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“Where do they all come from?”wondered Paul McCartney in 1966.“
“他们都是从哪里来的?”保罗·麦卡特尼在1966年问道。
Britain’s government has taken a more analytical approach to lonely people.
英国政府对孤独的人采取了更为分析的方法。
Five years ago it launched a “loneliness strategy”, to tackle “one of the greatest public-health challenges of our time.”
五年前，它启动了一项“孤独战略”，以应对“我们这个时代最大的公共卫生挑战之一”。
The Office for National Statistics (ons) developed measures to test it.
英国国家统计局制定了测试方法。
The government provided funds for research.
政府为研究提供资金。
It told doctors to try “social prescribing”, sending patients to social events rather than to the pharmacy.
它告诉医生尝试“社会处方”，让病人参加社会活动，而不是去药房开药。
And it appointed a loneliness minister.
它还任命了一位孤独部长。
Loneliness is one of many briefs that Stuart Andrew, mp for Pudsey, West Yorkshire, has at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
孤独部长是在文化、媒体和体育部工作的斯图尔特·安德鲁众多概要的其中之一，他是来自西约克郡帕德西的议员。
Yet it is tempting to scoff.
然而，它很容易被嘲笑。
Stephen Colbert, a comedian, joked that “Minister for Loneliness” sounded like “a Victorian euphemism for ‘gigolo’”.
喜剧演员斯蒂芬·科尔伯特开玩笑说，“孤独部长”听起来像是“维多利亚时代对‘舞男’的委婉说法”。
Loneliness is hard to pin down: the government defines it as “a subjective, unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship.”
孤独很难界定:政府将其定义为“一种主观的、不受欢迎的，缺乏或失去陪伴的感觉”。
Like all emotions, it is difficult to measure.
和所有的情绪一样，它很难衡量。
So is the success of interventions designed to tackle it.
为解决这一问题而设计的干预措施的成功与否也是如此。
It has probably become more common.
孤独可能已经变得越来越普遍。
Some 8.3m people lived alone in 2022, a 16% increase in two decades.
在2022年，大约有830万人独自生活，在20年内增长了16%。
Many Britons have less cash for going out than before.
许多英国人为外出准备的现金都比以前少了。
And socialising online is no substitute for the real thing.
网络社交并不能代替现实生活。
The Campaign to End Loneliness, a charity, says 7% of British adults report being lonely often or always.
慈善组织“终结孤独运动”称，7%的英国成年人经常或总是感到孤独。
Those aged between 16 and 29 are twice as likely to report feeling lonely as those over 70.
年龄在16岁到29岁之间的人感到孤独的可能性是70岁以上的人的两倍。
A large study by Pamela Qualter, a professor of psychology at Manchester University, and others found that people in countries (like Britain and America) that score high for individualism also report greater loneliness.
曼彻斯特大学的心理学教授帕梅拉· 夸尔特和其他人进行的一项大型研究发现，在个人主义得分高的国家(如英国和美国)，人们也上报自己有更大的孤独感。
This matters because it seems to have a terrible effect on health.
这很重要，因为它似乎对健康有可怕的影响。
A large study in Nature Human Behaviour, a journal, found that people who are lonely are more likely to die early.
《自然人类行为》杂志的一项大型研究发现，孤独的人更有可能早死。
That may be because they have no one to remind them to eat healthily, exercise or go to the doctor.
这可能是因为没有人提醒他们健康饮食、锻炼或去看医生。
