Well, recently I’ve been spending lots of time with my cat and house plants, if you know what I mean. I’m feeling a bit lonely.
好吧，最近我花了很多时间与我的猫和室内植物在一起，如果你明白我的意思的话。我感到有点孤独。
Neil(尼尔)
It might help to know that you’re not the only one feeling lonely. Loneliness has been called the ‘modern epidemic’. Although millions of us live together in towns and cities, more and more people report feeling lonely and unconnected to those they live close to.
Loneliness can affect anyone. And while everyone’s experience of loneliness is different, its effects can be serious. Research has shown that loneliness puts people at greater risk of many health issues, including dementia and heart disease.
So, how can loneliness be fixed? In this programme, we’ll be hearing about one project in the Netherlands aiming to do just that. And, as usual, we’ll be learning some useful new vocabulary as well. But first, I have a question for you, Beth. Here in the UK, an organisation called the ‘Campaign to End Loneliness’ has been offering advice and support since 2011. So according to the Campaign, what proportion of British adults report feeling lonely at least some of the time? Is it: a) 29%? b) 39%? or c) 49%?
OK, Beth, I’ll reveal the answer later in the programme. Feeling lonely is not necessarily the same as being alone. Some people can happily spend lots of time on their own, while others may be surrounded by people but still feel disconnected.
So, what do we mean when we say we feel lonely? Here’s Myra Anubi, presenter of BBC World Service programme, People Fixing The World, explaining what loneliness means to her:
It’s that feeling when you crave people’s company and you find it hard to connect. Or maybe you just feel left out with no one to turn to. Now, feeling lonely isn't just uncomfortable, when it's experienced over time, it's been associated with health issues like a higher risk of having depression, dementia, or even heart disease.
When we’re lonely, we crave people’s company – we want their company a lot.
当我们孤独时，我们渴望人们的陪伴 —— 我们非常想要他们的陪伴。
Beth(贝丝)
We might also feel left out – unhappy because we’re not included in what others are doing. And maybe we have no-one to turn to – no-one we can go to and ask for support and help.
Someone who suffered all these feelings was Bep de Bruin. In 2013, Bep, aged 74, was found dead at her home in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. Her death wasn’t suspicious, but it shocked the whole country, because it turned out she had been dead for 10 years! Bep had lost contact with her only child and kept to herself in her apartment. So when she died sometime in 2003, no-one realised.
遭受所有这些感受的人是 Bep de Bruin。2013年，74岁的贝普被发现死在荷兰鹿特丹的家中。她的死并不可疑，但震惊了整个国家，因为原来她已经死了10年了！贝普与她唯一的孩子失去了联系，并独自呆在她的公寓里。因此，当她在2003年的某个时候去世时，没有人意识到。
Beth(贝丝)
Bep’s tragic story inspired a national campaign to combat loneliness, including one project called, Oma’s Soup, a kitchen bringing lonely elderly people together with schoolchildren and students to make soup. ‘Oma’ means ‘grandma’ in Dutch and the project encourages young people to spend time with their grandparent’s generation.
Here, Claire Bates, reporter for BBC World Service programme, People Fixing The World, explains how the project got started:
在这里，英国广播公司世界服务节目“人们修复世界”的记者克莱尔·贝茨解释了该项目是如何开始的：
Claire Bates(克莱尔·贝茨)
Well, it's run by two young guys called Max Kranendijk and Martijn Canters. And now they were concerned their grandparents’ generation were becoming isolated and lonely. And meanwhile they had lots of student friends who had free time, so they thought why not try to bring these two generations together through making soup.
嗯，它是由两个叫 Max Kranendijk 和 Martijn Canters 的年轻人经营的。现在，他们担心祖父母那一代人会变得孤立和孤独。同时，他们有很多有空闲时间的学生朋友，所以他们想为什么不尝试通过做汤将这两代人聚集在一起。
Beth(贝丝)
Oma’s Soup was started by Max and Martijn, two local guys, or men. They wanted to involve their student friends because they had lots of free time, time when they do not have to work or study, and can do what they want.
Oma's Soup 是由 Max 和 Martijn 这两个当地人或男人创立的。他们想让他们的学生朋友参与进来，因为他们有很多空闲时间，他们不必工作或学习，可以做他们想做的事。
Neil(尼尔)
Max and Martijn found the perfect way to help elderly people who felt lonely by bringing them together with students. If you bring someone together, you help people or groups to become friendly or to do something together, especially something they wouldn’t usually do… like make soup.
Max 和 Martijn 找到了一种完美的方式，通过将感到孤独的老年人与学生聚集在一起来帮助他们。如果你把某人聚集在一起，你就会帮助人们或团体变得友好或一起做一些事情，尤其是他们通常不会做的事情......比如做汤。
Beth(贝丝)
Oma’s Soup has been a big success and has spread to other cities across the Netherlands, including Rotterdam, the hometown of Bep de Bruin, making her tragic death the spark for something much more hopeful. I think it's time to reveal the answer to your question, Neil.
Oma's Soup 取得了巨大的成功，并已传播到荷兰的其他城市，包括 Bep de Bruin 的故乡鹿特丹，使她的悲惨死亡成为更有希望的事情的火花。我想是时候揭示你问题的答案了，尼尔。
Neil(尼尔)
Right. I asked you what proportion of British adults report feeling lonely at least some of the time.
好的。我问你，英国成年人中有多少人表示至少在某些时候感到孤独。
Beth(贝丝)
And I said it was 39 percent.
我说是39%。
Neil(尼尔)
Which was… the wrong answer I'm afraid, Beth. Sadly, the correct answer is even higher - 49 percent of adults, that’s around 26 million people in the UK, making it even more important to reach out and connect with others. OK, it’s time to recap the vocabulary we've learned in this programme starting with the verb crave, to have a strong wish or desire for something.
If you feel left out, you’re unhappy because you’ve been excluded from something.
如果你感到被冷落，你就会不快乐，因为你被排除在外。
Neil(尼尔)
To turn to someone means to go to someone and ask them for help or support.
求助于某人意味着去找某人并向他们寻求帮助或支持。
Beth(贝丝)
A guy is an informal way of saying a man.
男人是说男人的非正式方式。
Neil(尼尔)
Free time, also called leisure time, is time when you do not have to work or study and can do what you want.
空闲时间，也称为闲暇时间，是您不必工作或学习，可以做自己想做的事的时间。
Beth(贝丝)
And finally, the phrasal verb to bring someone together means to help people or groups become friendly or do something together, especially if they usually don’t. Once again our six minutes are up, but if you are feeling lonely, remember you're not alone. So reach out by joining us again next time, here at 6 Minute English. Goodbye for now!
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