【龙腾网】孤独的生活:整整一周都不跟人说话的老年人数量惊人
正文翻译
LONDON — For most of us, the older we get, the more we slow down physically. But for some, growing old also means slowing down socially — so much to the point that some home-bodied seniors go days with little to no human interaction. A new survey of British elders sheds light on this sad, but true effect of aging, noting that hundreds of thousands of people often go a week without speaking to a single person.
伦敦——对大多数人来说，随着年龄的增长，我们身体的速度就会越慢。但对一部分人来说，变老也意味着社交活动的放缓——有些身在家中的老年人连着好些天几乎都不与其他人进行人际互动。一项针对英国老年人的新调查揭示了变老后这一可悲但真实的影响，调查指出，数十万人经常一周都和别人说上一句话。
“A friendly ‘hello’ or ‘how are you?’ is something most of us take for granted – it’s just part of every day life, but these latest figures show that hundreds of thousands of older people in the UK will spend today and the rest of this week alone, with no one to share even a few simple words with,” says Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK, which partnered with Cadbury Dairy Milk to commission the research, in a statement.
英国一家慈善机构英国时代与吉百利牛奶巧克力联合进行了这次研究，英国时代主管卡洛琳·亚伯拉罕在声明中说：“我们大多数人认为一个亲切友好的问候是理所当然的——这只是每天日常生活的一部分,但这些最新数据显示,数十万老年人在英国今天甚至这周内都是孤独的，甚至不能和人分享一些简单的单词。”
The survey also revealed that 38% of seniors admit to feeling lonely at times as they’ve aged, with 12%, or about one in eight, agreeing that loneliness has kept them from leaving their home.
调查还显示，38%的老年人承认，随着年龄的增长，他们有时会感到孤独，12%，也就是大约八分之一的人承认，孤独让他们不敢出门。
“Loneliness is a huge problem because retirement, bereavement and ill health mean many older people find they are spending a lot less time enjoying the company of others than they’d like,” says Abrahams. “Loneliness can affect your health, your wellbeing and the way you see yourself – it can make you feel invisible and forgotten.”
亚伯拉罕说:“孤独是一个巨大的问题，因为退休、丧亲之痛和健康状况不佳意味着许多老年人发现，他们真正被陪伴的时间比自己希望的要少得多。孤独会影响健康、幸福和看待自己的方式，会让你觉得自己是隐形的、而且被遗忘了。”
About 40% of seniors say they’d feel more confident to head out each day if they knew their neighbors. Just the thought of someone stopping to chat with them brightens their outlook: 54% of respondents agree that even a short conversation with a neighbor or acquaintance would greatly improve their day overall. And a quarter of older adults say it makes them feel good when someone smiles or acknowledges them while waiting in line at places like the bank or grocery store. One in five would be thrilled if someone stopped to ask them how their day had gone.
约40%的老年人说，如果他们认识邻居，每天出门时会更有信心。一想到有人停下来与他们聊天，他们的前景就变得光明起来:54%的受访者同意，即使是与邻居或熟人的简短交谈，也会大大改善他们的生活。四分之一的老年人说，在银行或杂货店等地方排队时，有人对他们微笑或打招呼让他们感觉很好。五分之一的人认为如果有人停下来问他们今天过得怎么样，自己就会很激动。
Meanwhile, another survey of 2,000 people ages 16-45 in the UK shows that 55% of younger folks admit to worrying about being lonely in their elder years. With that in mind, two-thirds of this segment say they’re willing to do something to help boost the confidence of a lonely senior, but 37% worry that such a gesture wouldn’t be well-received. Another 30% feel too shy to spark up a conversation with seniors, 27% admit they aren’t sure how to help, and a quarter say they’re simply too busy themselves.
与此同时，另一项针对2000名年龄在16岁至45岁英国人的调查显示，55%的年轻人承认担心晚年会感到孤独。考虑到这一点，这部分人中有三分之二的人表示，他们愿意做一些事情来帮助孤独的老年人增强信心，但37%的人担心这样的举动不会受到欢迎。另有30%的人羞于与老年人交谈，27%的人承认不知道如何帮助老年人，四分之一的人说他们自己太忙了。
To help in that area, Cadbury and Age UK have launched a new campaign called “Donate Your Words” to help cheer up lonely seniors. The campaign encourages people to help fight loneliness by pledging to stop and chat with elders in their communities.
为了帮助这一领域，吉百利和英国时代发起了一项名为“捐出你的言语”的新活动，帮助孤独的老年人振作起来。这项活动鼓励人们承诺停下来与社区的老人们聊天，帮助他们战胜孤独。
评论翻译
Dee Bunker
Can't wait to get old enough to experience the sheer joy of not having to talk to another person for a week. Any way I might accelerate my aging process?
