How Social Isolation Is Killing Us
社交孤立正謀殺我們
By Dhruv Khullar

My patient and I both knew he was dying.
我的病人和我都知道死神已離他不遠。

Not the long kind of dying that stretches on for months or years. He would die today. Maybe tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, the next day. Was there someone I should call? Someone he wanted to see?
它不是會拖上數月或數年的那種死法。他可能今天就死。或許明天。若不是明天，也會是後天。我該打電話給誰？他有想見的人嗎？

Not a one, he told me. No immediate family. No close friends. He had a niece down South, maybe, but they hadn’t spoken in years.
沒半個，他告訴我。他沒有近親。沒有密友。有個姪女在南部，或許，但已多年沒有說過話了。

For me, the sadness of his death was surpassed only by the sadness of his solitude.
對我來說，比他大限將至的傷感更深的，只有他的孤獨帶來的傷感。

Every day I see variations at both the beginning and end of life: a young man abandoned by friends as he struggles with opioid addiction; an older woman getting by on tea and toast, no longer able to clean her cluttered apartment. In these moments, it seems the only thing worse than suffering a serious illness is suffering it alone.
我每天在生命的起點和終點看到各種變奏：一個年輕人在和類鴉片癮搏鬥時，朋友棄而他去；一個靠茶和土司度日的老太太，已不再有能力清理她凌亂的公寓。在這些時刻，看起來比生重病更慘的，是孤單一個人承受這些苦痛。

Social isolation is a growing epidemic – one that’s increasingly recognized as having dire physical, mental and emotional consequences. Since the 1980s, the percentage of American adults who say they’re lonely has doubled from 20 percent to 40 percent.
社交孤立是一種越來普遍的流行病─人們越來越認識到它對身體、精神和情緒產生的可怕後果。從1980年代至今，表示自己感到孤寂的美國成人，從20%倍增到40％。

About one-third of Americans older than 65 live alone; half of those over 85 do. People in poor health – especially those with mood disorders like anxiety and depression – are likelier to feel lonely. Those without a college education are the least likely to have someone they can talk to about important personal matters.
65歲以上的美國人約有三分之一獨居，85歲以上者更有半數獨居。健康狀況較差的人，特別是有焦慮和憂鬱等情緒障礙的人，更容易感到孤寂。沒受大學教育者是最不可能找到人討論重大私事的一群人。

A wave of new research suggests social separation is bad for us. People with less social connection have disrupted sleep patterns, altered immune systems, more inflammation and higher levels of stress hormones. One recent study found that isolation increases the risk of heart disease by 29 percent and stroke by 32 percent.
一波新的研究結果顯示社會隔離對我們有害。較少社交連結的人睡眠模式可能變得紊亂，免疫系統可能出現變化，也會出現更多的發炎症狀和較高濃度的壓力荷爾蒙。最近的一項研究發現，孤立會使罹患心臟病風險提高29%，中風風險提高32%。

Another analysis that pooled data from 70 studies and 3.4 million people found that socially isolated individuals had a 30 percent higher risk of dying in the next seven years, an effect largest in middle age.
另一個根據70項研究，涵蓋340萬個研究對象的資料完成的分析指出，社交孤立的個人其後7年內死亡的機率升高30%，且這種效應在中年人身上最為明顯。

Loneliness can accelerate cognitive decline in older adults, and isolated individuals are twice as likely to die prematurely as those with more robust social interactions. These effects start early: Socially isolated children have significantly poorer health 20 years later, even after controlling for other factors. All told, loneliness is as important a risk factor for early death as obesity and smoking.
孤寂會使老年人認知功能加速衰退，孤立的人早死的機率是社交互動活躍者的兩倍。這些影響很早即會開始：社交孤立的兒童20年後健康明顯較差，即使在控制了其他因素後仍是如此。總而言之，孤獨和肥胖、吸菸一樣，是導致早死的重大危險因素。

Loneliness is especially tricky because accepting and declaring our loneliness carries profound stigma. Admitting we’re lonely can feel as if we’re admitting we’ve failed in life’s most fundamental domains: belonging, love, attachment. It attacks our basic instincts to save face, and makes it hard to ask for help.
孤寂是特別棘手的一個問題，因為接受和宣告我們的孤寂往往成為深刻的烙印。承認孤寂宛如承認我們在生活最基本的領域打了敗仗，沒有歸屬感，缺少愛，也沒有依賴感。它會攻擊我們想要保住面子的基本本能，使我們很難開口請求幫助。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/22/upshot/how-social-isolation-is-killing-us.html

