Notes：
pleasurable楽しい;
best of all 最も良いことに;
dream paralysis 金縛り状態;
tranquility 平穏，穏やかさ;
sour 不快な;
nightmare 悪夢;
evil 不吉な;
for fear of ～ing ～することを恐れて;
scenario （予想される）事態[状況];
spirit 霊;
exhausted とても疲れている;
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Sleep is perhaps one of the most pleasurable activities available to mankind. It relaxes us, heals us, and best of all, it is costs absolutely nothing. So imagine my disappointment last month when I experienced what is known in Japan as ‘kanashibari’ – or in the West as ‘dream paralysis’. This is my tale of what happened. There I was enjoying the tranquility of sleep when all of a sudden my dream turned sour, and I found myself in a terrible nightmare. After realizing it was a dream, I opened my eyes to shake myself out of the nightmare. But when I woke up I found that things were no better; in fact I still felt something strange, something evil, in the room. When I tried to look around I discovered that I was paralysed – totally unable to move or talk! I stayed in that state for five minutes until eventually I was able to think pleasant thoughts. But it took me a while to get back to sleep for fear of returning to that state again. Thankfully that scenario has only ever happened a few times in my life, and despite what Japanese people tell me, I don’t think it was a spirit; I think I was just exhausted and that it was just my body saying that it needed more sleep! What do you think? ( by Prof. Simon Smith)
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