人為什麼會做夢? 夢的解析是什麼？

In the third millenium BCE,Mesopotamian king recorded and interpreted their dreams on waxtablets.

公元前三千年，美索不達米亞國王在蠟質石板上記錄並解釋了他們的夢。

A thousand years later, Ancient Egyptians wrote adream book listing over a hundred common dreamsand their meanings.

一千年之後，古埃及人寫了一本關於夢的書，列出了一百多個日常的夢以及它們的解釋。

And in the years since, we haven"t paused in ourquest to understand why we dream.

多年之後，我們從未停止過探索我們做夢的原因。

So, after a great deal of scientific research, technological advancement, and persistence,

所以，我們在經歷了大量的科學研究、科技進步以及堅持不懈之後，

we still don"t have any definite answers, but we have some interesting theories.

依舊沒有任何確切的答案，但是我們已經發展了一些有趣的理論。

We dream to fulfill our wishes.

我們為了滿足自己的願望而做夢。

In the early 1900s, Sigmund Freud proposed that while all of our dreams, including ournightmares,

在19世紀早期，西格蒙德·弗洛伊德提出，雖然我們所有的夢，包括夢魘，

are a collection of images from our daily conscious lives,

都來自有意識的日常生活畫面集，

they also have symbolic meanings, which relate to the fulfillment of our subconscious wishes.

但他們也有一些抽象意義，它和我們潛意識中的願望滿足感有關。

Freud theorized that everything we remember when we wake up from a dream

弗洛伊德提出，我們從夢中醒來記得的所有事情

is a symbolic representation of our unconscious primitive thoughts, urges, and desires.

都是無意識的原始想法、衝動、以及慾望的象徵性代表。

Freud believed that by analyzing those remembered elements,

弗洛伊德相信，通過分析我們記得的這些元素，

the unconscious content would be revealed to our conscious mind,

那些無意識的內容可以反映出我們有意識的思想，

and psychological issues stemming from its repression could be addressed and resolved.

精神上受到的壓抑可以被理解和解答。

We dream to remember.

我們做夢是為了記憶。

To increase performance on certain mental tasks, sleep is good, but dreaming while sleepingis better.

為了加強一些腦力工作上的表現，睡眠非常有效，然而睡覺時做夢效果會更好。

In 2010, researchers found that subjects were much better at getting through a complex 3-Dmaze if they had napped and dreamed of the maze prior to their second attempt.

2010年，研究人員發現，如果被試者在第二次嘗試穿越迷宮之前小憩一會兒並且做了一會兒夢的話，他們在穿越一個複雜的三維迷宮時會表現更佳。

In fact, they were up to ten times better at it than those who only thought of the maze whileawake between attempts,

事實上，他們比那些在兩次之間醒著思考迷宮的人，

and those who napped but did not dream about the maze.

以及那些雖然睡了但是沒有做夢的人表現要好十多倍。

Researchers theorize that certain memory processes can happen only when we are asleep,

研究者推斷，特定的記憶過程只在我們睡著時才會發生，

and our dreams are a signal that these processes are taking place.

而我們的夢是一個觸發這些過程的信號。

We dream to forget.

我們做夢是為了遺忘。

There are about 10,000 trillion neural connections within the architecture of your brain.

我們的大腦構造里有大約一萬兆的神經連接。

They are created by everything you think and everything you do.

它們因你思考以及所做的所有事情而形成。

A 1983 neurobiological theory of dreaming, called reverse learning, holds that while sleeping,

1983年，一個關於夢的神經生物學理論提出逆向學習的概念，該理論認為我們在睡覺時，

and mainly during REM sleep cycles, your neocortex reviews these neural connections anddumps the unnecessary ones.

尤其是在快速眼動睡眠周期時，大腦新皮質會回顧這些神經連接並清理掉那些不需要的部分。

Without this unlearning process, which results in your dreams,

如果沒有做夢來產生這種反學習的過程，

your brain could be overrun by useless connections and parasitic thoughts could disrupt thenecessary thinking you need to do while you"re awake.

你的大腦就會因無用連接而過度運轉，同時無用的想法會干擾到你醒著的時候需要進行的必要思考。

We dream to keep our brains working.

我們為了保證大腦運轉而做夢。

The continual activation theory proposes that your dreams result from your brain"s need toconstantly consolidate and create long-term memories in order to function properly.

