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This
is a download from BBC Learning English. To find out more, visit our
website 6 Minute English from the BBC Learning English. com.
本文来自BBC Learning English。如需获得更多内容请访问我们的网站BBC Learning English. com。
Sophie:
Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I'm Sophie...
大家好，欢迎收听英语六分钟，我是苏菲。
Neil:
And I'm Neil.
我是尼尔。
Sophie:
How was your weekend, Neil?
尼尔，你周末过得怎么样？
Neil:
Well, not great – I hadn't got anything planned, so I didn't see anyone
for two days. And to be honest, I felt very lonely! There was a real
physical feeling in the pit of my stomach.
不太好，我没有任何计划，所以这两天也没有见任何人。老实说，我感到非常孤独！这种真实的孤独感在我的胃里翻滚。
Sophie:
Poor Neil! You do sound really down in the dumps, and that means
unhappy! Well, the subject of today's show is loneliness. And loneliness
is sometimes described as a social pain – a pain that tells us that
we're isolated – or lacking contact with others– which motivates us to
seek out companionship.
可怜的尼尔！这么说来，你确实情绪很低落，也就是说你很不开心。今天节目的话题就是孤独。孤独有时被描述为一种社交痛苦，这种痛苦告诉我们，我们是孤立的，缺乏与他人的交流。这会促使我们寻求陪伴。
Neil:
I'd no idea that feeling lonely had a biological explanation! How does being sociable help us, as a species, then, Sophie?
我不知道孤独还会有生物学上的解释！社交是如何帮助我们人类的呢？
Sophie:
It's all about cooperation – or working together to get something done – for example, finding food.
这与合作有关，或者说一起努力做成某件事，如寻找食物。
Neil:
Well, I suppose I cooperated with the pizza delivery guy for a shared outcome.
我觉得我和送披萨的小哥合作得很好，我们共享成果。
Sophie:
You paid him and he gave you the pizza?
你付给他钱，然后他给你披萨？
Neil:
Exactly. But it wasn't a socially enriching experience. That's the bad
thing about London – you can feel lonely, even surrounded with people.
It isn't easy to meet people you really like – so often you might as
well just on your own.
没错。但这种社交经历太单调了。在伦敦就是这点不好，即便你身边都是人，你还是会感到孤独。很难遇到你真正喜欢的人，所以你经常独处。
Sophie:
Good point. And I have a question about cities and living alone, Neil,
because it's on the rise. Which country has the highest proportion of
people living on their own? Is it ... a) the US? b) Japan? Or c) Sweden?
说的没错。我有一个和城市以及独居相关的问题，独居的人数还在增加，哪一个国家的独居人口比例最高？a) 美国？b) 日本？还是c) 瑞典？
Neil:
Well, I'm going to guess b) Japan.
我猜是b) 日本。
Sophie:
OK, we'll see if you got that right later on in the show. So, getting
back to loneliness – the idea is that because it makes us feel bad, it
motivates us to go out and meet people. Some people are more likely to
feel lonely than others because our genes play a role in this tendency.
好的，稍后我们再看你的回答是否正确。回到“孤独”的话题上来，因为孤独让我们感到很糟糕，所以这会促使我们出去和别人接触。有些人比其他人更容易感到孤独，这是因为我们的基因也在发挥着作用。
Neil:
I wonder if I inherited loneliness genes.
我不知道我是否继承了孤独的基因。
Sophie:
I don't know, Neil, but while in some situations being lonely may be a
good thing, because it encourages you to be sociable, in other
situations it may be useful to tolerate – or put up with – loneliness.
Let's listen to Professor Dorret Boomsma at the Vrije University in
Amsterdam talking about this.
我不知道，但在一些情况下，孤独也许是件好事，因为它会促使你去社交，而在另一些情况下，这也许对你忍受孤独很有帮助。我们来听听阿姆斯特丹自由大学多尔特·布姆萨马教授的看法。
So
the intriguing question is why do genes that influence loneliness still
exist? And one explanation is that probably they do not only have
negative effects. In some situations it is an advantage to be able to
tolerate high levels of loneliness and that is why the genes are
maintained in the population.
一个有趣的问题是：
为什么影响孤独的基因仍然存在？一种解释是，因为孤独不仅仅会带来负面影响。在一些情况下，能够忍受高层次的孤独也是优点。这也是孤独基因依旧存在的原因。
Sophie:
So, inheriting genes for loneliness might not be a bad thing. Why's that, Neil?
所以继承了孤独的基因也许不是件坏事。为什么呢？
Neil:
Because it means you can tolerate being alone for a long time without feeling bad.
