谁是世界上最孤独者? | Top 5 loneliest things in the world（ChinaDaily熟读20190627）

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拥挤的城市里，许多人都在各自的世界里抵抗孤独，可无边的孤独感依然让你无处可遁。后来，终于发现，孤独注定是这个世界的一部分。

你是否会独自一人坐着刷手机，一遍又一遍，以此消遣时光？
Are you sitting alone scrolling through online lists over and over again for entertainment?

以下是几种世界上最孤独的事物——从等待物种灭绝的生物到无法与亲属交流的动物。
Here are the five loneliest things in the world — from endlings waiting for the end of their species to animals that just can’t communicate with their kin.

Top 5 The Tenere tree

撒哈拉沙漠中的Tenere树是方圆400公里内唯一的树——它是沙漠中非常有用的地标。它独自屹立了300年之久。在它发芽时这里可能根本就不是沙漠。
The Tenere Tree in the Sahara [sə’hɑ:rə; -'heə-] was the only tree for 400 kilometers — a pretty useful landmark in a desert. It stood alone for 300 years and probably sprouted when the desert wasn’t actually a desert at all.
不幸的是，一位醉酒的司机撞到这数百英里内的唯一障碍。Tenere树对抗时间和寂寞的骄傲于骤然之间崩塌。
Unfortunately, its proud stand against time and loneliness came to an abrupt end when a drunk driver managed to crash into the only obstacle for hundreds of miles.

Top 4 52 Blue

52 Blue是世界上最孤独的鲸。大多数鲸鱼以10-39赫兹的频率发出声音（并且能听到彼此的声音），但52 Blue发出的声音频率为52赫兹。这意味着其它鲸鱼听不到它的声音，甚至不知道它在那里。
52 Blue is the world’s loneliest whale. While most whales vocalize (and hear each other) at a frequency of 10–39 Hz, 52 Blue calls at a frequency of 52 Hz, meaning that no other whales can hear him or even know that he’s there.
vocalize['vokə’laɪz] vi. 发声；喊叫 vt. 使发成元音；使发声
frequency['frikwənsi] n. 频率；频繁
我们仅仅在海军声纳探测器上听到过它的歌声，但从未伴随着另一头鲸鱼的呼应。即使在它附近就有一群鲸鱼，它们也不会听到它的声音。
We’ve only heard his song on navy sonar detectors. It’s never accompanied by another whale call, and other whales won’t hear him even if he’s close to their pod.
sonar ['sonɑr] n. 声呐；声波定位仪
detectors [dɪ’tɛktɚ] n. 探测器；检测器；发现者；侦察器
pod [pɒd] a small group of animals, esp seals, whales, or birds 小群动物

Top 3 Toughie the frog

Toughie是最后一只雷伯氏树蛙。它于2016年在笼中死亡，随后该物种灭绝。
Toughie was the last Rabbs’ fringe-limbed tree frog. When he died in captivity in 2016, the species is thought to be extinct.
frog /frɔɡ/
captivity /kæp’tɪvəti/ n. 囚禁；被关
最后一只雌性雷伯氏树蛙在2009年死亡。Toughie在被人工饲养后就不再呼唤求偶。它从来没有回应过录制播放的蛙叫声。它肯定明白，笼子外面再也不会有那只等待自己的青蛙了。
The last female in his species died in 2009. Toughie stopped calling for mates shortly after he was taken into captivity. He never responded to recorded frog calls and must now know that there’s nobody out there for him.
mates /mets/ n. 伴侣牌，伙伴；好朋友

Top 2 Lonely island of Hashima

距离日本长崎约25公里的地方，有一个岛屿，曾有5000多人居住。当日本放弃煤炭转而利用石油时，人们就没必要继续留在岛上了。煤矿关闭了，在岛上工作的每个人都搬走了。
About 25 kilometers from Nagasaki, there’s an island that used to be home to over 5,000 people. When Japan moved from coal to petroleum, there was no real point to keeping people on the island. So the coal mines closed down, and everyone who worked there moved away.
Nagasaki /'nɑ:ɡɑ:'sɑ:ki:/ n. 长崎（日本港口城市）
coal /kol/ n. 煤；（尤指燃烧着的）煤块；木炭
petroleum /pə’trolɪəm/ n. 石油
后来，经过了漫长而孤独的岁月，这座岛开始向游客开放，但岛上仍然没有居民。
After many solitary years, the island was opened up to tourists, but it’s still not home to a single resident.
solitary /'sɑlətɛri/ adj. 孤独的；独居的 n. 独居者；隐士

Top 1 Humans

是的，就是人类。即使人类日常交流频繁，孤独也是我们即将面临的一个公共卫生问题。
That’s right. Even though humans have frequent communication on a day-to-day basis, loneliness is now thought of as the next public health issue.
孤独对人们的健康、衰老和寿命产生了实际的生物影响。尽管我们离物种灭绝还有距离，也并非置身于孤寂荒凉的星球之上，但孤独寂寞仍然影响着很多人。
Loneliness has an actual biological impact on people’s health, aging, and life span. We’re not the last of our species or alone on a desolate planet. But loneliness still affects a huge number of us.
媒体将孤独问题归咎于很多原因，比如四分之一的人在独自生活，人们认为承认孤独并不是好事。但它似乎是下一个流行病，会影响所有社会结构中各个年龄段的人。
The media blames a variety of things, the fact that a quarter of us live alone, and the stigma of admitting to loneliness. But it looks to be the next epidemic, affecting people of all ages in all social structures.
stigma /'stɪɡmə/ n 耻辱；污名；烙印；特征