Society · 人与社会 / 心理健康 / 社科议论
友谊的"衰退"：当年轻人的朋友圈越来越小
A growing body of surveys warns that people — especially young men — have fewer close friends than a generation ago. What is lost when friendship thins, and can it be rebuilt?
中文导读
友谊曾经是生活中无需多想的背景色，如今却被越来越多的人描述成一件需要"安排日程、刻意经营、甚至常常错过"的事。调查数据令人警醒：在美国一项被广泛引用的调查中，自称"一个密友都没有"的男性比例从 1990 年的 3% 一路升至三十年后的 15%，女性的朋友圈也在缩小，孤独感以过去难以想象的方式横跨各个年龄段。公共卫生官员开始把这一趋势当作"流行病"对待——美国卫生总署署长把长期孤独对健康的危害比作"每天抽 15 根烟"，将其与心脏病、痴呆症、抑郁症的高风险联系在一起。原因何在？屏幕承诺了连接，却常常只交付了干扰；更深层的结构变迁——更频繁的迁徙、更长的工作、更松散的家庭与社区——也在悄悄松动人与人之间的纽带。本文梳理这场"友谊衰退"的数据、成因与代价，并追问一个更朴素的问题：友谊变薄，我们失去了什么，又能否把它重新找回来？
一、原文精读
鼠标悬停在带 蓝色虚线下划线 的生词上，即可查看词性和释义。
🔊 英音朗读 · British English
由英音语音合成（en-GB）朗读全文原文，共 9 段。播放时原文会随进度逐句高亮，建议先盲听抓大意，再对照下方原文跟读，留意重音、连读与停顿。
【1】Friendship used to be taken for granted, an effortless background to daily life. Today it is increasingly described as something to be scheduled, managed and, for a growing number of people, missed altogether.
【2】The numbers are stark. In one widely cited American survey, the share of men reporting no close friends at all rose from 3 percent in 1990 to 15 percent three decades later; women's circles shrank too, and loneliness now cuts across age groups in ways that once seemed unlikely.
【3】Public health officials have begun to treat the trend as an epidemic. The US Surgeon General has compared the health toll of chronic loneliness to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day, linking isolation to higher risks of heart disease, dementia and depression.
【4】What has changed? Technology is an obvious suspect. Screens promise connection but often deliver distraction, replacing the deep, unrushed conversations that once bound people together with a stream of shallow, performative updates.
【5】Deeper structural shifts matter too. People move more, work longer and change jobs more often than they once did, while the institutions that once knitted neighbourhoods together — churches, clubs, extended families — have frayed.
【6】The cost is not merely emotional. Researchers find that weak social ties predict earlier death as strongly as well-known risks like obesity and physical inactivity, making friendship, in effect, a matter of survival rather than sentiment.
【7】To be sure, "fewer friends" need not mean "lonelier" in every case; a single confidant can matter more than a dozen acquaintances, and some solitude is freely chosen and restorative.
【8】The good news is that friendship can be rebuilt with deliberate effort. Studies suggest that simply reaching out — a message, a shared meal, a recurring commitment — restores closeness faster than most people expect, and that the fear of rejection is usually far worse than the reality.
【9】In the end, the "friendship recession" is not a law of nature but a habit we have drifted into — and habits, however stubborn, can be changed. The question is whether we still remember how to begin.
原文出处：本文根据美国卫生总署署长咨询报告《Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation》（2023）、Survey Center on American Life《The State of American Friendship》（2021）等公开资料整理改写，供学习使用。
三、长难句分析（三步拆解法）
In one widely cited American survey, the share of men reporting no close friends at all rose from 3 percent in 1990 to 15 percent three decades later; women's circles shrank too, and loneliness now cuts across age groups in ways that once seemed unlikely.
并列句（分号与 and 连接三层）：the share of men … rose … ; women's circles shrank … , and loneliness now cuts across …
介词短语作地点状语：In one widely cited American survey
现在分词作后置定语：reporting no close friends at all（修饰 men）
状语：from 3 percent in 1990 to 15 percent three decades later（表变化幅度）
定语从句：that once seemed unlikely（修饰 ways）
考点：并列句；现在分词作定语；from…to… 表变化；that 定语从句
译文：在一项被广泛引用的美国调查中，自称"一个密友都没有"的男性比例从 1990 年的 3% 上升到了三十年后的 15%；女性的朋友圈也在缩小，而孤独感如今以过去看似不可能的方式横跨各个年龄段。
The US Surgeon General has compared the health toll of chronic loneliness to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day, linking isolation to higher risks of heart disease, dementia and depression.
