英文阅读(1)

   A dutch care home experiments with housing students with the old

(一家荷兰护理院尝试让学生和老人同住)

    SORES DUMAN is a normal 29-year-old. He goes to the cinema, follows the Champions League attentively, parties occasionally and talks about life and love with his friends. Later in the week he will see an action movie with his mate Piebe. Before that, he may go to McDonald’s with Martey, another chum. It might take more time than usual for his friends to get ready for these activities. Piebe is 79 and Martey a sprightly 94. Does Sores think his weekend plans are odd? “No, I do similar things with friends my own age. I don’t see the difference in age as an obstacle.”
 
(舍雷什·迪曼（Sores Duman）是个29岁的普通年轻人。他去电影院，是欧冠迷，偶尔参加聚会，和朋友们谈论生活和爱情。本周晚些时候，他要和伙伴毕比（Piebe）去看一部动作片。在这之前，他可能会和另一个朋友马蒂（Martey）一起去麦当劳。他的这两位伙伴出门要花的时间可能更多些。毕比79岁了；马蒂94岁，仍然精神矍铄。迪曼会不会觉得自己的周末安排有些另类呢？“不会，我和我这个年纪的朋友们做的事也差不多。我不觉得年龄差异是个障碍。”)

 
 
    Mr Duman lives at the Humanitas care home in Deventer, in central Holland. His housemates’ average age is over 85. He has been there for three years, along with five other students from nearby universities and around 150 elderly residents. They are part of a scheme started in 2012 that provides them with free housing in exchange for 30 hours per month of their time living as a “good neighbour”. Only one activity is mandatory: preparing and serving a meal on weekday evenings.
 
(迪曼住在荷兰中部代芬特尔（Deventer）的“人文”（Humanitas）护理院里。他室友的平均年龄超过85岁。迪曼已经在这里住了三年。与他同住的还有附近大学的其他五名学生，以及约150位护理院里的老人。他们都是2012年启动的一项计划的参与者。该计划为年轻人提供免费住宿。作为交换，他们每月要花30个小时充当老人们的“好邻居”。只有一项活动是必须的，那就是在工作日为老人们做顿晚饭并照顾他们用餐。)

 
    Both parties appear to benefit from the programme. Mr Duman estimates that he has saved over €10,000 ($11,200) in rent. He claims that living in a care home has not impinged on his university experience. “We have big parties here,” he says, pointing to a room for hire that sits empty at night. “We host everything from beer-pong tournaments to yoga classes.” In a promotional video, one resident calls the initiative gezellig, a Dutch word that roughly translates as cosy: “Now and then they put me into the walker and race me through the hall,” she explains.
 
(双方似乎都因该计划受益。迪曼估计自己已经省下超过1万欧元（1.12万美元）的房租。他说住在护理院里并没有妨碍自己的大学生活。“我们在这里举办大型派对。”他指着一个晚上没人住的待出租房间说。“我们举办各种活动，有投杯球赛，瑜伽课，等等。”在宣传视频中，护理院的一名老人认为该计划很“贴心”。她解释说：“他们有时会帮我架上助行架，在大厅里跟他们比赛谁跑得快。”)
 
    Onno Selbach, the first student to move in, says he learnt to be more patient as a result of the experience; the pace of life is slower at the home. The scheme has helped attract prospective residents. The home now has a waiting list, which it previously did not. And students are queuing up. When two left the home in April, 27 applied to replace them.
 
(奥诺·塞尔巴赫（Onno Selbach）是第一个搬到护理院的学生。他说，这里的生活节奏比较慢，这段经历让他变得更有耐心。该计划已成功帮助护理院吸引来了老人。现在入住这里需要排队了，以前是不用的。学生也一样。今年4月两名学生离开护理院时，有27人申请接替。)

 
    Humanitas is not the first institution to urge old and young people to live together. Municipalities across Spain and care homes in Lyon, France, and Cleveland, Ohio, have also experimented with the idea. A team from Finland visited Deventer and was inspired to start a similar scheme.
    Such initiatives could help combat loneliness, an increasing problem across the rich world. The very old, migrants, the sick or disabled, and singletons are most at risk of feeling lonely. It goes hand in hand with social isolation. About 18% of adult EU citizens—some 75m people—see friends or family at most only once a month. Nearly half of Britons over the age of 65 say that television or pets are their main form of company. Loneliness is also reckoned to have serious health consequences: a study from 2015 found that lonely people had on average a 26% higher risk of dying in its seven-year study period than those who were not lonely. And the problem may only get worse. The share of people who are aged over 80 will more than double in the EU by 2080. Social isolation is becoming more common partly because people are marrying later. Creating a space for the elderly to mingle with youngsters can lift spirits—and help cash-strapped millennials.
 
(“人文”护理院并不是首个倡导老人和年轻人同住的机构。西班牙的众多城市，以及法国里昂、美国俄亥俄州的克利夫兰的多家护理院也都践行了这一想法。芬兰的一个团队访问了代芬特尔并受到启发，准备启动一个类似的计划。)
 
(这些举措有助于防止在富裕世界里日益严重的孤独问题。高龄老人、移民、病人、残疾人以及单身人士最容易感到孤独。它与社会隔绝相伴相生。大约18%的成年欧盟公民（7500万人左右）一个月最多只见一次朋友或亲人。近一半65岁以上的英国人称陪伴自己最多的是电视机或宠物。孤独也被认为会严重影响健康。2015年的一项研究表明，在其七年研究期内，孤独者的死亡风险比不孤独者平均高出26%。而且这个问题可能只会愈演愈烈。到2080年，欧盟80岁以上人口的比例将增加一倍以上。社会隔绝日益普遍的原因之一是晚婚。为老年人创造一个与年轻人打成一片的空间可以振奋他们的精神，同时也帮助了手头拮据的千禧一代。)