Loneliness is an emotion that doesn’t always make a lot of sense. Two people may have very similar social lives, and yet one might feel isolated more often than the other — even when surrounded by people they know and love, who know and love them back.

孤獨就是一時的情緒，沒有什么大不了的。哪怕是身處差不多環境的兩個人，周圍都有熟人和愛人的陪伴，對于他們的關心會也會給予反饋，但其中一個人也可能比另一個人感到寂寞。

These are the contradictions at the heart of a large new study published online last week in the Nature journal Neuropsychopharmacology, which finds that loneliness appears to be a “modestly heritable” trait. A predisposition to feeling lonely may run in the family, in other words. But there’s a caveat here, in that the authors of this study contend the link between genetics and a predisposition toward feeling isolated isn’t as strong as others have claimed.

最近網上發布的自然雜志神經心理藥物學專欄提供的研究引發熱議，因為該研究表明，孤獨感具有隱性遺傳的特質，換句話說，孤獨情緒會在家庭成員中相傳染。但是需要說明的是，該文的作者所強調的孤獨癥和遺傳基因的關系并不是其他人所認為的那么明顯。

A quick rundown of these new findings: The researchers drew from the Health and Retirement study, from which they gathered genetic information for 10,760 Americans aged 50 or older. Their results suggest that a tendency to feel lonely may be 14 to 27 percent genetic, considerably lower than the 37 to 55 percent suggested by other studies.

簡要介紹一下這個新發現：來自健康和退休試驗研究人員，選取1萬760位年齡在50及以上的人的基因樣本進行調查，結果顯示只有14%-27%的人認為孤獨情緒來自遺傳，明顯低于另外37%-55%認為感到孤獨是受他人的影響所致。

And so, much like physical health markers, you can inherit loneliness, but that might not be the whole story. The researchers argue that others should follow their lead, and investigate the potential genetic causes of psychological and psychiatric phenomena, which remain largely unexplored. For now, at least, it adds another layer to the explanation as to why lonely people tend to stay lonely.

此外，就像其他遺傳性生理病痛一樣，你可能就遺傳到了孤獨，但你也不必就此認命。你可以遵循相關研究人員的指導，來幫助他們研究孤獨這種隱形基因的心理和精神現象，彌補在這一領域的空白。到目前為止，至少我們知道了除遺傳以外，寂寞的人喜歡獨處會傳染。

Loneliness is an emotion that doesn’t always make a lot of sense. Two people may have very similar social lives, and yet one might feel isolated more often than the other — even when surrounded by people they know and love, who know and love them back.

孤獨就是一時的情緒，沒有什么大不了的。哪怕是身處差不多環境的兩個人，周圍都有熟人和愛人的陪伴，對于他們的關心會也會給予反饋，但其中一個人也可能比另一個人感到寂寞。

These are the contradictions at the heart of a large new study published online last week in the Nature journal Neuropsychopharmacology, which finds that loneliness appears to be a “modestly heritable” trait. A predisposition to feeling lonely may run in the family, in other words. But there’s a caveat here, in that the authors of this study contend the link between genetics and a predisposition toward feeling isolated isn’t as strong as others have claimed.

最近網上發布的自然雜志神經心理藥物學專欄提供的研究引發熱議，因為該研究表明，孤獨感具有隱性遺傳的特質，換句話說，孤獨情緒會在家庭成員中相傳染。但是需要說明的是，該文的作者所強調的孤獨癥和遺傳基因的關系并不是其他人所認為的那么明顯。

A quick rundown of these new findings: The researchers drew from the Health and Retirement study, from which they gathered genetic information for 10,760 Americans aged 50 or older. Their results suggest that a tendency to feel lonely may be 14 to 27 percent genetic, considerably lower than the 37 to 55 percent suggested by other studies.

簡要介紹一下這個新發現：來自健康和退休試驗研究人員，選取1萬760位年齡在50及以上的人的基因樣本進行調查，結果顯示只有14%-27%的人認為孤獨情緒來自遺傳，明顯低于另外37%-55%認為感到孤獨是受他人的影響所致。

And so, much like physical health markers, you can inherit loneliness, but that might not be the whole story. The researchers argue that others should follow their lead, and investigate the potential genetic causes of psychological and psychiatric phenomena, which remain largely unexplored. For now, at least, it adds another layer to the explanation as to why lonely people tend to stay lonely.

此外，就像其他遺傳性生理病痛一樣，你可能就遺傳到了孤獨，但你也不必就此認命。你可以遵循相關研究人員的指導，來幫助他們研究孤獨這種隱形基因的心理和精神現象，彌補在這一領域的空白。到目前為止，至少我們知道了除遺傳以外，寂寞的人喜歡獨處會傳染。