主干：The US Surgeon General has compared the health toll … to smoking fifteen cigarettes a day（主语 + has compared A to B）
介词短语作后置定语：of chronic loneliness（修饰 toll）
现在分词作结果/方式状语：linking isolation to higher risks of heart disease, dementia and depression
考点：compare A to B；现在分词作状语；名词并列作介词宾语
译文：美国卫生总署署长把长期孤独对健康的代价比作"每天抽 15 根烟"，并将孤立与心脏病、痴呆症、抑郁症的更高风险联系在一起。
Screens promise connection but often deliver distraction, replacing the deep, unrushed conversations that once bound people together with a stream of shallow, performative updates.
主干（转折并列）：Screens promise connection but often deliver distraction
现在分词作方式状语：replacing the deep, unrushed conversations … with a stream of shallow, performative updates
定语从句：that once bound people together（修饰 conversations）
考点：but 并列；replace A with B；现在分词作状语；that 定语从句
译文：屏幕承诺了连接，却常常只交付了干扰——用一连串肤浅、作秀式的动态，取代了那些曾把人们紧密联结在一起的深入、从容的交谈。
Researchers find that weak social ties predict earlier death as strongly as well-known risks like obesity and physical inactivity, making friendship, in effect, a matter of survival rather than sentiment.
主干：Researchers find that …（主语 + find + that 宾语从句）
宾语从句：weak social ties predict earlier death as strongly as well-known risks like obesity and physical inactivity（as…as 同级比较）
现在分词作结果状语：making friendship … a matter of survival rather than sentiment
插入语：in effect（实际上）
考点：that 宾语从句；as…as 比较；现在分词作结果状语；rather than 取舍
译文：研究者发现，薄弱的人际关系对早逝的预测力，与肥胖、缺乏运动等众所周知的健康风险一样强——这实际上使友谊成了一件关乎生存而非情感的事。
Studies suggest that simply reaching out — a message, a shared meal, a recurring commitment — restores closeness faster than most people expect, and that the fear of rejection is usually far worse than the reality.
主干：Studies suggest that … and that …（主语 + suggest + 两个并列 that 宾语从句）
宾语从句一：simply reaching out … restores closeness faster than most people expect（动名词短语作主语；than 比较状语从句）
插入语（破折号之间）：a message, a shared meal, a recurring commitment（举例解释 reaching out）
宾语从句二：that the fear of rejection is usually far worse than the reality（far 修饰比较级）
考点：并列 that 宾语从句；动名词作主语；插入语；比较状语从句
译文：研究表明，仅仅是主动联系——一条消息、一顿共进的饭、一个定期重复的约定——恢复亲密的速度就比大多数人预想的更快；而对被拒绝的恐惧，通常远比现实来得严重。
四、全文大意
友谊曾经是生活中无需多想的背景色，如今却被越来越多的人描述成一件需要"安排日程、刻意经营、甚至常常错过"的事。数据令人警醒：在一项被广泛引用的美国调查中，自称"一个密友都没有"的男性比例从 1990 年的 3% 一路升至三十年后的 15%，女性的朋友圈也在缩小，孤独感以过去难以想象的方式横跨各个年龄段。公共卫生官员开始把这一趋势当作"流行病"对待——美国卫生总署署长把长期孤独对健康的危害比作"每天抽 15 根烟"，并将其与心脏病、痴呆症、抑郁症的更高风险联系在一起。原因何在？技术是一个明显的"嫌疑对象"：屏幕承诺连接，却常常只交付干扰，用一连串肤浅、作秀式的动态，取代了曾把人们紧密联结的深入交谈。更深层的结构变迁同样重要：人们比过去更频繁地迁徙、加班、跳槽，而曾把邻里联结在一起的教会、社团、大家庭等机构，也在慢慢松动瓦解。代价远不止情感层面：研究者发现，薄弱的人际关系对早逝的预测力，与肥胖、缺乏运动等众所周知的风险一样强——这实际上使友谊成了一件关乎生存而非情感的事。当然，"朋友更少"未必等于"更孤独"：一位知己胜过许多泛泛之交，而有些独处是主动选择、有益身心的。好消息是，友谊可以通过刻意的努力重建：研究表明，仅仅是主动联系——一条消息、一顿共进的饭、一个定期重复的约定——恢复亲密的速度就超乎预期，而对被拒绝的恐惧通常远比现实严重。归根结底，"友谊衰退"并非不可改变的自然规律，而是我们不知不觉陷入的一种习惯——而习惯，无论多么顽固，都可以改变。问题只在于：我们是否还记得该如何开始。
五、思考与仿写
思考题：结合第 4、5 段，概括作者认为导致"友谊衰退"的两类原因，并各举一个你在生活中观察到的例子；再结合第 7 段，谈谈为什么"朋友少"不等于"孤独"。
仿写题：仿照第 9 段 "… is not a law of nature but a habit we have drifted into — and habits, however stubborn, can be changed." 中 "… is not … but … — and …, however …, can be …" 的转折句式，围绕「拖延」「熬夜」或「沉迷手机」写一个句子。