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Of all the components of a good night's sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control.
在所有高质量睡眠的因素中，梦似乎是最无法控制的一个。
In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak.
在梦中，我们通向这样一个世界。在这里逻辑暂时失去了效用，死人开口说话。
A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears;
一个世纪前，弗洛伊德阐述了革命性的理论，即梦是人们潜意识中欲望和恐惧经伪装后的预示；
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世纪 70 年代末期，神经病学家们转而认为梦是“精神噪音”，即睡眠时进行的神经修复活动的一种杂乱的副产品。
Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is “off-line. ”
目前，研究人员猜想梦是大脑情感自动调节系统的组成部分，当大脑处于“掉线”状态时对情绪进行规整。
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,
一名主要的权威人士说，梦这种异常强烈的精神活动不仅能被驾驭，事实上还可以有意识地加以控制，以帮助我们更好地睡眠和感觉。
“It's your dream, ” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago's Medical Center.
芝加哥医疗中心心里学系主任 Rosalind Cartwright 说“梦是你自己的，
“If you don't like it, change it. ”
如果你不喜欢，就改变它。”
Evidence from brain imaging supports this view.
大脑造影的证据支持了以上观点。
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.
匹兹堡大学的埃里克博士说，在出现清晰梦境的快速动眼睡眠中大脑和完全清醒时一样活跃。
But not all parts of the brain are equally involved;
但并非大脑的所有部分都一样，
the limbic system (the “emotional brain”) is especially active,
脑边缘系统（“情绪大脑”）异常活跃，
while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet.
而前额皮层（思维和推理的中心 地带）则相对平静大。
“We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day. ” says Stanford sleep researcher Dr. William Dement.
斯坦福睡眠研究员 William Dement 博士说：“我们从梦中醒来，或者高兴或者沮丧，这些情绪会伴随我们一整天。”
The link between dreams and emotions shows up among the patients in Cartwright's clinic.
梦和情绪之间的联系在 Cartwright 的诊所的病人身上显露出来了。
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.
多数人似乎在晚上入睡的较早阶段做更多不好的梦，而在快睡醒前会逐渐做开心一些的梦，这说明人们在梦里渐渐克服了白天的不良情绪。
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.
因为清醒时我们的头脑被日常琐事占据着，所以并不总是想到白天发生的事情对我们情绪的影响，直到我们开始做梦，这种影响才出现。
And this process need not be left to the unconscious.
这一过程不一定是无意识的。
Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams.
Cartwright 认为人们可以练习有意识地控制噩梦的重演。
As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream.
你一醒来就立刻确定梦中有什么在困扰你，
Visualize how you would like it to end instead; the next time it occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course.
设想一下你所希望的梦的结局，下次再做同样的梦时，试图醒来以控制它的进程。
With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep.
通过多次练习， 人们完全可以学会在梦中这样做。
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说，说到底，只要梦不使我们无法睡眠或“从梦中惊醒”，就没有理由太在意所做的梦。
Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxieties.
恐怖主义、经济 不确定及通常的不安全感都增加了人们的焦虑。
Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist.
那些长期受到噩梦折磨的人应该寻求专家帮助，
For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings.
而对其他人来说，大脑有自动消除不良情绪的方法。
Sleep -- or rather dream -- on it and you'll feel better in the morning.
安心睡觉甚至做梦，早上醒来时你会感觉好多了。
