When Albert Einstein was 16 years old, he imagined himself riding alongside a beam of light. He used this picture in mind to help him when working out the "theory of relativity".
阿尔伯特·爱因斯坦 16 岁时，曾想象自己与一束光并驾齐驱。他推导出“相对论”时，也借助了脑海中的这幅图像。
Daydreaming, called "thought experiments" by Einstein, can make you have wild imaginings. We can imagine different landscapes, like mountains and forests. It lets your mind walk slowly around things that aren't happening right now. It means thinking ahead to a holiday or a birthday party.
爱因斯坦将白日梦称为“思维实验”，它可以让你产生天马行空的想象。我们可以想象不同的风景，比如高山和森林。它能让你的思绪缓慢游走于当下并未发生的事情周围。这意味着你可以提前畅想一个假期或一场生日派对。
Disappearing into a daydream lets your mind escape when things are difficult. It helps you deal with worries and fears. For example, imagining how you're going to speak up in class is like practising the scene in your head, which can make you feel calmer; imagining graduating encourages you to work harder towards your learning goals. Reading literature also inspires our creativity in daydreaming. When we picture ourselves as a princess or a queen wearing a beautiful dress, we let our minds wander in a fairy tale that brings us courage. Then we may pick up our pens to write our own paragraphs.
当遇到困境时，沉浸在白日梦中可以让你的思绪得以逃离。它能帮助你应对忧虑和恐惧。例如，想象自己如何在课堂上大胆发言，就像是在脑海中排练这个场景一样，能让你觉得更加镇定；想象毕业的场景，也可以激励你更加努力地实现学习目标。阅读文学作品也能激发我们在白日梦中的创造力。当我们把自己想象成一位身穿美丽裙子的公主或王后时，我们让自己的思绪遨游在能给我们带来勇气的童话故事中。然后，我们可能就会拿起笔写下属于自己的段落。
However, try not to let your mind be absent when you need to focus in class or cross the road. Instead, find a time when you don't have to focus on anything, like going for a walk or brushing your teeth.
但是，当你需要集中精力上课或过马路时，尽量不要让思绪游离。相反，找一段无须专注任何事情的时间来做白日梦，比如散步或刷牙的时候。
Research shows that people often come up with more solutions to problems after daydreaming, because it is similar to staying at a hotel, where we can take a break. So next time you're stuck on homework, stop for a moment and see where your daydreams take you.
研究表明，人们在白日梦后往往能想出问题的更多解决方案，因为这就好比入住酒店，在那里我们可以休息片刻。所以，下次当你被作业难住时，不妨停下来片刻，看看白日梦会把你带向何方。