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Some diseases are contagious–like colds, flu, and chickenpox.
一些疾病是會傳染的，例如一般感冒、流感以及水痘。
But what about loneliness?
但是寂寞會不會傳染呢？
Loneliness may not be adisease, at least not in the same way that chicken pox is.
寂寞或許并不是一種疾病，至少跟水痘不一樣吧。
But loneliness can be contagious.
但它是會傳染的。
How so? The same way that many emotions can be infectious.
為什么會這樣呢？同樣的道理，人的許多情緒都是可以傳染的。
Being around someone who's really happy can put you in a good mood.
在一個快樂的人旁邊可以讓你心情愉快；
While hanging around someone who's depressed can be, well, depressing.
然而在一個失落的人旁邊會讓你感到沮喪。
The same goes for loneliness.
寂寞也是這樣的。
According to one study, the average person feels lonely about forty-eight days per year.
一項調查表明，人在一年當中感到孤獨的平均時間是48天。
Having a lonely friend adds around seventeen extra days of lonelyfeelings.
若是有個寂寞的朋友，會增加17天左右。
Following more than five-thousand people for ten years, the study observed how lonelinesscan spread through a group.
該項目在十年間跟蹤調查了5000多人，觀察寂寞是如何在一群人中蔓延的。
Lonely people, it seems, transmit their sad, lonely feelings to peoplearound them.
結果似乎是寂寞的人會把他們悲傷、寂寞的感覺傳播給他周圍的人。
What happens, according to the study, is that interacting with a lonely person canleave you with a negative feeling toward friendship generally.
根據這項調查，在一般情況下，與一個寂寞的人相處會會讓你對友誼有著消極的情緒。
And so you're more likely to havenegative experiences with other friends, weakening social bonds.
這樣一來，你就很可能與朋友發生不愉快，削弱你的社會聯系。
If loneliness is allowed to spread unchecked, it can destroy a social network.
倘若寂寞可以隨意蔓延，它會毀掉你的社交網絡。
The best way to ward off this sort of lonely contagion is to pay more attention to people onthe edges of a group.
避免寂寞傳染的最好方式就是將更多的注意力放在處于群里邊緣的人身上，
Reaching out to those who are shy or don't fit in, and are therefore lonely,can make them feel less alone.
向那些害羞或者不適應的人伸出手，這樣會讓他們感到沒那么寂寞。
And so they're less likely to spread lonely feelings throughout thegroup.
從而就不太將寂寞感傳給群體里的人。
