Following more than five-thousand people for ten years, the study observed how loneliness can spread through a group. Lonely people, it seems, transmit their sad, lonely feelings to people around them. What happens, according to the study, is that interacting with a lonely person can leave you with a negative feeling toward friendship generally. And so you’re more likely to have negative experiences with other friends, weakening social bonds. If loneliness is allowed to spread unchecked, it can destroy a social network. The best way to ward off this sort of lonely contagion is to pay more attention to people on the edges of a group. Reaching out to those who are shy or don’t fit in, and are therefore lonely, can make them feel less alone. And so they’re less likely to spread lonely feelings throughout the group.

【生詞注釋】
observe v. 觀察

transmit v. 傳播

interact v.交流，交往

unchecked adj.未受制止的

ward off 避開; 擋住

contagion n.傳染

fit in 融入（群體）

【參考譯文】
對(duì)5千多人進(jìn)行10年的研究，研究觀察寂寞是如何在群體中傳播的。寂寞的人，看上去，會(huì)將他們的悲哀，孤獨(dú)感覺傳播給周圍的人。根據(jù)研究表明，和一個(gè)孤獨(dú)的人交往會(huì)使你對(duì)友誼產(chǎn)生消極的情緒。然后你和其他的朋友會(huì)有不越快的經(jīng)理，消弱社會(huì)紐帶。如果孤獨(dú)不受阻止地傳播，它會(huì)破壞社會(huì)關(guān)系網(wǎng)。阻止這種孤獨(dú)蔓延的最好辦法就是多關(guān)注處于群體邊緣的人。接觸那些因害羞或是不合群而感到孤獨(dú)的人，這樣會(huì)使他們感到不那么孤獨(dú)。他們?cè)谌后w中傳播孤獨(dú)的可能性也就變小了。