Of all the components of a good night's sleep, dreams seem to be least within our control. In dreams, a window opens into a world where logic is suspended and dead people speak. A century ago, Freud formulated his revolutionary theory that dreams were the disguised shadows of our unconscious desires and fears,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. Now researchers suspect that dreams are part of the mind's emotional thermostat, regulating moods while the brain is “off-line”.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, “It's your dream” says Rosalind Cartwright, chair of psychology at Chicago's Medical Center. “If you don't like it , change it.” 
      在睡一夜好觉的所有因素中，梦似乎是最不好控制的因素。在梦境中，一扇窗户开启，由此进入这样一个世界：在那里，逻辑被置之不理，死者开口说话。一个世纪前，弗洛伊德阐述了这样的革命性理论：梦是我们潜意识愿望和恐惧的被伪装的阴影；到20 世纪70 年代末期，神经病理学家改变了想法，开始认为梦不过是“心理噪音”——睡眠期间进行的神经修复过程中产生的随机副产品。现在，研究人员怀疑，梦是大脑情感调节装置的一部分，在大脑处于“脱机”时调节情绪。一位主要权威人士说，这些强有力的心理事件不仅可以得到利用，而且还能帮助我们获得更好的睡眠和感觉。芝家哥医疗中心的心理学主任RosalindCartwright 说：“梦是你自己的，如果你不喜欢，你就换一个。”
      Evidence from brain imaging supports this view. 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. But not all parts of the brain are equally involved, the limbic system (the “emotional brain”)is especially active, while the prefrontal cortex (the center of intellect and reasoning) is relatively quiet. “We wake up from dreams happy or depressed, and those feelings can stay with us all day” says Stanford sleep researcher Dr, William Dement.

     来自于大脑成像的证据支持这一观点。匹兹堡大学的Eric Nofzinger 博士说，当出现清晰的梦境时，睡眠时会伴有眼睛的运动，这时大脑与醒着时一样活跃，但是大脑的各个区域参与程度不同，大脑的边缘系统（控制情绪的）异常活跃，而前额皮层（控制思维和推理的）则相对平静。斯坦福睡眠研究人员WillliamDement 博士说：“我们从梦中醒来，或者高兴或者沮丧，而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 . 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 .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 .

      梦与情感之间的联系在Cartwright 门诊部的患者中得到体现。在夜里早些时候，大多数似乎会做更多噩梦，在睡醒前逐渐转变为较愉快的梦，这表示他们正在化解在白天产生的消极情感。因为我们的意识被日常生活占据，所以我们并不总是考虑白天发生事情的情感意义——似乎简直到我们开始做梦。
      And this process need not be left to the unconscious. Cartwright believes one can exercise conscious control over recurring bad dreams.As soon as you awaken, identify what is upsetting about the dream. Visualize how you would like it to end instead, the next time is occurs, try to wake up just enough to control its course. With much practice people can learn to, literally, do it in their sleep. 
      但这个过程不一定是无意识发生的。Cartwright 认为人可以通过锻炼有意识的控制重复出现的噩梦。一旦醒来，立刻辩明是什麽让你对做的梦感到难过,想象一下你要如何终止这个梦；当它出现的时候，你应该尽量醒来，以便控制它的进程。经过多次这样的练习，人们完全能够学会在睡眠中控制梦境。
     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 of “we wake up in a panic,” Cartwright says Terrorism, economic uncertainties and general feelings of insecurity have increased people's anxiety. Those suffering from persistent nightmares should seek help from a therapist For the rest of us, the brain has its ways of working through bad feelings. Sleep-or rather dream-on it and you'll feel better in the morning.

    最后，可能很少有什麽理由使我们关注自己的梦，除非那些梦使我们无法睡眠，或者，“我们在恐慌中惊醒”， Cartwright 说。恐怖主义、经济上的不确定性以及通常的不安全感加重了人们的焦虑。那些持续遭受噩梦折磨的人应该寻求治疗专家的帮助。对其余的人来说，大脑有它自己化解恶劣情绪的办法。放心地睡觉——或者尽管去做梦，早上醒来时你会感觉好一些。