因为这意味着你可以忍受长时间的孤独，而且不会感到很难受。
Sophie:
Well, that's an intriguing – or very interesting – idea. But it shows
that you probably don't have those genes, Neil, because you did feel bad
at the weekend.
这个观点很有趣。但这也说明你并没有这些基因，因为你在周末感到很糟糕。
Neil:
That's true. And actually, that was despite spending a long time on
Facebook, and that's a form of social contact. But does all the
tweeting, messaging, and chatting online that we do make us lonelier,
because we're getting out less and meeting fewer people? Or do virtual
connections stop us from feeling lonely?
是的。尽管我花费很长时间在Facebook上，但我还是感到孤独，虽然这也是一种社交形式。发推特、发短信、在线聊天是不是让我们更孤独了？因为我们外出的时间越来越少，见到的人也越来越少。还是说虚拟沟通让我们不再感到孤独？
Sophie:
Those are also intriguing questions. Let's listen to Professor Eric
Klinenberg sociologist at New York University and author of a book about
living alone. He talks about this.
这也是个有趣的问题。我们来听听纽约大学社会学家埃里克·克林南柏格教授的看法，他还写了一本有关独居的书。他谈到了以下这些。
We
just don't have great research showing that we are significantly more
lonely or isolated today than we were ten or twenty or thirty years ago,
which means critics who say that Facebook or the internet or whatever
device you carry with you, is making you lonelier and more miserable -
they just don't have that much evidence to back it up.
没有研究显示我们比十年前，二十年前或三十年前更孤独或更孤僻。这也就是说，批评人士认为Facebook或网络或那些你携带的电子设备让你越来越孤独，越来越悲惨，这实际上是没有足够证据的。
Neil:
So there isn't enough evidence to back up – or support – the claim that social media is making us feel lonelier.
所以没有足够的证据证明社交媒体让我们感到更孤独。
Sophie:
No, there isn't. OK, now before I give you the answer to today's quiz
question, Neil, did you know that loneliness is contagious?
是的，没有。好了，在公布今天问题的答案之前，尼尔，你知道孤独是可以传染的吗？
Neil:
You mean you can catch it from somebody like a cold?
你是说就像感冒一样，别人能传染给我们？
Sophie:
Yes. There are environmental factors involved in loneliness too. For
example, if somebody you talk to every day is always unfriendly towards
you, this makes you statistically more likely to be negative in your
interactions with somebody else.
没错。环境也是导致孤独感的因素。例如，你每天和一个对你不友好的人交流，这会让你越来越消极地对待与他人的交流。
Neil:
Well, let's try and stay friendly towards each other, then, Sophie. You
can start by telling me whether I got today's quiz question right!
那让我们试着对待彼此友好一些。你对我友善可以从告诉我我今天的回答是否正确开始。
Sophie:
OK. I asked: which country has the highest proportion of people living
on their own? Is it ... a) the US, b) Japan or c) Sweden?
好的。我问你：
哪一个国家的独居人口比例最高？a) 美国, b) 日本，还是 c) 瑞典?
Neil:
And I said Japan.
我选的是日本。
Sophie:
This is the wrong answer, I'm afraid. It's actually c) Sweden. Nearly
half of all Swedish households are single-occupancy – or for one person.
Living alone in Sweden is arguably the norm because it's so easy –
there are many affordable single-occupancy apartments and young Swedes
can expect to move into their own apartment once they graduate
high-school.
恐怕你回答错了。正确答案是c) 瑞典。几乎一半的瑞典人都是独居。在瑞典独居像是惯例，因为独居太容易了，很多人都能买得起的单身公寓。年轻的瑞典人高中毕业后就能搬到自己的公寓。
Neil:
OK, now let's hear the words we learned today again, Sophie.
好了，现在我们回顾一下今天学到的单词吧？
Sophie:
Yes, OK. They are:
好的，分别是：
down in the dumps
情绪低落
loneliness
孤独
isolated
孤立的
cooperation
合作
tolerate
忍受
intriguing
有趣的
back up
支撑
contagious
传染的
single occupancy
单人入住
Neil:
Well, that's the end of this edition of 6 Minute English. Join us again
soon! Meanwhile, visit our website: bbclearningenglish. com, where
you'll find guides to grammar, exercises, videos and articles to read
and improve your English.
今天的节目就到这里了。我们下期再会！同时，可以登陆我们的网站：bbclearningenglish. com查找语法、练习、视频和文章来进行阅读，提高自己的英语。
Both:
Bye!
再见！
That was 6 Minute English from BBC Learning English dot com.
以上是bbclearningenglish. com英语六分钟节目。
