寂寞不是病 仍然会传染

Some diseases are contagious–like colds, flu, and chicken pox. But what about loneliness? Loneliness may not be a disease, at least not in the same way that chicken pox is. But loneliness can be contagious.

有些疾病是有传染性的，比如感冒，流感，水痘。但是寂寞呢，会传染么？寂寞可能算不上是一种疾病，至少不像水痘那样。不过，寂寞是可以传染的。

How so? The same way that many emotions can be infectious: being around someone who’s really happy can put you in a good mood while hanging around someone who’s depressed can be, well, depressing.

何以至此呢？情绪都会受周围环境影响，比如，在一个很开心的人身边，你自己的心情也会好；在一个沮丧的人身边，你自己的情绪也会低沉。

The same goes for loneliness. According to one study, the average person feels lonely about forty-eight days per year. Having a lonely friend adds around seventeen extra days of lonely feelings.

寂寞亦是如此。据调查，一个人平均每年有48天会有寂寞感。如果有个寂寞的朋友在身边，那还得另外多承受大约17天的寂寞。

Following more than five-thousand people for ten years, the study observed how loneliness can spread through a group. Lonely people, it seems, transmit their sad, lonely feelings to people around them. What happens, according to the study, is that interacting with a lonely person can leave you with a negative feeling toward friendship generally.

为了观察寂寞是如何在人群中传播的，该项调查小组花了10年时间，跟踪了调查了5000多人。 看起来貌似寂寞的人会把他们的悲伤和寂寞传给他们身边的人。据该调查，之所以这样，是因为和寂寞的人交往常会给自己留下一个对朋友关系的负面感觉。

And so you’re more likely to have negative experiences with other friends, weakening social bonds. If loneliness is allowed to spread unchecked, it can destroy a social network.

因此，在和其他朋友交往时你可能会受挫，从而削弱了自己的社会关系。如果任由寂寞滋生蔓延，人的社会交际网络都有被毁的危险。

The best way to ward off this sort of lonely contagion is to pay more attention to people on the edges of a group. Reaching out to those who are shy or don’t fit in, and are therefore lonely, can make them feel less alone. And so they’re less likely to spread lonely feelings throughout the group.

抵御这种传染的最好办法就是多留意一下那些边缘人，主动接触那些害羞的人，和那些不合群的，寂寞的人，帮他们减少点孤独感。这样，他们就不会在所在人群里传播寂寞了。

notes:

contagious:传染的

transmit:传播

reach out:伸出手

ward off:抵挡