Social Media and Friendship
1.To anyone paying attention these days, it’s clear that social media – whether Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or any of the countless other modern-day water coolers – are changing the way we live.
social media : 社交媒体 modern-day water coolers：一种闲聊的工具（社交媒体的一种）
现在我们每个人都注意到，（不论是Twitter、Facebook、LinkedIn还是其它数不尽数的现代社交媒体，正在改变着我们的生活方式。）
2.Indeed, we might feel as if we are suddenly awash in friends. Yet right before our eyes, we’re also changing the way we conduct relationships. Face-to-face chatting is giving way to texting and messaging; people even prefer these electronic exchanges to, for instance, simply talking on a phone. Smaller circles of friends are being partially eclipsed by Facebook acquaintances routinely numbered in the hundreds. Amid these smaller trends, growing research suggests we could be entering a period of crisis for the entire concept of friendship.
Where is all this leading modern-day society? Perhaps to a dark place, one where electronic stimuli slowly replace the joys of human contact.
awash : adj. 被浪冲打的；与水面齐平的；充斥的
conduct relationships:处理关系 conduct: vi. 导电；带领vt. 管理；引导；表现n. 进行；行为； face-to-face chatting: 面对面的聊天 electronic exchanges:电子设备交流
eclipse: n. 日蚀，月蚀；黯然失vt. 使黯然失；形成蚀  amid: prep. 在其中，在其间，同义among
the entire concept of friendship: 友谊的全部概念
事实上，我们仿佛会突然感觉到周围都是朋友，（但恰好在我们意识到之前），（我们在改变着我们建立关系的方法）。短息和信息代替了面对面的交流；人们甚至更喜欢（这些电子交流方式），比如，用电话进行简单的交流。小的朋友圈（正在部分地消失），（相比起）（通常情况下）Facebook相识的通常就有（成百上千地交友）。在这些小的趋势（当中）、发展（越来越多地）研究表示我们（可能迈进了一个对于整个友谊概念产生危机的的时期）。
（这样的危机会将现代社会引向哪里？）（或许引向一个电子诱惑缓慢取代人类交流接触乐趣的黑暗地带。）
3.Awareness of a possible problem took off just as the online world was emerging. Sociologist Robert Putnam published the book Bowling Alone, a survey of the depleting levels of “less is more是谁提出的social capital” in communities, from churches to bowling alleys. The pattern has been replicated elsewhere in the Western world. In the United Kingdom, the Mental Health Foundation just published The Lonely Society, which notes that about half of Brits believe they’re living in, well, a lonelier society, One in three would like to live closer to their families, though social trends are forcing them to live farther apart.
aware: adj. 意识到的；知道的；有…方面知识的；懂世故的
take off: 起飞；脱下；离开    deplete: vt. 耗尽，用尽；使衰竭，使空虚
social capital: n. [经] 社会资本（指交通、卫生、通信等基本设施）
bowling alleys:保龄球馆  replicated:重复的  Brites:力量，力气
social trends:社会趋势  live farther apart：生活之间的距离/不断的离开家园
当网络世界（出现）时我们也意识到了可能出现的问题。社会学家Robert Putnam出版了（一本名为）《独自打保龄球》（的书）,（它）从社区到保龄球馆做了一个社会资本消耗水平的调查。在西方社会这种模式已经被应用到别的地方了。在英国，精神卫生基金会刚刚出版了《孤独的社会》，这本书提到大约一半的英国人（认为他们）居住在一个孤独的社会，尽管社会形势（正在）逼迫（着）他们不断的远离家园，但是三分之一的人更喜欢居住在离他们家庭更近的地方。
4.Typically, the pressures of urban life are blamed: In London, another poll had two-fifths of respondents reporting that they face a prevailing drift away from their closest friends. Witness crowded bars and restaurants after work: We have plenty of acquaintances, though perhaps few individuals we can turn to and share deep intimacies. American sociologists have tracked related trends on a broader scale, well beyond the urban jungle. According to work published in the American Sociological Review, the average American has only two close friends and a quarter don’t have any.
blame:责备  respondent: n. 回答者，调查对象 
prevailing  adj. 流行的；一般的，最普通的；占优势的；盛行很广的
v. 盛行，流行（prevail的现在分词形式）；获胜
turn to and share deep intimacies :可以掏心掏肺的 tracked to：跟踪/经……调查
broader scale:在很大的范围内
典型的，城市生活的压力应该招到批判：在伦敦，（另一个）民意测评是有五分之二参与者反映他们面临渐渐远离他们亲密朋友的形势。在下班后拥挤的酒吧和餐厅就能证实，我们有大量的熟人，但是却没有我们能推心置腹的人。美国社会学家在很大范围中做调查，（不仅仅局限于城市）。根据美国社会研究出版的著作表明，平均每个美国人仅有两个关系密切的朋友，（并且）有四分之一（的人）一个都没有。
Shallow friendships
5.It should be noted that other social scientists contest these conclusions. Hua Wang and B
arry Wellman, of the universities of Southern California and Toronto respectively, refer to “some panic in the United States about a possible decline in social connectivity.” But notice their language: “social connectivity.” That is not the same as intimate friendship. While social networking sites and the like have grown exponentially, the element that is crucial, and harder to investigate, is the quality of the connections they nurture.
contest: vt. 争辩；提出质疑vi. 竞争；争辩n. 竞赛；争夺；争论
respectively: adv. 分别地；各自地，独自地 
panic: n. 恐慌，惊慌大恐慌adj.恐慌的;没有理由的vt.使恐慌vi.十分惊慌
social connectivity:社会的联系  intimate friendship:亲密的友情
exponentially:以指数的方式  element: n. 元素；要素；原理；成分；自然环境
nurture: vt. 养育；鼓励；培植n. 养育；教养；营养物
应该注意的是（其他的）社会科学家对这些结论提出了质疑。南加州大学和多伦多大学的Hu
a Wang和Barry Wellman分别指出：在美国对社会的连通性有一些恐慌。但是注意他们的用词“社会的连通性”，（这与亲密的友谊并不相同）。（在类似的社交网站迅猛发展的情况下），（极其重要并且难以调查的因素是他们所形成的交流的质量）。
6.Yet we know that less is more when it comes to deeper relationships. It is lonely in the crowd. A connection may lone be a click away, but cultivating a good friendship takes more. It seems common sense to conclude that “friending” online nurtures shallow relationships – as the neologism “friending” itself implies.
less is more:少就是多/物以稀为贵 when is comes to: 当提到；就……而论
cultivating: v. 培养（cultivate的现在分词）common sense:常识

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