BBC 英语学习 6分钟英语 用汤对抗孤独

6 min English from BBC learning english dot com.

Hello, this is Minute English from BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil, and I'm Beth.

What's our bed? You look a little sad.

Well,

recently, I've been spending lots of time with my cat and house plants.

If you know what I mean,

im feeling a bit lonely, it might help to know that you're not the only one feeling lonely.

Loneliness has been called the modern epidemic.

Although millions of us live together in towns and cities, more and more people report feeling lonely and unconnected to those they live close to.

Loneliness can affect anyone, and while everyone's experience of loneliness is different, its effects can be serious.

Research has shown that loneliness puts people at greater risk of many health issues, including dementia and heart disease.

So how can loneliness be fixed?

In this program, we'll be hearing about one project in the Netherlands aiming to do just that, and as usual, will be learning some useful new vocabulary as well.

But 1st, I have a question for you, beth.

Here in the UK, an organization called the Campaign to End Loneliness has been offering advice and support since 2011.

So according to the campaign, what proportion of British adults report feeling lonely, at least some of the time?

Is it A 29 %? B 39% or C 49 %?

Um, I will guess it's 39 %.

OK, beth, I'll reveal the answer later in the program.

Feeling lonely is not necessarily the same as being alone.

Some people can happily spend lots of time on their own, while others may be surrounded by people but still feel disconnected.

So what do we mean when we say we feel lonely?

Here's Myra, anubi, presenter of BBC World Service program People Fixing the World, explaining what loneliness means to her.

It's that feeling when you crave people's company and you find it hard to connect, or maybe you just feel left out with no one to turn to.

Now, feeling lonely isn't just uncomfortable when it's experienced over time, it's been associated with health issues, like a higher risk of having depression, dementia or even heart disease.

When we're lonely, we crave people's company.

We want their company a lot.

We might also feel left out, unhappy because we're not included in what others are doing.

And maybe we have no one to turn to, no one we can go to and ask for support and help.

Someone who suffered all these feelings was Bep de Brune.

In 2013, bep, age 74, was found dead at her home in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands.

Her death wasn't suspicious, but it shocked the whole country, because it turned out she'd been dead for ten years.

Bep had lost contact with her only child, and kept to herself in her apartment.

So when she died some time in 2003, no one realized verbs tragic story inspired a national campaign to combat loneliness, including one project called OMA Soup, a kitchen bringing lonely, elderly people together with school children and students to make soup.

Omar means grandma in Dutch, and the project encourages young people to spend time with their grandparen'ts generation.

Here, claire Bates, reporter for BBC World Service program People Fixing the World, explains how the project got started.

Well, it's run by two young guys called Max Kronandak and Martin Carters.

And now they were concerned their grandparen'ts generation were becoming isolated and lonely.

And meanwhile, they had lots of student friends who had free time.

So why not try to bring these two generations together through making soup?

Omas Soup was started by Max and Martin, two local guys, or men.

They wanted to involve their student friends because they had lots of free time, time when they do not have to work or study and can do what they want.

Max and Martin found the perfect way to help elderly people who felt lonely by bringing them together with students.

If you bring someone together, you help people or groups to become friendly or to do something together, especially something they wouldn't usually do, like make soup.

Oma soup has been a big success and has spread to other cities across the Netherlands, including Rutterdam, the hometown of Bep De Brown, making her tragic death the spark for something much more hopeful.

I think it's time to reveal the answer to your question.

Neil, right. I asked you what proportion of British adults report feeling lonely, at least some of the time?

And I said it was 39 %, which was the wrong answer, I am afraid, beth.

Sadly, the correct answers even higher, 49% of adults.

That's around 26 million people in the UK, making it

even more important to reach out and connect with others.

OK, it's time to recap the vocabulary we've learned in this program, starting with the verb crave.

To have a strong wish or desire for something.

If you feel left

out, you're unhappy, because you've been excluded from something, to turn to someone means to go to someone and ask them for help or support a guy is an informal way of saying a man Free time also caught.

Leisure time is time when you do not have to work or study and can do what you want.

And finally, the frasal verb to bring someone together, means to help people or groups become friendly or do something together, especially if they usually don't.

Once again, our 6 min are up.

But if you're feeling lonely, remember you're not alone.

So reach out by joining us again next time, here at 6 min English.

Goodbye for now. Bye. 6 min English.

From BBC learning english dot com.

扫码查看听力音频