孤獨的生活:整整一週都不跟人説話的老年人數量驚人_風聞

【來源龍騰網】

正文原創翻譯：

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.

倫敦——對大多數人來説，隨着年齡的增長，我們身體的速度就會越慢。但對一部分人來説，變老也意味着社交活動的放緩——有些身在家中的老年人連着好些天幾乎都不與其他人進行人際互動。一項針對英國老年人的新調查揭示了變老後這一可悲但真實的影響，調查指出，數十萬人經常一週都和別人説上一句話。

According to the survey of 1,896 seniors over 65 in the United Kingdom, more than one in five (22%) will have a conversation with no more than just three people over the span of an entire week! That translates to nearly 2.6 million elderly folks who don’t enjoy regular human contact on a daily basis. Perhaps most alarming though is researchers say an alarming 225,000 individuals will go a week without talking to anyone face-to-face.

英國對1896名年齡在65歲以上的老年人進行了一項調查，其中超過五分之一(22%)的人一週內與不超過三個人進行交談!也就是説，有近260萬老年人每天無法進行正常的人際接觸。也許最令人擔憂的是，研究人員稱有22.5萬人一週不與任何人進行面對面的交談。

“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.

英國一家慈善機構英國時代與吉百利牛奶巧克力聯合進行了這次研究，英國時代主管卡洛琳·亞伯拉罕在聲明中説：“我們大多數人認為一個親切友好的問候是理所當然的——這只是每天日常生活的一部分,但這些最新數據顯示,數十萬老年人在英國今天甚至這周內都是孤獨的，甚至不能和人分享一些簡單的單詞。”

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.

調查還顯示，38%的老年人承認，隨着年齡的增長，他們有時會感到孤獨，12%，也就是大約八分之一的人承認，孤獨讓他們不敢出門。

“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.”

亞伯拉罕説:“孤獨是一個巨大的問題，因為退休、喪親之痛和健康狀況不佳意味着許多老年人發現，他們真正被陪伴的時間比自己希望的要少得多。孤獨會影響健康、幸福和看待自己的方式，會讓你覺得自己是隱形的、而且被遺忘了。”

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.

約40%的老年人説，如果他們認識鄰居，每天出門時會更有信心。一想到有人停下來與他們聊天，他們的前景就變得光明起來:54%的受訪者同意，即使是與鄰居或熟人的簡短交談，也會大大改善他們的生活。四分之一的老年人説，在銀行或雜貨店等地方排隊時，有人對他們微笑或打招呼讓他們感覺很好。五分之一的人認為如果有人停下來問他們今天過得怎麼樣，自己就會很激動。

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.

與此同時，另一項針對2000名年齡在16歲至45歲英國人的調查顯示，55%的年輕人承認擔心晚年會感到孤獨。考慮到這一點，這部分人中有三分之二的人表示，他們願意做一些事情來幫助孤獨的老年人增強信心，但37%的人擔心這樣的舉動不會受到歡迎。另有30%的人羞於與老年人交談，27%的人承認不知道如何幫助老年人，四分之一的人説他們自己太忙了。

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.

為了幫助這一領域，吉百利和英國時代發起了一項名為“捐出你的言語”的新活動，幫助孤獨的老年人振作起來。這項活動鼓勵人們承諾停下來與社區的老人們聊天，幫助他們戰勝孤獨。