Oh, you know, quiet – I haven’t done much or been anywhere – so, it’s been a bit boring.
哦，你知道，安静 —— 我没有做过太多事情，也没有去过任何地方 —— 所以，这有点无聊。
Neil(尼尔)
I know that feeling – when nothing exciting happens, it can lead to boredom – the state of feeling little excitement or enthusiasm, often because you’ve got nothing to do. But Sam, there is some good news – boredom can be good for you.
I will but not until I’ve set you a question to answer. A survey by British newspaper The Mirror, found Peter Willis to be ‘the most boring man in Britain’. What ‘boring’ hobby did he have that earned him that title? Was it…? a) Collecting train numbers – that’s train spotting; b) Taking photos of letterboxes, or c) Driving around roundabouts of the UK.
Wow – they all sounds deadly boring – but I imagine taking photos of letterboxes is the most boring – perhaps?
哇 —— 它们听起来都很无聊 —— 但我想给信箱拍照是最无聊的 —— 也许？
Neil(尼尔)
Well, as usual, I will give you the answer at the end of the programme. But, as you say, we might die of boredom following those hobbies – a phrase that expresses how extremely bored you are.
True. But let’s talk about feeling bored when we have nothing to do – not even trainspotting! Having nothing to do, or doing the same task again and again, can certainly be demotivating. But according to Sandi Mann, who was speaking on the BBC World Service’s The Why Factor programme, being bored doesn’t have to be boring – it can be good for us…
真。但是，让我们谈谈当我们无事可做时感到无聊 —— 甚至连火车观察都没有！无事可做，或者一遍又一遍地做同样的任务，肯定会令人沮丧。但根据 BBC World Service 的 The Why Factor 节目主持人 Sandi Mann 的说法，无聊不一定是无聊的 —— 它对我们有好处......
Dr Sandi Mann, Psychology lecturer, University of Central Lancashire(Sandi Mann博士，心理学讲师， 中央兰开夏大学)
It's this emotion everyone thinks is so negative but there's a real positive to it too, there's a real upside to it. We become more creative, so for example, being bored allows our mind to wander, allows us to daydream, and that can actually lead us to problem solving and creativity. I fear that by swiping and scrolling our boredom away these days, that we're losing that creativity because we've got so much to entertain us - but it seems that the more we have to entertain us, the more bored we seem to be! And there's a reason for that – and that’s because we actually get addicted to stimulation and to novelty.
Some interesting thoughts from Sandi Mann there. She says that there’s an upside to boredom – that means a positive side to a bad situation. And that is, it can make us more creative.
That’s because when we have nothing to do, we allow our minds to wander. We can think freely, which might help us solve problems. This can’t happen when, as Sandi says, we swipe and scroll our boredom away – referring to the movements we make on smartphones.
Yes, and it’s smartphones we turn to for entertainment when we are bored – it gives us stimulation – it activates or enriches the mind. And it gives us something new, unusual and different to look at – what we can call novelty.
I’m sure many of us look at our phones when we are in a queue or sitting on a bus – just to prevent being bored – but it seems we should just sit and think. Let’s take inspiration from Manoush Zomorodi – an author and host of the Zig Zag podcast. Here she is speaking on The Why Factor programme, explaining that it takes effort but it’s worth it….
Manoush Zomorodi, author and podcaster(Manoush Zomorodi，作家和播客)
We think, who wants to be bored? What an awful sensation that is. And I think that the issue is with mind-wandering, you don't immediately get to roses and chirping birds, and amazing creative thinking - there is this uncomfortable period that you have to pass through where maybe you start thinking about things you don't want to think about or uncomfortable situations or unpleasant feelings that you have, that's why boredom I think has negative connotations 'cos we feel uncomfortable - but when we stick with it that's when the good stuff can come.
So, we might think boredom as an awful sensation – or feeling – because that’s when we start focussing on negative things. Manoush thinks that’s why we have negative connotations with boredom.
A connotation is an emotion connected to a word. But if we work through the bad stuff and stick with it, amazing creative thinking can happen – as Manoush says ‘the good stuff can come’.
So, basically, don’t think of boredom as being boring! However, could this adjective be applied to the hobby that Peter Willis – the most boring man in Britain – does?
Ah yes, Neil, you asked me what that hobby is. And I said he took photos of postboxes. Was I right?
啊，是的，尼尔，你问我那个爱好是什么。我说他拍了邮筒的照片。我说得对吗？
Neil(尼尔)
Yes, you were! Congratulations. The former postman dreams of taking a photo of all of Britain’s 115,000 postboxes.
是的，你是！祝贺。这位前邮递员梦想着为英国所有115,000个邮筒拍照。
Sam(山姆)
Well, good luck to Peter. I didn’t realise there were so many postboxes in the UK! So, we’ve been talking about the benefits of boredom today – boredom is the state of feeling little excitement or enthusiasm.
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