孤独是否存在于你的基因中Is loneliness in our genes?

Hello and welcome to 6 Minute English. I’m Sophie…
大家好，欢迎收听六分钟英语，我是苏菲。
And I’m Neil.
我是尼尔。
How was your weekend, Neil?
尼尔，周末过得怎么样？
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，我没有做任何计划，所以这两天也没有见任何人。老实说，我感到非常孤独！有一种真实的感觉在我胃里翻滚。
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！你听起来确实情绪很低落，也就是不开心。好吧，今天节目的主题就是孤独。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。这会刺激我们寻求陪伴。
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！作为人类，社交如何帮助我们呢？
It’s all about cooperation – or working together to get something done – for example, finding food.
和合作有关，或者说一起努力做成某件事，如寻找食物。
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，共享成果。
You paid him and he gave you the pizza?
你付给他钱，然后他给你披萨？
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。但这不是很丰富的社交经历。在伦敦就是这点不好，即便身边都是人，你还是会感到孤独。很难遇到你真正喜欢的人，所以大多数时候最好还是自己和自己相处。
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?
说的不错。我有一个问题，关于城市和独居，因为独居情况正在增加。哪一个城市拥有比例最高的独居人口？a) 美国？b) 日本？还是c) 瑞典？
Well, I’m going to guess b) Japan.
我猜是b) 日本。
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，之后再看你回答得是否正确。回到孤独上来，因为孤独让我们感觉很不好，所以它会激励我们走出去，和人们相处。一些人比其他人更容易感到孤独，因为我们的基因也会在其中发挥作用。
I wonder if I inherited loneliness genes.
我想我继承了孤独的基因。
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，但在一些场合，孤独也许是好事。因为它会鼓励你去社交，而在其他场合，也许对忍受孤独很有帮助。我们听听阿姆斯特丹自由大学Dorret Boomsma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.
很多有意思的是，为什么影响孤独的基因仍然存在？一个解释是，因为不仅仅会带来负面影响。在一些场合，能够忍受高度的孤独也是优点。这也是为什么携带孤独的基因还会存在。
So, inheriting genes for loneliness might not be a bad thing.Why’s that, Neil?
所以继承孤独的基因也许不是坏事。为什么呢？
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，不会感到很难受。
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.
这是一个很有趣的观点。但这也说明你不具备这些基因，因为周末你感觉很糟糕。
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?
没错。会的。尽管花费很长时间在Facebook上也还是感到孤独，那也是社交的一种形式。发推特、发短信、在线聊天是不是让我们更孤独了？因为我们的外出越来越少，见到的人也越来越少。还是虚拟联系让我们不再感到孤独？
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。我们听听纽约大学社会学家Eric Klinenberg 教授的看法，他还写了一本独居的书。他谈到了这些。
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.
没有调查显示我们比十年前，二十年前或三十年前更更孤独或更孤僻。这也就是说，那些批评人士所认为的Facebook或网络或整天携带的电子装置，让你越来越孤独，越来越悲惨的观点，实际上是没有足够证据支撑的。
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。
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?
没错，没有证据。好了，在揭晓今天问题的答案前，你知道孤独是传染的吗？
You mean you can catch it from somebody like a cold?
你是说像感冒一样，会从别人那里感染？
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。环境因素也会造成人们的孤独感。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对待与他人的互动。
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!
所以让我们试着对每个人友好一些。你可以从告诉我今天回答正确与否开始表达友善。
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：哪一个国家有比例最高的独居人口？a) 美国, b) 日本，还是 c) 瑞典?
And I said Japan.
我选的是日本。
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，有很多付得起的单身公寓。年轻的瑞典人高中毕业就能搬去自己的公寓。
OK, now let’s hear the words we learned today again, Sophie.
好了，现在我们回忆一下今天学到的单词吧？
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
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。我们下次再会！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，提高自己的英文。
Bye!
再见！