迫不及待地想要变老，迫不及待地想体验到一个星期都不需要和别人交谈的纯粹快乐。我可以加快衰老的进程吗?
pouncekitty
Where do I sign up? What a joy not to talk to people for a week! Thrilling! Most people can't stop talking and have absolutely nothing to say. This would be a dream!
我要在哪注册?一周不用和人交谈是多么惬意的事情啊!刺激!大多数人都说个不停,几乎没有什么可说的。这是我的梦想!
pouncekitty
Gayle
What people say isn't important? What bubble do you live in? You know nothing about me or my multiple relationships. Just another triggered Leftie with zero knowledge. Find some new friends, loser.
人们说什么不重要?你生活在什么泡泡里?你对我和我的多重关系一无所知。又一个毫无知识的左翼分子。找些新朋友吧，失败者。
Steve Cooper
pouncekitty
Sounds like the movie Shrek hahaha
听起来像电影《怪物史莱克》哈哈哈
Amber
Some of these comments are disturbing and void of empathy. Oh, I can't wait to not speak to anyone for a week. Who's fault is it they are lonely??? I guess the commenters have never outlived family and friends or have health problems that make it hard to even do the basic self care. Seriously, shame on some of you! I hope you have a better time of your old age than these folks they are speaking of in the article. But I'm afraid your callousness has already set your life lesson in motion.
一些评论令人不安，缺乏同情心。我都等不及一个星期不和任何人说话了。是谁的错，他们孤独吗?我猜这些评论者从来没有离开过家人和朋友，也没有因为健康问题而难以进行基本的自我护理。说真的，你们中的一些人真丢脸!我希望你的晚年生活比文章中提到的这些人过得好。但恐怕你的麻木不仁已经把你的人生课程付诸行动。
Anne
Amber
Yes, I'm also surprised at the number of curmudgeonly answers too. If you want to be left alone, fine, but the article as written still has validity for many...
是的，我也对如此之多的小气的回答感到惊讶。如果你想一个人呆着，没问题，但是这篇文章对许多人来说仍然有用…
BulletPeople
Ah, yes, the knee-jerk praise for conviviality. Are these folks even reading their own statistics? One and five would like someone to ask them how their day went. That means 80% would rather you keep your mouth shut. But somehow this is a problem that needs to be fixed?
Having spent nearly 50 years engaging--pleasantly mind you--with customers my whole career, I look forward to the day I can speak to nobody for a week.
啊，是的，对宴饮交际的下意识赞美。这些人看的是自己的统计数据吗?五分之一的人想要别人问他们今天过得怎么样。这意味着80%的人希望你能闭上嘴。但不知何故，这成为了一个需要解决的问题?
我已经花了近50年的时间与客户打交道——请注意，我的整个职业生涯都是愉快地与客户打交道，我期待着有一天我可以在一周内不跟任何人说话。
LAURA KEY
The article is true. I'm seventy -- and I go many weeks and never speak to a human. Not even on the phone. I don't like to drive much anymore... and Amazon, Ebay, or the local grocery store delivers whatever I need. Even the local fabric store delivers for my sewing hobby. I spend my time watching old movies, making quilts, or talking to my six dogs.
这篇文章说得是事实。我七十岁了，有好几个星期都没和人说话了。甚至连电话都没打过。我不太喜欢开车……我需要什么东西，亚马逊、易趣网或当地的杂货店都能送货到门。就连当地的布料店也能把我喜欢的缝纫作品送货上门。我把时间花在看老电影、做被子以及和我的六条狗聊天上。
Diane
LAURA KEY
I know what you are saying here...such an unexpected life.
我知道你在说什么…这种生活太出乎意料了。
Mary
LAURA KEY
Ms Laura, i would love to be your friend.
劳拉女士，我很乐意成为你的朋友。
Jack Kennedy
Mary
So you can scam her out of her money.....
这样你就可以骗她的钱.....
rosario francis
Jack Kennedy
Exactly the reason I shy away from seniors here in New York. The minute you try to get close to them people suspect u r up to something. I am 67 yo, live in a community for seniors 55 yo and older.
这正是我在纽约避开老年人的原因。当你试图接近他们的那一刻，人们就怀疑你在搞什么鬼。我今年67了，住在年龄55岁及以上得老人服务社区。
Sonia
LAURA KEY
And where may u be at?im a pretty lonely person n if u would like n r near me i would love to be your companion
你可能在哪里?我是一个相当孤独的人，如果你愿意靠近我，我愿意做你的朋友。
Jack Kennedy
Sonia
Scammers coming at you LK
劳拉，骗子们正在赶来
rosario francis
Jack Kennedy
U must be a New Yorker!
你肯定是纽约人!
LAURA KEY
Sonia
I live out in the Texas countryside. Surrounded by coyotes, feral hogs, wild turkeys, mountain lions, bobcats, deer, rattlesnakes and very skittish Amazon delivery drivers.