持續激活理論提出，你做夢是由於你的大腦為了有效運轉需要持續不斷地鞏固和創造長期記憶。

So when external input falls below a certain level, like when you"re asleep,

因此，當外界的輸入低於一個特定水平時，例如你在睡覺時，

your brain automatically triggers the generation of data from its memory storages,

你的大腦會自動觸發記憶庫里的數據形成，

which appear to you in the form of the thoughts and feelings you experience in your dreams.

而這些在你看來就是你在夢裡的想法和感受。

In other words, your dreams might be a random screen saver your brain turns on so itdoesn"t completely shut down.

換句話說，你的夢也許是個大腦運轉時的隨機保護程序，所以大腦並不會完全停止運轉。

We dream to rehearse.

我們為了預演而做夢。

Dreams involving dangerous and threatening situations are very common,

夢經常包含危險和恐怖的情景，

and the primitive instinct rehearsal theory holds that the content of a dream is significant toits purpose.

而原始本能理論認為夢的內容對於它的目的來說非常重要。

Whether it"s an anxiety-filled night of being chased through the woods by a bear or fighting offa ninja in a dark alley,

無論是一個在森林中被熊追著跑的緊張夜晚，還是在幽暗的山谷中擊退一個日本武士，

these dreams allow you to practice your fight or flight instincts and keep them sharp anddependable in case you"ll need them in real life.

這些夢允許你鍛煉戰鬥或逃跑的本能，而且保證萬一在現實中需要它們時，能保持一定的敏銳度和可靠性。

But it doesn"t always have to be unpleasant.

不過夢也不一定總是不愉快的。

For instance, dreams about your attractive neighbor could actually give your reproductiveinstinct some practice, too.

比如，夢到你魅力無限的鄰居可能會給你的生殖本能帶來一定的鍛煉。

We dream to heal.

我們為了治癒而做夢。

Stress neurotransmitters in the brain are much less active during the REM stage of sleep,

壓力神經傳導物質在快速眼動睡眠時期會表現得非常不活躍，

even during dreams of traumatic experiences,

即使是夢到受傷的經歷，

leading some researchers to theorize that one purpose of dreaming is to take the edge offpainful experiences to allow for psychological healing.

這一現象導致研究人員推測夢的一個目的是減弱不好經歷帶來的痛苦，以達到心理治療的目的。

Reviewing traumatic events in your dreams with less mental stress may grant you a clearerperspective

在夢中以更小的精神壓力回顧創傷性事件，可能會給你一個更加清晰透徹的看法，

and enhanced ability to process them in psychologically healthy ways.

以及增強你積極樂觀地面對它們的能力。

People with certain mood disorders and PTSD often have difficulty sleeping,

有特定情緒失常和創傷後應激障礙的人可能很難入睡，

leading some scientists to believe that lack of dreaming may be a contributing factor to theirillnesses.

這一現象導致一些科學家開始相信，缺乏做夢可能是加重他們病情的一個因素。

We dream to solve problems.

我們為了解決問題而做夢。

Unconstrained by reality and the rules of conventional logic,

不受現實生活和常規邏輯的約束，

in your dreams, your mind can create limitless scenarios to help you grasp problems

你的夢可能會產生無限的場景來幫助你把握問題，

and formulate solutions that you may not consider while awake.

以及形成你醒著的時候完全不會考慮到的解決方法。

John Steinbeck called it the committee of sleep,

約翰·斯坦貝克把它稱為睡眠委員會，

and research has demonstrated the effectiveness of dreaming on problem solving.

而研究人員也已證實做夢在解決問題上的有效性。

It"s also how renowned chemist August Kekule discovered the structure of the benzenemolecule,

這也就是為什麼著名的化學家奧古斯特·凱庫勒發現了苯分子的結構，

and it"s the reason that sometimes the best solution for a problem is to sleep on it.

也是為什麼有些時候解決一個問題的最好辦法就是睡一覺。

And those are just a few of the more prominent theories.

這裡也有一些更為突出的理論。

As technology increases our capability for understanding the brain,

當科技增強了我們理解大腦的能力之後，

it"s possible that one day we will discover the definitive reason for them.

有一天我們有可能會發現夢存在的真正原因。

But until that time arrives, we"ll just have to keep on dreaming.

但是直到那一天到來之前，我們仍舊需要不停地做夢。

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