Some diseases are contagious，like colds, flu, and chicken pox. But what about loneliness? Loneliness may not be a disease, at least not in the same way that chicken pox is. But loneliness can be contagious. How so? The same way that many emotions can be infectious. Being around someone who’s really happy can put you in a good mood. While hanging around someone who’s depressed can be, well, depressing. The same goes for loneliness. According to one study, the average person feels lonely about forty-eight days per year. Having a lonely friend adds around seventeen extra days of lonely feelings.

【生詞注釋】
contagious adj. 傳染性的

chicken pox 水痘

loneliness n. 孤獨(dú), 寂寞

emotion n.情感

infectious adj. 有傳染性的; 有感染力的

hang around 聚在……附近

【句子講解】
Being around someone who’s really happy can put you in a good mood.
這是個(gè)復(fù)合句，主語(yǔ)是一個(gè)定語(yǔ)從句，who’s really happy做定語(yǔ)修飾someone,翻譯時(shí)要將定語(yǔ)放在先行詞前，翻譯成“在一個(gè)快樂的人的周圍”。mood 是名詞，意為“心情”，put sb in a good mood 也就是 “讓某人有好心情”的意思。

【參考譯文】
有些病是傳染性的。比如感冒，流感和水痘。但是寂寞也會(huì)傳染給他人嗎？寂寞并不是病，至少和水痘的病理不一樣。但是寂寞也能傳染。如何傳染的,和許多情感一樣傳染。在快樂的人周圍會(huì)使你有好心情。在壓抑的人身旁會(huì)使你壓抑。寂寞也是如此。根據(jù)一項(xiàng)研究，大多數(shù)人平均每年有48天感到寂寞。如果有一個(gè)寂寞的朋友，這會(huì)讓你額外增加17天感到孤獨(dú)的日子。