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It's time to go again to the A Moment of Science mailbag. A listener writes:
又到了科學一刻的讀信時間，一位聽友寫道：
Dear A Moment of Science,
親愛的《科學一刻》欄目：
Everyone gets bored from time to time. But I was wondering–what is boredom exactly, scientifically speaking?
每個人時不時都感覺到對某事的厭倦。但是我想知道---從科學的角度看，厭倦具體指的是什么呢？
Boredom is one of those really common things that, partly because it's so common, is rarely investigated with much rigor. But a study by researchers in Canada aims to change that. In fact, they've come up with a definition of boredom.
厭倦是一個普遍存在的現象，因為它是如此普遍，因此人們很少花費時間精力對它進行調查研究。加拿大研究人員試圖改變這種現狀。事實上，他們已經對厭倦給出了定義。
According to the study, boredom is “an aversive state of wanting, but being unable, to engage in satisfying activity,” arising from failures in one of the brain's attention networks.
調查研究表明，厭倦是指“渴望但又無法從事令人滿意的活動的一種反感狀態”，起因是大腦注意力網絡故障。
In other words, you're bored when you can't quite focus on stuff–such as thoughts or things happening around you–that allows you to engage in absorbing activities. And, to make it worse, you're sort of aware that you can't pay attention, which makes you feel listless and, well, bored.
換句話說，當你無法完全集中精力在某些事情上，例如思考問題或者發生在你周圍的事無法吸引你的注意力時，你便會感到無聊。更糟糕的是，你意識到自己不能集中注意力，這會讓你更加無精打采進而產生厭倦情緒。
Boredom is linked to many psychological, social, and health problems. For example, being bored at work can make you less productive and, in some jobs, can lead to serious accidents. Also, boredom has been linked to substance abuse and other health issues.
厭倦與許多心理學、社會學還有健康問題相關聯。例如，對于工作的厭倦會讓工作效率低下，對于某些工作來說可能導致嚴重的事故。同時，厭倦與濫用藥物以及其他健康問題密切關聯。
There are all sorts of ways to try to avoid becoming bored, or snapping out of it when you feel bored. But this research could be a first step towards developing more scientific ways to curb boredom.
其實有各種各樣的方法可以讓你避免陷入厭倦的困境或者及時從厭倦的狀態中脫身。此項研究僅僅是開發更多科學方式以抑制厭倦的第一步。
