一周都不說一句話的孤獨的老年生活

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.

對我們大多數(shù)人來說，年齡越大，我們的行動就越慢。但對一些人來說，變老也意味著社交活動的放緩，以至于一些居家的老年人幾乎沒有人際交往。一項針對英國老年人的最新調(diào)查揭示了老齡化帶來的這一悲傷但真實的現(xiàn)狀，有成千上萬的老年人一周都不和一個人說話。

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.

根據(jù)對英國1896名65歲以上老年人的調(diào)查，超過五分之一(22%)的老年人在一整周的時間里只與三個人交談!這意味著有近260萬老年人不喜歡日常的人際交往。也許最令人擔(dān)心的是，研究人員說，有22.5萬人一周都不與任何人面對面交談。

“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.

“友好的‘你好’或‘你好嗎?’是我們大多數(shù)人都認為理所當(dāng)然的事情——這只是日常生活的一部分，但這些最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示，英國成千上萬的老年人將在今天和本周剩下的時間里獨自度過，沒有人可以和他們分享哪怕是幾個簡單的詞。”英國時代慈善總監(jiān)卡羅琳•亞伯拉罕斯(Caroline Abrahams)在一份聲明中表示。

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(diào)查還顯示，38%的老年人承認，隨著年齡的增長，他們有時會感到孤獨，其中12%的人(約八分之一)認為，孤獨使他們無法離開家。

“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.”

亞伯拉罕說：“孤獨是一個巨大的問題，因為退休、喪親和健康狀況不佳意味著，許多老年人花在與他人相處上的時間比他們希望的要少得多。孤獨會影響你的健康、幸福和你看待自己的方式——它會讓你感到忽視和被遺忘。”

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.

大約40%的老年人說，如果認識鄰居，他們每天出門會更有信心。一想到有人停下來和他們聊天，他們的前景就光明了：54%的受訪者同意，即使是和鄰居或熟人簡短的交談，也會大大改善他們一天的整體狀況。四分之一的老年人說，在銀行或雜貨店等地排隊時，當(dāng)有人微笑或向他們致意時，他們會感覺很好。如果有人停下來問他們一天過得怎么樣，五分之一的人會很激動。

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16-45歲之間的英國人的調(diào)查顯示，55%的年輕人承認，他們擔(dān)心老年時會感到孤獨。考慮到這一點，三分之二的受訪者表示，他們愿意做一些事情來幫助孤獨的老年人增強信心，但37%的人擔(dān)心這樣的舉動不會受到歡迎。另有30%的人感到害羞，不敢與老年人交談，27%的人承認自己不知道該如何幫助老年人，四分之一的人說自己實在太忙了。