2023年经济学人 英国应对孤独的政策（1）

 

 

    “Where do they all come from?”wondered Paul McCartney in 1966.““他们都是从哪里来的?”保罗·麦卡特尼在1966年问道。

    Britain’s government has taken a more analytical¹ approach to lonely people.

    英国政府对孤独的人采取了更为分析的方法。

    Five years ago it launched a “loneliness strategy”, to tackle “one of the greatest public-health challenges of our time.”

    五年前，它启动了一项“孤独战略”，以应对“我们这个时代最大的公共卫生挑战之一”。

    The Office for National Statistics (ons) developed measures to test it.

    英国国家统计局制定了测试方法。

    The government provided funds for research.

    政府为研究提供资金。

    It told doctors to try “social prescribing”, sending patients to social events rather than to the pharmacy².

    它告诉医生尝试“社会处方”，让病人参加社会活动，而不是去药房开药。

    And it appointed a loneliness minister.

    它还任命了一位孤独部长。

    Loneliness is one of many briefs that Stuart Andrew, mp for Pudsey, West Yorkshire, has at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.

    孤独部长是在文化、媒体和体育部工作的斯图尔特·安德鲁众多概要的其中之一，他是来自西约克郡帕德西的议员。

    Yet it is tempting³ to scoff⁴.

    然而，它很容易被嘲笑。

    Stephen Colbert, a comedian⁵, joked that “Minister for Loneliness” sounded like “a Victorian euphemism⁶ for ‘gigolo’”.

    喜剧演员斯蒂芬·科尔伯特开玩笑说，“孤独部长”听起来像是“维多利亚时代对‘舞男’的委婉说法”。

    Loneliness is hard to pin down: the government defines it as “a subjective⁷, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship.”

    孤独很难界定:政府将其定义为“一种主观的、不受欢迎的，缺乏或失去陪伴的感觉”。

    Like all emotions, it is difficult to measure.

    和所有的情绪一样，它很难衡量。

    So is the success of interventions⁸ designed to tackle it.

    为解决这一问题而设计的干预措施的成功与否也是如此。

    It has probably become more common.

    孤独可能已经变得越来越普遍。

    Some 8.3m people lived alone in 2022, a 16% increase in two decades.

    在2022年，大约有830万人独自生活，在20年内增长了16%。

    Many Britons have less cash for going out than before.

    许多英国人为外出准备的现金都比以前少了。

    And socialising online is no substitute for the real thing.

    网络社交并不能代替现实生活。

    The Campaign to End Loneliness, a charity, says 7% of British adults report being lonely often or always.

    慈善组织“终结孤独运动”称，7%的英国成年人经常或总是感到孤独。

    Those aged⁹ between 16 and 29 are twice as likely to report feeling lonely as those over 70.

    年龄在16岁到29岁之间的人感到孤独的可能性是70岁以上的人的两倍。

    A large study by Pamela Qualter, a professor of psychology¹⁰ at Manchester University, and others found that people in countries (like Britain and America) that score high for individualism also report greater loneliness.

    曼彻斯特大学的心理学教授帕梅拉· 夸尔特和其他人进行的一项大型研究发现，在个人主义得分高的国家(如英国和美国)，人们也上报自己有更大的孤独感。

    This matters because it seems to have a terrible effect on health.

    这很重要，因为它似乎对健康有可怕的影响。

    A large study in Nature Human Behaviour, a journal, found that people who are lonely are more likely to die early.

    《自然人类行为》杂志的一项大型研究发现，孤独的人更有可能早死。

    That may be because they have no one to remind them to eat healthily, exercise or go to the doctor.

    这可能是因为没有人提醒他们健康饮食、锻炼或去看医生。

1 analytical   

adj.分析的；用分析法的

参考例句：

• I have an analytical approach to every survey.对每项调查我都采用分析方法。
• As a result,analytical data obtained by analysts were often in disagreement.结果各个分析家所得的分析数据常常不一致。

2 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

3 tempting   

a.诱人的, 吸引人的

参考例句：

• It is tempting to idealize the past. 人都爱把过去的日子说得那么美好。
• It was a tempting offer. 这是个诱人的提议。

4 scoff   

n.嘲笑，笑柄，愚弄；v.嘲笑，嘲弄，愚弄，狼吞虎咽

参考例句：

• You are not supposed to scoff at religion.你不该嘲弄宗教。
• He was the scoff of the town.他成为全城的笑柄。

5 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。

6 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。

7 subjective   

a.主观(上)的，个人的

参考例句：

• The way they interpreted their past was highly subjective. 他们解释其过去的方式太主观。
• A literary critic should not be too subjective in his approach. 文学评论家的看法不应太主观。

8 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网

9 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

10 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。