来源：《泰晤士报》
原文见报日期：2023年5月3日
注意文中epidemic和pandemic的区别
Loneliness is as bad for you as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, according to a top US health official, as he warned that America faces an “epidemic of loneliness and isolation”.
美国一位高级卫生官员表示，孤独对你的危害与每天抽15支烟一样严重。他警告称，美国正面临“孤独和孤立的流行病”。
Dr Vivek Murthy, the US surgeon general, called for growing social isolation to be treated as a public health threat as serious as obesity or drug abuse. Murthy said medical studies had found that about half of all American adults were affected by loneliness, with the crisis exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
美国卫生局局长维韦克?穆尔蒂博士呼吁，应将日益加剧的社会孤立视为一种公共健康威胁，与肥胖或滥用药物一样严重。穆尔蒂说，医学研究发现，大约一半的美国成年人受到孤独的影响，新冠疫情加剧了这种危机。
“Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling,” Murthy said. “It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.” Murthy called for “new policies to advance social connection” and a collective effort to “mend the social fabric of our nation”.
“孤独不仅仅是一种不好的感觉，”穆尔蒂说。“它会增加患心血管疾病、痴呆、中风、抑郁、焦虑和过早死亡的风险。与社会脱节对死亡率的影响与每天吸15支香烟造成的死亡率相似，甚至比肥胖和缺乏体育锻炼造成的死亡率还要高。”穆尔蒂呼吁制定“促进社会联系的新政策”，并集体努力“修复美国的社会结构”。
The report is part of a drive by the Biden administration to address mental health. One study cited in Murthy’s report found that a decline in social connections accelerated during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a 16 per cent decline in the size of friendship networks between 2019 and 2020. Forty-nine per cent of Americans said they had “three or fewer close friends” in 2021, compared with 27 per cent in 1990.
该报告是拜登政府解决心理健康问题努力的一部分。穆尔蒂的报告中引用的一项研究发现，在新冠肺炎大流行期间，社会联系的下降速度加快，2019年至2020年期间，友谊网络的规模下降了16%。到2021年，49%的美国人表示他们有“三个或更少的亲密朋友”，而1990年这一比例为27%。
A study last year in the journal Aging found that feelings of loneliness, unhappiness and hopelessness added up to a year and eight months to a person’s age, five months more than smoking.
去年发表在《Aging》期刊上的一项研究发现，孤独、不快乐和绝望的感觉会使一个人的年龄增加1年零8个月，比吸烟多5个月。
Regarding the impact of technology and social media, particularly on young adults and teenagers, Murthy’s report mentioned a study that found a third of over-18s in the US claimed that they were online “almost constantly”, up from about a fifth of adults in 2015.
关于科技和社交媒体的影响，尤其是对年轻人和青少年的影响，穆尔蒂的报告提到了一项研究，该研究发现，美国18岁以上的人中有三分之一声称他们“几乎一直”上网，而2015年这一比例约为五分之一。
Murthy urged parents to set time aside for children to socialise away from technology and “delay the age at which children join social media platforms”.
穆尔蒂敦促家长们留出时间让孩子远离科技产品进行社交，“提高孩子加入社交媒体平台的年龄”。