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Of all the components of a good night's sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control.
在所有高質量睡眠的因素中，夢似乎是最無法控制的一個。
In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak.
在夢中，我們通向這樣一個世界。在這里邏輯暫時失去了效用，死人開口說話。
A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears;
一個世紀前，弗洛伊德闡述了革命性的理論，即夢是人們潛意識中欲望和恐懼經偽裝后的預示；
by the late 1970s, neurologists had switched to thinking of them as just “mental noise” -- the random byproducts of the neural-repair work that goes on during sleep.
到了20世紀 70 年代末期，神經病學家們轉而認為夢是“精神噪音”，即睡眠時進行的神經修復活動的一種雜亂的副產品。
Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is “off-line. ”
目前，研究人員猜想夢是大腦情感自動調節系統的組成部分，當大腦處于“掉線”狀態時對情緒進行規整。
And one leading authority says that these intensely powerful mental events can be not only harnessed but actually brought under conscious control, to help us sleep and feel better,
一名主要的權威人士說，夢這種異常強烈的精神活動不僅能被駕馭，事實上還可以有意識地加以控制，以幫助我們更好地睡眠和感覺。
“It's your dream, ” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago's Medical Center.
芝加哥醫療中心心里學系主任 Rosalind Cartwright 說“夢是你自己的，
“If you don't like it, change it. ”
如果你不喜歡，就改變它。”
Evidence from brain imaging supports this view.
大腦造影的證據支持了以上觀點。
The brain is as active during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep -- when most vivid dreams occur -- as it is when fully awake, says Dr, Eric Nofzinger at the University of Pittsburgh.
匹茲堡大學的埃里克博士說，在出現清晰夢境的快速動眼睡眠中大腦和完全清醒時一樣活躍。
But not all parts of the brain are equally involved;
但并非大腦的所有部分都一樣，
the limbic system (the “emotional brain”) is especially active,
腦邊緣系統（“情緒大腦”）異常活躍，
while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet.
而前額皮層（思維和推理的中心 地帶）則相對平靜大。
“We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day. ” says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement.
斯坦福睡眠研究員 William Dement 博士說：“我們從夢中醒來，或者高興或者沮喪，這些情緒會伴隨我們一整天。”
The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright's clinic.
夢和情緒之間的聯系在 Cartwright 的診所的病人身上顯露出來了。
Most people seem to have more bad dreams early in the night, progressing toward happier ones before awakening, suggesting that they are working through negative feelings generated during the day.
多數人似乎在晚上入睡的較早階段做更多不好的夢，而在快睡醒前會逐漸做開心一些的夢，這說明人們在夢里漸漸克服了白天的不良情緒。
Because our conscious mind is occupied with daily life we don't always think about the emotional significance of the day's events -- until, it appears, we begin to dream.
因為清醒時我們的頭腦被日常瑣事占據著，所以并不總是想到白天發生的事情對我們情緒的影響，直到我們開始做夢，這種影響才出現。
And this process need not be left to the unconscious.
這一過程不一定是無意識的。
Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams.
Cartwright 認為人們可以練習有意識地控制噩夢的重演。
As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream.
你一醒來就立刻確定夢中有什么在困擾你，
Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course.
設想一下你所希望的夢的結局，下次再做同樣的夢時，試圖醒來以控制它的進程。
With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep.
通過多次練習， 人們完全可以學會在夢中這樣做。
At the end of the day, there's probably little reason to pay attention to our dreams at all unless they keep us from sleeping or “we wake up in a panic, ” Cartwright says.
Cartwright說，說到底，只要夢不使我們無法睡眠或“從夢中驚醒”，就沒有理由太在意所做的夢。
Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxieties.
恐怖主義、經濟 不確定及通常的不安全感都增加了人們的焦慮。
Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist.
那些長期受到噩夢折磨的人應該尋求專家幫助，
For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings.
而對其他人來說，大腦有自動消除不良情緒的方法。
Sleep -- or rather dream -- on it and you'll feel better in the morning.
安心睡覺甚至做夢，早上醒來時你會感覺好多了。
