的興趣，

contain the kernel of what can intrigue others. It's how we feel about what happened, not

重要的不是實際上發生了什麼，而是我們對這些發生的事

merely what happened, that counts.

有什麼感受

Those who grow up to speak clearly are those especially alive to the risk and the tragedy

特別是那些生活在會讓人誤解的危險環境底下的人，他們能夠清楚表達自己想說什麼

of being misunderstood. The contents of our minds, and even of our dreams, are never really

我們內心的想法，甚至是夢境，從不會讓別人真的覺得

too strange or boring for others to understand: it's just that our culture hasn't yet

那很無聊或是非常奇怪：就只是我們的文化還沒有

taken seriously enough the bracing challenges of narrating the real substance of our complex

很認真地去面對那些挑戰，像是和別人說

days and nights to other people.

我們日日夜夜複雜的生活情形

We publish new thought provoking films every week.

我們每週都會上傳一些令人省思的新影片

Be sure to subscribe to our channel and take a look at more of what we have to offer at the link on your screen now.

一定要訂閱我們的頻道，然後連結的部分可以看到更多的影片