雙語(yǔ)閱讀：無(wú)聊對(duì)你有好處還是致命呢?

　　Boredom traditionally has a bad reputation. In 2009, a study of 7,524 civil servants found that those with the highest levels of boredom were nearly 40% more likely to have died by the end of the 25-year trial, compared with those who weren’t bored.The bored civil servants were also more prone to rate their health worse and to be less active and have more menial jobs. The authors speculated that boredom and inactivity might drive people to drink more heavily and smoke –activities not related to longevity.

　　傳統(tǒng)意義上，無(wú)聊是個(gè)不好的詞。在2009年，一項(xiàng)針對(duì)7524個(gè)行政人員的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，那些有最高無(wú)聊程度的人，跟不無(wú)聊的人相比，有超過(guò)接近40%的可能在25年后死去。那些無(wú)聊的行政人員還更容易輕視自己的健康狀況，變得更不積極并從事更多腦力勞動(dòng)。所以推測(cè)，無(wú)聊和不活躍或許會(huì)驅(qū)使人加重酗酒和吸煙，即一些違背長(zhǎng)壽的活動(dòng)。

　　Boredom is often defined as a state of dissatisfaction with the dullness of a situation – usually with a bit of restlessness and fatigue. So it may seem counterintuitive that researchers are suggesting boredom might have benefits, and, indeed, be an evolutionary insurance scheme for making us seek new experiences. A series of studies from the University of Virginia,published in the journal Science in 2014 found that 18 out of 42 students who were left in a room with nothing to do for 15 minutes gave themselves at least one mild shock on the ankle to alleviate the boredom. The authors concluded that people would rather do something unpleasant than nothing.

　　無(wú)聊通常被定義為對(duì)某種單調(diào)情況感到不開(kāi)心的狀態(tài)，常帶有些許的不安和疲憊。因此這件事或許看起來(lái)是違反直覺(jué)的：研究者認(rèn)為無(wú)聊也許有好處而且事實(shí)上可以成為一種改進(jìn)的保障策略，讓我們尋求新的經(jīng)歷。2014年發(fā)布在科學(xué)家雜志上，弗吉尼亞大學(xué)一系列的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，被留在房間里15分鐘沒(méi)有事情做的42個(gè)學(xué)生有18個(gè)為了消除無(wú)聊至少輕敲過(guò)自己的踝關(guān)節(jié)。作者總結(jié)，相比較于什么都不做，人們寧愿做一些不開(kāi)心的事。

　　So whatever happened to daydreaming? A study from the University of Central Lancashire links a period of boredom with heightened creativity immediately afterwards. It is not the most robust study: 40 people copied numbers from a telephone directory for 15 minutes and then had to come up with different uses for a pair of polystyrene cups. Their ideas were rated more creative than those of 40 people who didn’t do the boring task first. Another group, who read the numbers， were even more creative with the cups than those who wrote them out. Dr Sandi Mann,one of the authors,concluded that we should embrace boredom "to enhance our creativity".

　　因此做白日夢(mèng)會(huì)發(fā)生什么呢？一項(xiàng)中央蘭開(kāi)夏大學(xué)的的研究認(rèn)為一段時(shí)間的無(wú)聊過(guò)后將會(huì)馬上增加創(chuàng)造力。40個(gè)人先從一個(gè)電話號(hào)碼簿中摘抄一些數(shù)字，然后需要想出一對(duì)聚苯乙烯杯子的不同用處。根據(jù)評(píng)價(jià)，他們的想法比40個(gè)沒(méi)有先做這些無(wú)聊任務(wù)的人更加有創(chuàng)造力。另一組的讀數(shù)字的人甚至比那些摘抄的更有創(chuàng)造力。作為作者之一的Sandi Mann醫(yī)生總結(jié)，我們應(yīng)當(dāng)接受無(wú)聊以“加強(qiáng)我們的創(chuàng)造力”。