It has long been a mystery to men why so many women enjoy watching tear jerker movies with their friends.
長期以來，男人們對女人喜歡跟朋友一起看苦情片感到不解。

But now scientists have come up with a suggestion – sharing sad emotions helps women bond.
現在科學家有了解釋：分享悲傷的情感讓女人們惺惺相惜。

A research team at Cardiff University found that by sharing their emotions women found the happy parts of films more joyful and the sad bits less sad.
卡迪福大學的研究小組發現，通過分享情感，女士們覺得電影中高興的部分更加令人愉快，而悲傷的情節看起來沒那么悲傷。

Job van der Schalk, a psychologist at Cardiff University, said: ‘Our findings suggest that a negative emotional experience such as watching a ‘weepy’ is more positive when it is shared with a friend.
卡迪夫大學心理學家范德沙克說: “我們的研究結果發現，在和朋友們分享一些消極的情感體驗（比如看一場哭戲）的時候，取得的效果更加積極。

‘And, at the same time, a positive emotional experience, such as watching a ‘romcom’, should equally be more pleasant when shared.’
而且同時，分享積極的體驗比如跟朋友一起看一場浪漫喜劇，感受到的快樂也更多。

The study involved 30 pairs of female friends aged between 20 and 33 who were shown emotionally powerful images and asked to rate them on a scale from ‘very negative’ to ‘very positive’.
這次研究的對象為30對年齡在20到33歲的女性朋友，研究人員讓她們觀看產生強烈情感的影像，讓她們把看到的影像按照從 “非常消極”到 “非常積極”的程度進行評價。

The scientists put one of each pair in a brain scanner to monitor their reactions, and the volunteers were also asked to view and rate the images while on their own and also while together.
研究人員給每一對志愿者中的其中一位帶上大腦掃描監測器，他們讓這些志愿者在單獨觀看圖像和跟朋友一起觀看圖像時分別對圖像進行消極或積極的評價。

The researchers found the images were seen more positively when the pairs were together, The Sunday Times reported.
研究人員發現參加實驗的一對朋友在一起的時候，他們看待圖像的態度更加積極。

The study, published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, said: ‘When people go to the cinema to watch a film, they ... anticipate a positive subjective impact of sharing this emotional experience.’
這一研究發表在《社會認知與情感神經科學》的期刊上，報告指出：人們去電影院看電影的時候，他們期待的是一種積極的主觀的情感分享體驗。

And Hollywood success seems to back the theory.
而好萊塢的成功似乎驗證了這一理論。

The 2008 film Marley and Me, which surrounds a couple’s relationship with their dog, took ￡160m at the global box office, and last year’s film The Fault in Our Stars - about two teenage cancer patients who find love - took more than ￡200m.
2008年上映的電影《馬利和我》，情節圍繞著一對夫婦和他們的狗展開，該電影在全球獲得了1.6億英鎊的票房。去年上映的一部關于兩個癌癥少年尋愛故事的《星運里的錯》獲得了超過2億英鎊的票房。

Aggie Romeril, 22, a London beauty manager, said: ‘I think we’re a “stream it and weep” age. You scroll through Netflix, find who’s got the biggest laptop and bundle into a housemate’s bed for a sob session.’
二十二歲的倫敦美容經理艾琪·羅默里爾說：“我覺得我們處在‘看了哭一場的’年紀。我們在Netflix搜尋影片，找一臺大屏幕的手提電腦，然后鉆入好友的床上看著電影哭個夠。

Vocabulary

tear jerker 催人淚下的電影（或故事）
romcom 愛情喜劇

（譯者：frankdixion 編輯：馬文英）