我住在德克萨斯州的乡下。周围都是土狼、野猪、野火鸡、美洲狮、山猫、鹿、响尾蛇和非常神经质的亚马逊送货司机。
K. Kroas
It's amazing to me to see how little compassion the younger generation has for "lonely and invisible" seniors. Be careful what you wish for. Many of my close friends have died. I have no children. All of my relatives have died. You get to the point where you wonder (or wish) that it was over for you as well.
令我惊讶的是，年轻一代对“孤独和隐形的”老年人如此缺乏同情心。小心你的愿望。我的很多好朋友都去世了。我没有孩子。我所有的亲戚都去世了。你会想(或希望)这一切对你来说也都结束了。
Tammyd
K. Kroas
I hope you don’t feel that way K. Kroas, you are here for a purpose and the Lord will take you home when it’s your time. Until then all you have to do is be kind to others and share your beauty with the world. God Bless you K. Kroas
我希望你不要有这种感觉K·克罗埃丝斯，你存在这个世界上是有意义得，上帝会在你得时间到来得时候带你去天堂。在那之前，你所要做的就是善待他人，与这个世界分享你的美丽。上帝保佑你，K·克罗埃丝。
Tim
I'm 70 and I have installed a new roof on my house, am doing sheetrock, electrical work and HVAC. I prefer to not talk to anyone at all...for as long as I can. I have a neighbor who called the troopers in on me because they 'noticed' that my trash was not out to the curb at exactly 7am.
"People" are the enemy in my opinion and the fewer that I have to interact with the better.
我今年70岁了，我给房子装了一个新屋顶，我正在做薄板石膏板、电气工程和暖通空调。我宁愿不跟任何人说话……我能呆多久就呆多久。我有个邻居叫警察来找我，因为他们“注意到”我的垃圾没有在早上7点准时送到路边。
在我看来，“人”是敌人，我接触的人越少越好。
pouncekitty
Tim
Right! Most people are annoying busybody creeps who yell if you use a plastic straw. They are poisonous Leftwing creeps. Avoid and shut out.
没错!大多数人都是令人讨厌的爱管闲事的家伙，如果你用塑料吸管，他们就会大喊大叫。他们是有毒的左翼小人。躲着他们，把他们关在门外。
larryf
Not have to talk to anyone for a week...sounds like heaven! And loneliness makes you stay inside...do see the problem with that issue????!!!
一个星期都不用跟任何人说话…听起来像天堂!孤独让你待在屋里…看到这个问题了吗?!
Does that sound like 'heaven' to you??
This also actually happened to an elderly relative: She slipped in the bathtub and had a stroke, unable to move or get help. She was found a year later... Even her cat had died ...of starvation. Heaven?? Really??
那听起来像“天堂”吗?
这也确实发生在一位年长的亲戚身上:她在浴缸里滑倒，中风了，动弹不得，也得不到帮助。一年后才被发现了，就连她的猫都死了，饿死的。这叫天堂?真的吗?
larryf
LAURA KEY
You seem to have a problem in your family of "not caring"...So what if they live 2 states away...you stay in regular phone contact and if they do not answer you call local police to do a welfare check! 6 days is bad enough but 1 year and no one in family was concerned!! Even if you do not have a caring family...before you get too sick to get out you need to make friends join community centers and churches...they will all be there for you later.
你的家庭似乎有“不关心”的问题…所以如果他们住在两个州之外呢…你会保持定期和他们电话联系吗，如果他们不接你打电话，就打电话给当地的警察做“状况查看”!6天已经够糟糕了，但是1年，家里没有人关心!!就算你生活在没有一个充满爱心的家庭……在你病得无法出去之前，你也得结交朋友，加入社区中心和教堂……他们都将在那里等你。
Anne
LAURA KEY
I have long feared the issues you described. So at age 55 I moved across the country to a city with excellent public transportation so I wouldn't have to worry about having to drive. I chose a city with many amenities and activities for seniors. I joined a church to find community. I'm on a waiting list for a senior independent living apartment so I don't end up dying and no one knowing what happened to me. I'm not saying this to pat myself on the back, but to say that I think we have to plan for all aspects of aging, unpleasant as some aspects can be. Just sayin'.
长期以来，我一直担心你所描述的问题。55岁的时候，我搬到了一个公共交通便利的城市，这样我就不用担心开车了。我选择了一个有很多老年人生活设施和活动的城市。我加入教堂社区。我在一个高级独立生活公寓的等候名单上，这样我就不会死，也没人知道我身上发生了什么。我这么说并不是要自我安慰，而是想说，我认为我们必须为衰老的方方面面做好计划，尽管有些方面可能会令人不快。我只是发表下自己的意见。
