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19 Then came the stories saying: Nah, there is no baby boom, it's all anecdotal, there's no statistical evidence to back it up. And I believed that too. But I've been noticing something for weeks now. In my neighborhood there is a baby boom. There are babies all over in Brooklyn. It is full of newborns, of pink soft-limbed infants in cotton carriers on daddy's chest. It is full of strollers, not only regular strollers but the kind that carry two children -- double-wides. And triple-wides. I don't care what anyone says, there have got to be data that back up what I'm seeing: that after Sept. 11, there was at least a Brooklyn baby boom.
后来又有报道说，不对，没有什么生育高峰，那完全是道听途说，并没有统计数据加以证实。我也相信这一报道的真实性。但好几个星期以来我一直关注着一个情况。我家附近出现了生育高峰。布鲁克林到处都是婴儿。处处可见新生婴儿，处处可见粉嘟嘟的、小手小脚软软的婴儿，他们蜷伏在父亲胸前的棉兜里。处处可见婴儿小推车，不仅是普通的小推车，还有那种可放两个婴儿的小推车。甚至还有可放三个婴儿的小推车。别人怎么说我不管，应该有数据证实我目睹的情况：9·11事件之后，至少在布鲁克林出现了生育高峰。
20 A dream boom, too. The other day I spoke with a friend I hadn't seen since the world changed. He was two blocks away when the towers fell, and he saw everything. We have all seen the extraordinary footage of that day, seen it over and over, but few of us have seen what my friend described: how in the office buildings near the World Trade Center they stood at the windows and suddenly darkness enveloped them as the towers collapsed and the demonic cloud swept through. Did you see those forced to jump? I asked.
夜梦也激增。一天我跟事件发生后一直没见过面的一位朋友交谈。世贸大楼倒下时，他就在两个街区之外，目睹了一切。我们都看过当日那令人震惊的电视镜头，看过一遍又一遍，但很少有人看到过我朋友所描述的情景：在世贸中心近旁的办公大楼里，他们站在窗边，突然黑暗将他们笼罩，那两幢楼倒塌了，可怕的浓烟迅速蔓延。你有没有看到那些被迫往下跳的人？我问。
21 "Yes," he said, and looked away.
“看到，”他说着移开了视线。
22 Have you had bad dreams?
你有没有做噩梦？
23 "Yes," he said, and looked away.
“做的，”他说着，仍看着别处。
24 I thought about this for a few days. My friend is brilliant and by nature a describer of things felt and seen. But not this time. I spoke to a friend who is a therapist. Are your patients getting extraordinary dreams? I asked.
我好几天都想着这事。我的这位朋友才华横溢，天生擅长描述自己的感受与见闻。但这次却例外。我跟一位当治疗专家的朋友交谈。你的病人是不是都做些稀奇古怪的梦？我问。
25 "Always," he laughs.
“总是做那样的梦，”他笑了起来。
26 Sept.11-related?
都跟9·11事件有关？
27 "Yes," he says, "mostly among adolescents. "
“是的，”他说，“主要都是青少年。”
28 I asked if he was saving them, writing them down. He shook his head no.
我问他有没有把这些梦收集好记下来。他摇了摇头。
29 So: The Sept. 11 Dream Project. We should begin it. I want to, though I'm not sure why. I think maybe down the road I will try to write about them. Maybe not. I am certain, however, that dreams can be an expression of a nation's unconscious, if there can be said to be such a thing, and deserve respect. (Carl Jung thought so.)
是啊：9·11梦录项目。我们应该着手进行了。本人有意去做，虽说我自己也不太清楚到底为什么。我想，以后也许我会试着把那些梦写下来。也许不会。但我相信，梦可以反映国民的潜意识――如果真有所谓潜意识――而且值得把梦当一回事。（卡尔·荣格持肯定态度。）
30 To respect is to record. Send in your Sept. 11 related dream -- recurring, unusual, striking, whatever. I will read them, and appreciate them and possibly weave them into a piece on what Sept. 11 has done to our dream lives and to our imaginations, when our imaginations are operating on their own, unfettered, unstopped, spanning.
既然值得当回事就要记录下来。请把你做的与9·11事件有关的梦寄给我――一再重复的，不同寻常的，惊人的，等等。我会阅读你们的来函，会理解，可能的话会将它们编成一篇文章，反映9·11事件对我们的梦幻生活和想象力――即当我们的想象力独立地、无拘无束地、毫无牵绊地持续发挥时――产生了什么影响。