2017-01-22．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 王麗娟譯

說文解字看新聞 王麗娟

社交孤立（social isolation）泛指一個人不與他人互動或往來的狀態，文章指出，社交孤立是日漸普及的流行病（epidemic）。新的研究顯示，這些社交孤立的人不見得欠缺社交技巧（social skill），往往還是對社交線索（social cue）特別敏感的人，在與人交往察言觀色之際，若社交線索模糊不清，他們往往會負面思考，最後出於自衛退出社交圈（social circle）。

隨著社會老年化，獨居老人的社交孤立問題料將日益受到重視，減少他們的社交孤立，維持他們的社交連結（social connection）是重要的一步。

根據維基百科的定義，社交孤立指的是個人與社會完全或近乎完全不接觸的狀態。它和孤單、寂寞（loneliness）不同，孤單、寂寞指的是暫時不與其他人產生社交連結。社會孤立是所有年齡層（age group）的問題，只是不同年齡層有不同的症狀。

社交孤立的類似特徵包括老是宅在家中，不和家人、朋友、認識者溝通，或是蓄意避開與其他人的接觸。

Ailing Vermont Town Pins Hopes on Mideast Refugees
美國衰敝小城 寄望中東難民
By Jess Bidgood

They hustled into the church on a biting winter evening, unburdened themselves of scarves and gloves, and settled into pews to sound out words in Arabic.
在一個酷寒的冬夜，他們急忙擠進教堂，脫下圍巾和手套，在一排排的椅子上坐定，學習識讀阿拉伯文字詞。

“Ahlan fii Rutland,” said Fran Knapp, a retiree who lives about 20 minutes away, one of two or three dozen people who have attended a class here on rudimentary Arabic.
住在離這裡約20分鐘路程的退休人士法蘭．納普念出：「Ahlan fii Rutland。」他是參加阿拉伯語基礎班的二、三十人之一。

It was one of many preparations this remote city in central Vermont is making before 100 refugees from Syria and Iraq arrive here over the next year, with the first expected to come this month.
在未來一年之間，將有100名敘利亞和伊拉克難民抵達這個位在佛蒙特州中部的偏遠城市，第一批難民預期這個月就會來到。而開設前述阿拉伯語班，正是這個城市事前的許多準備工作之一。

The plan’s fiercest advocate has been the mayor of Rutland, Christopher Louras, who has cited not the moral argument for resettling refugees, but an economic one: This shrinking city, long removed from its heyday as a marble producer and regional railroad hub, needs every new resident it can get. Syrian refugees, he has said, are an opportunity.
這計畫最強力的倡議者是拉特蘭市長克里斯多佛．魯拉斯，他為收容安置這些難民提出的理由非道德主張，而是經濟論述：這個正在萎縮的城市，早已離開了做為大理石產地和地方鐵路交通中心的黃金時期，需要能抓住每一個新居民。他曾說，敘利亞難民提供了機會。

“Rutland’s demographic condition right now is not just one of a declining population, but it’s also a graying population,” said Louras, who became the mayor about 10 years ago as a Republican, but has since become an independent. “We need people,” he added.
魯拉斯說：「拉特蘭現在的人口狀況不只是人口正在減少，同時人口也在老化。」他大約在10年前以共和黨籍身分當上市長，但從那時起改為無黨無派。他接著說：「我們需要人。」

The plan, born in a time of national discord over Muslim immigration and criticism by President-elect Donald Trump of Syrian refugees, has divided the city: An opposition group, Rutland First, sprang up – as did Rutland Welcomes, to collect donated items, help the new arrivals and watch for job openings that might suit them.
這個計畫誕生的時機，正值全美國對穆斯林移民意見分歧，總統當選人川普對敘利亞難民有所批評之際，這個計畫也使這個城市分裂：反對這個計畫的團體「拉特蘭優先」冒出了頭，而另一個團體「歡迎來到拉特蘭」也同時出現，後者成立宗旨是收集捐助的物品，幫助新來的人，注意可能適合他們的職缺。

But the preparations are unfolding under a cloud of uncertainty, because it is not yet clear whether, as president, Trump will make good on his campaign promise to suspend the resettlement of Syrian refugees in the United States.
但準備工作在不確定的陰影下展開，因為目前還不清楚，川普當上總統後是否會履行競選承諾，暫停在美國安置敘利亞難民。

原文參照：
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/syria-iraq-refugees-vermont-rutland-plan.html

2017-01-22．聯合報．D4．紐約時報賞析 田思怡譯